SPOILERS ALERT!!!

Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

Hmm. I must admit, I wasn’t one of those people who was ecstatically excited about this ‘Doctor Who’ spin-off series involving U.N.I.T. and the Sea Devils – although they’re now referred to as ‘Homo Aqua’ in the series. Personally, I think ‘Sea Devils’ is a catchier name.

Plus, wouldn’t the Sea Devils be under the same category as the Silurians? Wouldn’t they also be called ‘Homo Reptilia’? Honestly, it’d be better to call them ‘Aquakind’, as they’re sometimes referred to in this series. ‘Homo Aqua’ doesn’t sound like a great name to me.

I’m digressing, of course. ‘The War Between the Land and the Sea’ – which is a mouthful of a title when you think about it – is a series that could’ve easily been a continuation of the already established Big Finish ‘U.N.I.T.’ audio series with Jemma Redgrave as Kate. 🙂

Somehow though, I don’t think it’s even that, considering the ‘Doctor Who’ TV series hasn’t followed up on the Big Finish continuity these days. Plus, it’s not even focusing on U.N.I.T. It focuses on someone that sort-of works for U.N.I.T., but he’s a low-level member.

There also weren’t that many ‘Doctor Who’ elements featured in this spin-off series to get excited about it, despite it being about U.N.I.T. and the Sea Devils. I mean, Mel’s not in it, Ruby’s not in it, even the Vlinx isn’t in it. And that’s ironic since the Vlinx is a part of U.N.I.T.

There’s not even a cameo of the Doctor at the end of the series, which I was half-hoping for to happen. The main ‘Doctor Who’ characters that are featured in this spin-off series include Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, Shirley Ann Bingham and Colonel Christofer Ibrahim. 😐

But hey, I was willing to give this series a chance and hoped that I would enjoy it, especially as it was shown in December before Christmas arrived. Though I would’ve preferred an extra episode to this five-part series to even it out, which I’ll get to eventually.

The series is about Barclay Pierre-Dupont, played by Russell Tovey. If Russell Tovey is a name you recognise, he previously played Midshipman Alonso Frame in the David Tennant/Tenth Doctor era. I’ve also seen him in a 2008 BBC TV adaptation of ‘Little Dorrit’.

Barclay is a low-level U.N.I.T. transportation arranger. He gets caught in the world of a U.N.I.T. operation by mistake, as the ancient intelligent sea reptiles that once dominated the Earth, along with the equally intelligent cave reptiles, no doubt, rise up from the sea. 😐

Without the Doctor to help them, U.N.I.T., as well as the rest of the world, do all they can to maintain peace whilst the impending threat of war is on the horizon. Barclay is unexpectedly chosen to be humanity’s ambassador when the peace talks are being handled.

As the series progresses, Barclays forms a connection with the ambassador for the sea reptiles – Salt, played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw. Again, if you recall Gugu Mbatha-Raw’s name, she previously played Tish Jones, Martha Jones’ sister in Series 3 of the new TV series.

And she’s also been in the ‘Loki’ series in the ‘Marvel Cinematic Universe’. 😀 Gradually, Barclay and Salt’s diplomatic relationship turns into one bordering on the romantic that turns this spin-off series into ‘Romeo and Juliet’ with a touch of ‘The Shape of Water’ at the end.

Now, in terms of how well this series is handled in terms of the writing, I’d say it’s mostly good. Russell T. Davies and Pete McTighe are the writers for this spin-off series. Each instalment has been very captivating to watch, making me want to know what’s going to happen next.

I’d even say the direction by Dylan Holmes Williams, who previously directed ’73 Yards’ and ‘Dot and Bubble’ in Series 14 of ‘Doctor Who’, has been consistently good. The whole approach and style of this spin-off series has given me some hope for the latest ‘Doctor Who’ era.

It makes me wish ‘Doctor Who’ was written better like ‘War Between’ as well as handled better in terms of direction. Maybe lessons can be learned from this series in terms of the future of the main ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. Perhaps we could have more multi-part stories.

I don’t know if it’d make future ‘Doctor Who’ seasons shorter if we had more multi-part stories like ‘War Between’, but the writing and drama should be compelling in that manner. It wouldn’t be as silly and pantomime like the previous ‘Doctor Who’ seasons have been.

Mind you, with that said, this goes back to my point that I think this should have been a six-part series, not a five-part series. This is especially when you consider how the BBC released each episode in the first three weeks of December before Christmas Day came.

