The first full trailer for the new Doctor Who spin-off The War Between the Land and the Sea has been shown, offering a long look at the major conflict to come. The series focuses on the alien-fighting organization UNIT as they try to stop a global war when the ancient Sea Devils rise from the ocean. The trailer made its debut on November 27, 2025, during an episode of the BBC’s The One Show, where stars Russell Tovey and Gugu Mbatha-Raw introduced it to audiences.
The five-part drama is set to launch with a double bill in the UK on Sunday, December 7, 2025, at 8:30 PM on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. It will be available on Disney+ for international viewers sometime in 2026. This series is a major project from Doctor Who head writer Russell T Davies and serves as the final collaboration between the BBC and Disney on the Doctor Who franchise.
The Story of an Impossible Choice
The story asks a big question: what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object, and the Doctor is not around to help? In this show, an ancient aquatic species, known as the Sea Devils or Homo Aqua, emerges from the depths of the world’s oceans. They are furious at humanity for polluting and destroying their marine home. Their sudden appearance starts an international crisis that pushes the world to the edge of a full-scale war.
The task of preventing this disaster falls to UNIT, the Unified Intelligence Taskforce. Leading them is the experienced Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, played by Jemma Redgrave. However, the central character is Barclay Pierre-Dupont (Russell Tovey), a regular, low-level UNIT employee. In the trailer, the Sea Devil delegate named Salt (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) points to Barclay and says, “We would speak with him.” A confused and overwhelmed Barclay simply replies, “Me?”. He is unexpectedly chosen to be humanity’s main representative in high-stakes peace talks.
Creator Russell T Davies explained the story’s core idea. “They wake up and they see the state of the oceans that we have put [them] in,” he said. “We have wrecked the place, and it is war. And it’s war on an epic scale”. The series will directly tackle modern issues, with Davies noting it deals with topics like profiteering water companies.
A Cast Full of Familiar Faces and New Heroes
The series brings together a mix of well-known Doctor Who universe actors and new stars playing original characters.
Russell Tovey leads the cast as the everyman hero, Barclay. Tovey is no stranger to the Whoniverse, having played Midshipman Alonso Frame in the 2007 Doctor Who Christmas special. His character here is a family man thrust into a role he never wanted. Tovey described Barclay’s motivation, saying, “This guy loves his life, loves his family, and will do anything to protect them”.
Playing opposite him is Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Salt, the lead Sea Devil negotiator. Mbatha-Raw also has Doctor Who history, having played Tish Jones, sister to companion Martha Jones, in 2007. For this role, she undergoes extensive prosthetic makeup to transform into the humanoid aquatic creature.
They are joined by key UNIT personnel from the main Doctor Who series. Jemma Redgrave returns as the commanding Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, with Alexander Devrient again playing Colonel Christofer Ibrahim and Ruth Madeley back as scientific advisor Shirley Anne Bingham.
A notable returning character is General Austin Pierce, played by Colin McFarlane. Pierce last appeared 15 years ago in the 2009 Torchwood miniseries Children of Earth, another dark spin-off from Russell T Davies. His return suggests a story with similar serious and political tones.
“You can expect heart palpitations. You can expect love,” said Russell Tovey about the series. “It’s driven by love… You’re going to be moved and entertained with this”.
Release Dates and How to Watch
UK audiences get to see the drama unfold first. The series begins on December 7, 2025, with Episodes 1 and 2 airing back-to-back starting at 8:30 PM on BBC One. Episodes 3 and 4 will follow a week later on December 14, and the finale, Episode 5, airs on December 21. All episodes will be available to stream on BBC iPlayer immediately after they premiere on television.
For viewers in the United States, Canada, and other countries outside the UK, the series will stream exclusively on Disney+. The release date on the platform is set for sometime in 2026, though a specific month or day has not been announced. This creates a delay between the UK and international releases, unlike the recent seasons of Doctor Who which launched globally at the same time.
The Creative Team Behind the Scenes
The series is the creation of Russell T Davies, the current showrunner of Doctor Who who also brought back the series in 2005. Davies serves as creator, head writer, and executive producer. He shares writing duties with Pete McTighe, a writer for Doctor Who and shows like Wentworth. Davies wrote the first and last episodes, McTighe wrote the second and third, and they co-wrote the fourth episode together.
The director for the entire five-part series is Dylan Holmes Williams. The music is composed by Lorne Balfe, a well-known film and TV composer. A soundtrack album for the series will be released digitally on December 5, 2025.
The production is a collaboration between Bad Wolf and BBC Studios. The show is noted as the final Doctor Who project in the partnership between the BBC and Disney, which distributed the last two seasons of the main show.
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A New Look for Classic Monsters
The Sea Devils are classic Doctor Who monsters, first appearing in a 1972 story with the Third Doctor. They are an ancient reptilian race, cousins to the land-dwelling Silurians, who went into hibernation deep under the sea. They have returned to the show a few times, most recently in 2022.
This new series gives them a significant update. The trailer shows that while some traditional Sea Devil designs appear, the lead character Salt has a much more human-like appearance. The show also introduces a new term for the species. According to Davies, in this story, “It’s racist to say Sea Devil.” The species prefers to be called Homo Aqua, which is also the title of the first episode.
Writer Pete McTighe has teased that dedicated fans should keep their eyes open. “There are absolutely Easter eggs to be seen,” he said. “If you get the pause button ready, you’ll be seeing plenty of stuff”.
The full trailer is now available to watch on the BBC’s official channels and YouTube. The War Between the Land and the Sea launches on BBC One and iPlayer on December 7, 2025.
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Credits: BBC Media Centr
