The War Between The Land And The Sea Will Show ‘The Punch’ That Doctor Who’s Universe Can Deliver

Doctor Who has never been afraid to throw big, tricky concepts – or terrifying monsters – at a young audience. But with The War Between The Land And The Sea, the ‘Whoniverse’ is going into even deeper, darker territory – a geopolitical eco-thriller that poses a stand-off between humanity and the ‘Sea Devils’ (aka Homo Aqua), the classic Who species first introduced in the early ‘70s. Their issue, quite rightly, is with how badly humans are polluting the oceans, their home; and there aren’t any easy answers.

“I wanted to show the BBC what this universe is capable of,” Russell T. Davies tells Empire of the show. “And the potential that it has, and the punch that it can deliver.” The plan is for a Who-adjacent series that engages an older audience in a drama speaking directly to our times. “It’s very 2025 in its bones,” Davies says. “We even deal with the water companies and their profiteering bosses laughing in our faces. In a series about the water you have to!”

At the heart of the show is a bond formed between Russell Tovey’s Barclay – who works for UNIT, the Unified Intelligence Taskforce – and Gugu Mbatha-Raw’s Sea Devil, Salt; Barclay is the one human that Salt feels she can trust. For Tovey, this is the sort of material where Davies thrives. “I’m really drawn to projects that say something,” says the star. “Obviously we need escapism and joy, but art has to matter, too. That’s what Russell [T Davies] does.” The War is ready to begin.

Read Empire’s full story on The War Between The Land And The Sea in The Odyssey issue – on sale Thursday 20 November. Pre-order a copy online here. The War Between The Land And The Sea comes to BBC One and iPlayer from 7 December, and Disney+ in 2026.