You see, the first two episodes were shown in the first week of December, the third and fourth episodes were shown in the second week of December, and the fifth and final episode was shown in the third week of December. I don’t think it was planned that way.

This is especially when you consider the BBC released ‘The War Between’ series in the UK first in December 2025 before Disney+ gets to share it in other parts of the world, including the USA, sometime in 2026. Maybe the release of the series was to be different.

Maybe the episodes were going to be released over the course of five weeks or perhaps over the course of five days like ‘Torchwood: Children of Earth’ was in 2009. How it was initially planned, I don’t think it was intended to share the series before Christmas in the UK.

The reason why I bring these points up is because I think it would have been better to end the series in the third week of December with two episodes as opposed to one. We could have had a fifth and sixth episode to provide the dramatic conclusion the series required.

This is because I feel the fifth and final episode of ‘The War Between’ series is rather rushed. Everything that was built up in the dramatic conclusion of the spin-off seems to have been resolved rather quickly, especially regarding how humanity won the titular war.

For you see, humanity won the war because they infected the sea reptiles when Barclay met up with Salt in the ocean. Whilst it’s a nice nod to ‘Doctor Who and the Silurians’ with the cave reptiles infecting humanity with a virus in that story, this seems a rushed resolution.

And for this series being about a ‘War Between the Land and the Sea’, there aren’t many fight scenes between humanity and the sea reptiles, if any. For all the criticism I gave ‘Warriors of the Deep’, at least that TV story had fight scenes between humanity and the reptiles.

The performances of the cast are good, including Russell Tovey and Gugu Mbatha-Raw. I even commend Jemma Redgrave as Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, who I feel should have been given the leading role in the series instead of Barclay, as it should have been all about her.

Mind you, I probably would have handled that post-credits scene featuring Kate at the end of the series a bit differently where she threatens a hiker that dumped a plastic bottle near the shore. A key theme to this spin-off show is that we as humans pollute the oceans.

This is with plastic and sewage. Going on a tangent, that scene in the second episode where the sea reptiles give the plastic back to humanity by dumping it onto our lands was disturbing and frightening to watch. It must be one of the best scenes in the spin-off.

Going back to the post-credits scene, I feel that Kate threatening the hiker with a gun just because he won’t pick up the plastic bottle was a bit too much and it doesn’t really define her character in a graceful manner. I mean, I know she’s had a hard time of it in this series.

What with being under pressure, losing her lover (which I’ll get to eventually) and receiving too much medication (which her physician advised her against taking), it’s understandable why Kate would act that way. But is that how viewers really want to remember Kate for? 😐

The woman who threatened a man with a gun just because he wouldn’t pick up the plastic bottle? I know if it’s to reinforce a message that we mustn’t pollute the seas with plastic, but surely, she could have let that man be and picked up the bottle herself to save time?

There could have been an ideal opportunity for the Doctor to pop by when materialising the TARDIS in-between Kate and the hiker and telling her that ‘this isn’t the way’. Maybe that’s something to happen in the upcoming Christmas Special in December 2026. Who’s to say?

Incidentally, I wasn’t kidding about the series ending like ‘The Shape of Water’, as Barclay gets gills to be with Salt, just like Sally Hawkins’ character got gills to be with her sea reptile lover at the end of that film. Clearly Russell T. Davies stole that from ‘The Shape of Water’!

The series also features Colin McFarlane as General Austin Pierce. Pierce previously appeared in ‘Torchwood: Children of Earth’ and became a high-ranking American U.N.I.T. officer. It was good to see him in this series. A shame he got killed off in the third episode. 😦

Alexander Devrient returns as Colonel Christofer Ibrahaim in the series. It was nice to see Ibrahaim in ‘The War Between’ spin-off series. As established in Series 15 of ‘Doctor Who’, Ibrahaim had feelings for Kate. We see them already established as a couple in the series.

It was nice to see Kate and Ibrahaim being an item, and I would have liked to have seen more of them together. So, it was disappointing when Ibrahaim got killed off at the end of the third episode, since he self-sacrificed himself to save Kate from being assassinated.

I appreciate this is to highlight Kate’s struggle in maintaining her cool whilst being the U.N.I.T.’s commander-in-chief during the negotiations with the sea reptiles, but frankly, I would have liked more in terms of the relationship between Kate and Ibrahaim explored.

