A festive fishy Doctor Who tale

The War Between the Land and the Sea premiered last Sunday on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in the run-up to Christmas. It's great to see U.N.I.T. in a Torchwood-inspired spin-off series! I'm trying and failing not to crush on a certain fish lady!

Taking the Short View's Andrew Lewin, fellow Whovian and longtime blog collaborator, has risen from the depths to give his initial thoughts on the latest Doctor Who spin-off series.

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Guest post by Andrew Lewin

Ready? Right, here we go...

I was somewhat wary of the basic concept of The War Between the Land and the Sea ahead of time. It felt .... I don't like the word 'woke', but the outline did seem to be very worthy and environmentally right-on, which made me worried that they might have lost sight of the entertainment aspect, as some of Russell T. Davies' stand-alone dramas have done in the past. Davies is not subtle when it comes to pushing a point that he's making.

So, two of the most vividly memorable moments in the first two episodes are (1) when leading Sea Devil Salt spills onto the conference room floor the dead foetuses of her babies who have been poisoned by human pollution in the oceans; and then (2) at the climax of the second episode where she returns all the plastic waste from the oceans and has it tumble down into the human cities, in a scene that brings home to extent of the damage that humans have done to the marina environment.

It feels like these two scenes are the two that inspired the whole BBC/Disney+ co-production, around which the rest has been built up. So far, there have been a lot of ecological points being made, some of with a great deal of grandeur and spectacle thanks to the impressive budget, and those points have certainly landed. But there's not much else beyond that in terms of storyline, and not a great deal has happened that we couldn't have guessed or devised for ourselves.

One surprising thing is just how different The War Between the Land and the Sea is in tone and feel with the latest seasons of the parent show: Ncuti Gatwa's Doctor Who was painted in vivid primary day-glo colours, his huge smile lighting up the screen, the villains (like Maestro) cheerfully big and over the top.

Whereas in The War Between the Land and the Sea, the prevailing colour palette is "Gotham grim", and there are very few jokes or laughs or knowing quips. There were a couple of low-key mentions of the Doctor in the show, but as a whole, it didn't feel much like the same show, which is a worry.

Even in the original era of Whovian spin-offs in the 2000s, when we had Doctor Who, Torchwood and Sarah Jane Adventures all running at the same time, there was a satisfying DNA through-line that connected all the different shows. Not so much here.

I'm not sure where The War Between the Land and the Sea will go from this point onwards: there are three episodes to go, and at some point, it's going to have to come up with something original and exciting to carry it to the finish line. I hope it will be worth the effort, and I look forward to cheerfully eating these words of anxiety when and if it duly delivers.

For now, the show is relying heavily on Russell Tovey to make the drama work on an emotional level beyond mere shock and polemic. Fortunately, he's very good, as always. I've been a fan of his for years, even before his supporting turn as Midshipman Alonso Frame in a Dr Who Christmas special - back to Being Human at least. (I'm also watching the first season of John Le Carre drama The Night Manager from 2016, and guess who pops up in a small but key role in the first episode, looking outrageously young?)

And I always really like Jemma Redgrave as Kate Lethbridge-Stewart as well - it's amazing to think the character has been in the show since 2012. It's a shame that the other members of the recurring Unit cast (Colonel Ibrahim, Mrs Bingham) are getting so little to do other than standing around looking supportive.

But the real breakout actor/character is Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Ambassador Salt: a compelling performance and some astounding makeup/costume work. We've come a long way since the papier-maché heads used for the 1972 Sea Devils, which haunted my dreams as a kid. More than anything else, I look forward to seeing what they will do with Salt in the remaining episodes.

New episodes drop every Sunday and will be exclusively on Disney+ outside of the UK (where available) in 2026.

The War Between the Land and the Sea is available for pre-order from Amazon (affiliate link).

What are your thoughts on The War Between the Land and the Sea? Let me know in the comments below.