‘The War Between The Land and The Sea’ Makes Waves in the World of ‘Doctor Who’
Spin-offs for Doctor Who are nothing new. With classics like Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures, as well as the cult hit Class. Tales of people dealing with Doctor Who’s long line of villains, often without the help of the timelord.
The latest spin-off is The War Between the Land and the Sea, and it comes at a time of turmoil for the franchise. Its future is uncertain, with a new Christmas special planned for 2026. However, with the end of Disney+ as its overseas partner, following a decline in viewership between series, it’s unclear who will team up with the BBC for more series. Despite this, The War Between the Land and the Sea will stream on the platform early next year as the final part of the Disney era of the franchise.
The War Between the Land and the Sea features the return of the long-running Doctor Who villains, the Sea Devils, at the forefront of the show as they choose to contact the land-dwelling humans. Renamed “Homo Aqua” for the new series, the underwater race demands humanity leave the oceans to them, resulting in chaos on a worldwide, military, and political scale.
The tensions increase between humans and Homo Aqua as loyalties are tested and sides are chosen. All while UNIT, the fictional military taskforce that interacts with the Doctor occasionally, tries to keep the peace.
Humanity is tested, and tensions are raised in The War Between The Land and The Sea
The story mainly follows Barclay Pierre-Dupont (played by Russell Tovey), who gets called in unexpectedly to help with the rising threat of Homo Aqua; as it turns out, he shouldn’t be there, called in as a substitute to another UNIT agent. This eventually leads to him being the spokesperson for humanity against that of Salt (played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw), who is the representative for Homo Aqua.
The two form an unlikely pair as they navigate the tense atmosphere of talks that both the land and the sea place on them. This leads them to become more than friends, even escaping both sides of the escalating conflict together as they strive for peace between forces who otherwise don’t want it.
The War Between (as it is shortened to) is, in my opinion, one of the best pieces of Doctor Who we’ve gotten in recent years. Both series of Ncuti Gatwa’s run have had highs and lows, but The War Between manages to toe the line between good and great the whole way through.
It is a 5-episode self-contained miniseries, which allows enough time for moments to breathe and characters to reveal themselves. But the quicker pace really makes things tense enough to keep you on the edge of your seat.
The show also highlights UNIT, which has been present for years in Doctor Who but much more so in the Disney era. Headed by Kate Lethbridge-Steward (Jemma Redgrave) and her team of compatriots, we see UNIT at the forefront of this ongoing crisis, and they get plenty of time to shine, adding dimensions to their characters we haven’t had a chance to see before.
Redgrave gives arguably the best performance in the series. Turning Kate into this manipulative, tired, and grieving leader of UNIT who toes the line between good and bad. UNIT turns out to be invaluable during the absence of the Doctor as they tackle both the task of keeping the peace between land and sea as well as foiling the rising threat of “Severance,” a mysterious way for humanity to win the war against Homo Aqua.
The plot itself hinges on many aspects of real-world politics, such as damage done to rivers by water companies (especially in the UK), melting icecaps thanks to global warming, and all the plastic that fills up the oceans across the world. These are all at the forefront of the show, with Homo Aqua striving for a cease to any more of humanity’s damage to the world.
Of course, this comes with the usual Doctor Who flair, like all the plastic in the ocean falling from the sky, and your typical military and world leaders who want to keep doing what they’re doing without cause for concern. This leads to the escalating conflict as the show goes on.
Character relationships form the heart of the spinoff series
The journey of the two main characters from opposing sides is the other highlight of The War Between. We see Barclay and Salt both as spokespeople for their entire races, trying their best to be themselves whilst being controlled and manipulated from all sides. They learn a lot about each other throughout the show in small moments and end up getting closer and closer. This is not a new trope, even for Doctor Who, but I found seeing their bond as they explore each other’s worlds and try to keep the war from escalating that much more emotional during this story.
Salt is especially wonderful in this show. Gugu Mbatha-Raw plays her brilliantly and with such conviction and wonder for the human world. The makeup effects are astounding, and seeing her become more accustomed to the human race shows plenty of sides to her character.
Barlcay goes on his own journey, too. From being a humble transport coordinator called up as a replacement at the wrong time, he ends up as an ambassador for humanity, as well as becoming more involved with Kate and UNIT. He defies leaders and even UNIT, who try to tell him what to say and how to act, and this allows him to be more personal with Salt and Homo Aqua. It adds layers to his character, rising to this new challenge and role.
Barclay and Salt are so good as main characters that some of the side ones pale in comparison. The human villains, especially Barclay’s ex-wife and child, get less and less attention and just seem to be there as people for Barclay to talk to.
The military of the world and its politicians ending up as the de facto villains should come as no surprise. But I often find humanity being shown at its worst from this aspect, just that much more realistic.
Without spoiling too much, the ending to this series is one of the more harrowing endings to any kind of Doctor Who episode or spin-off. It is also a realistic ending, bittersweet in many ways, and the wrong kind of lessons will have been learned from humanity in the show.
What I like about this show is seeing how humanity deals with these otherworldly threats without the Doctor, and it just adds to the fact that he is needed to help guide humanity into being more compassionate and caring.
You don’t feel the Doctor’s absence in this show as much as you might think; they are brought up often enough to help you remember this is a spin-off, but the times they are mentioned are poignant and necessary to show the sheer difference between the Doctor’s methods and humanity.
Final thoughts on The War Between The Land and The Sea
The War Between the Land and the Sea works in many ways for me; it being so disconnected from Doctor Who makes it a good jumping on point for new fans, but could also just be watched as its own thing. I really enjoyed the story, and whilst it may feel a bit defeatist at the end, having such a powerful ending like that really hammers into people how much kindness and understanding and mutual agreements can come a long way.
A Doctor Who show without the Doctor can easily not work, but this one manages to give us such compelling main characters that you still want them to succeed. UNIT gets shown to be such a morally gray organization within this show that, should they reappear in the future, I’m hoping to see a little darker side.
These episodes are great overall and definitely keep you on the edge of your seat as The War Between ups the tension with each passing moment. As the last show of the Disney Era of the Whoniverse, it certainly goes out on a high. I hope that after next year’s Christmas special, the show can find its new home somewhere else. But make sure you give this a watch for one last hurrah.
The War Between The Land and the Sea is available now in the UK on iPlayer and is expected to arrive on Disney+ in America and other overseas territories in 2026.
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