I’m sure many kids who haven’t seen ‘The War Between’ series will be wondering what’s happened to Colonel Ibrahaim should the Doctor reunite with Kate at U.N.I.T. again in ‘Doctor Who’. Even David Opie of ‘Digital Spy’ has criticised Kate and Ibrahim’s romance.

He argued when reviewing the series’ third and fourth episodes, “If you’re going to pull off a stunt like this, you need to invest more time in the relationship before it’s ripped apart.” I concur because I don’t think we had enough time exploring Kate and Ibrahim’s romance.

It was good to see Ruth Madeley back as Shirley Ann Bingham as well as Adrian Lukis (who’s been in the BBC’s 1995 TV adaptation of ‘Pride and Prejudice’) as Jonathan Hynes, a politician that was first assigned as humanity’s ambassador before Barclay got chosen.

There’s Vincent Franklin as Harry Shaw, the latest Prime Minister of Great Britain in the series. He’s quite dodgy, much like Nicholas Farrell’s Prime Minister from ‘Torchwood: Children of Earth’. That scene between him and Kate in the fifth episode was very tense.

Stewart Alexander guest stars as General Oscar Gunsberg in the spin-off series. And I’ve checked. Stewart Alexander has been in ‘Doctor Who’ before in the episode ‘Daleks In Manhattan’ and he’s guest starred in Big Finish audios such as ‘Renaissance of the Daleks’.

There’s Barbara Probst as General Dominique Dussolier. Harry Shaw, Gunsberg and Dussolier conspire together when utilising a weapon called Severence in the series. This endangers the stability of peace between humanity and Aquakind in the spin-off show. 😦

There’s Patrick Baladi as Sir Keith Spears, Francesca Corney as Sgt. Hana Chakri, Ann Akinjirin as Barbara Pierre-Dupont, Barclay’s estranged spouse, Cat Gannon as Kirby, Barclay and Barbara’s daughter, Lachele Carl as Trinity Wells, and Samuel Oatley as Tide.

If you recognise Samuel Oatley’s name, he played Tzim-Sha (or ‘Tim Shaw’ as the Thirteenth Doctor called him) in the episodes ‘The Woman Who Fell to Earth’ and ‘The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos’. Tide isn’t so nice a sea reptile compared to Salt in the series.

This is especially when he has his Aquakind summon dogs from the homes of humanity to be caught and used as food, just like we as humans catch fish to eat as food. The idea of Aquakind eating dogs is very disturbing and is going to make many dog lovers unhappy.

Cuddles: I know I’m unhappy! How dare we as dogs be used as food! It’s not nice, is it? I hope this doesn’t give my Master any ideas to eat me for his Christmas dinner!

So, in conclusion, how would I regard and rate ‘The War Between the Land and the Sea’ as a ‘Doctor Who’ spin-off series? Well, I’d agree with my Mum. I’d give it a 7 out of 10. The writing is better compared to the latest seasons of ‘Doctor Who’ and I enjoyed seeing it.

But I wouldn’t be in a hurry to watch it repeatedly. Like I said, there isn’t that many ‘Doctor Who’ elements in this series to get me excited about it. There’s no Captain Jack like there was in ‘Torchwood’. There’s no Sarah Jane Smith like in ‘The Sarah Jane Adventures’. 😐

There’s Kate Stewart and U.N.I.T. to consider, but even then, we’ve seen them already in the ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. There needs to be something more to maintain the audience’s attention span, even if it means a cameo of another ‘Doctor Who’ character by the end. 😐

A ‘Doctor Who’ spin-off needs to connect with certain viewers and fans that love ‘Doctor Who’ passionately and can gain a personal connection to it. I’m sure many people would regard it very highly, but me personally, I didn’t really feel like, “Wow, that was incredible!”.

‘The War Between’ series is fine, but I doubt I’ll be watching it again anytime soon, even when it comes to doing my in-depth reviews on Series 14 and 15 in 2026. I’m glad I’ve seen the spin-off series, and it was good to view it in the first three weeks of December. 🙂

But in terms of whether I regard it highly, I personally feel that the ‘Doctor Who’ episode ‘Legend of the Sea Devils’ was more enjoyable in featuring the return of the sea reptiles than ‘The War Between’ series. ‘The Sea Devils’ 2025 Special Edition is more enjoyable.

Merry Christmas everyone! 🙂

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim 🙂