‘The fans need something to believe in!’ Will this spin-off save Doctor Who?

Mon, 08 Dec 2025

The War Between the Land and the Sea may already have been given a rude nickname on fan forums, but does the latest addition to the Whoniverse hold the key to the future of the franchise?

The War Between the Land and the Sea, which debuted on BBC One and iPlayer on Sunday, is the only new “Whoniverse” content fans are getting for the next 12 months. Starring Russell Tovey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Jemma Redgrave, it features a radical overhaul of a Doctor Who monster first seen in Jon Pertwee’s era: the Sea Devils.

The drama plays as an ecological thriller, with humanity’s mistreatment of the oceans used as a stick by the Sea Devils – now dubbed Homo aqua and Homo amphibia – to justify their demands. Tovey’s “everyman” character is thrust into the global spotlight as humanity’s representative in negotiations that feel increasingly impossible.