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Doctor Who: How "Land/Sea" Spinoff Series & Torchwood: CoE Connect

A look at how the BBC's Doctor Who spinoff miniseries, The War Between the Land and the Sea, and Torchwood: Children of Earth connect.

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Article Summary

  • The War Between the Land and the Sea is a Doctor Who spinoff miniseries featuring the classic Sea Devils, aka Homo Aqua.
  • The series connects thematically with Torchwood: Children of Earth, sharing locations and political intrigue.
  • Russell T. Davies explores the darker side of politicians risking lives in both spinoffs, highlighting ordinary people in extraordinary situations.
  • The War Between the Land and the Sea premieres December 7 on BBC One and BBC iPlayer (and on Disney+ in 2026).

The last piece of Doctor Who we're going to get this year, and for a while, is the spinoff miniseries The War Between the Land and the Sea, written by Russell T. Davies and Pete McTighe. The Doctor-less eco-thriller features classic series monsters, The Sea Devils, also known as Homo Aqua, who become increasingly fed up with the human world's pollution of the sea and finally declare war against the surface world. It's up to U.N.I.T. to try to diffuse the situation amidst treacherous factions amongst the human and alien sides that want a war that would destroy the world and kill everyone. The political thriller showcases Davies' dark view of politicians and governments, a perspective familiar from his previous spinoff, Torchwood: Children of Earth, and that's intentional.

Doctor Who
Images: BBC

"I think you'll have fun if you watch this and Children of Earth together, because they're both about alien species – or otherworldly species – encountering the human race in an ambassadorial context," Davies said. "We use a lot of the same sets as we used in Children of Earth… you'll see a lot of the same staircases appear, a lot of the same corridors… It's in the same world."

This isn't just a cute bit of meta cross-referencing. It's drawing a thematic parallel to show that things never change. The same things happen in the same places, in the same buildings that are the corridors of power, where self-serving politicians and generals gamble with the lives of everyone without caring what happens to ordinary people. And for Davies, ordinary people are the ones who matter most. Davies has said the series will have a definitive ending.

The War Between the Land and the Sea held its premiere in Cardiff this week, and the general buzz has been positive, with some people saying they were pleasantly surprised. It's not as bleak as Torchwood: Children of Earth, and even has more laughs to relieve the tension.

The War Between the Land and the Sea premieres on BBC One and iPlayer on December 7th, and will also be available on Disney+ sometime next year.

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Adi TantimedhAbout Adi Tantimedh

Adi Tantimedh is a filmmaker, screenwriter and novelist. He wrote radio plays for the BBC Radio, “JLA: Age of Wonder” for DC Comics, “Blackshirt” for Moonstone Books, and “La Muse” for Big Head Press. Most recently, he wrote “Her Nightly Embrace”, “Her Beautiful Monster” and “Her Fugitive Heart”, a trilogy of novels featuring a British-Indian private eye published by Atria Books, a division Simon & Schuster.
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