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Posted in: BBC, Doctor Who, TV | Tagged: doctor who, the war between the land and the sea
Doctor Who: The Kate Lethbridge-Stewart Deathwatch Gets Underway
Will Kate Lethbridge-Stewart be killed off in the Doctor Who spinoff The War Between the Land and the Sea? That outcome would be too obvious.
Article Summary
- Speculation grows over Kate Lethbridge-Stewart's fate in Doctor Who spinoff The War Between the Land and the Sea.
- Jemma Redgrave hints that Kate may not survive the upcoming series, fueling fan theories and debate.
- The character's history and lack of previous story arc make her a likely candidate for a major dramatic twist.
- Romantic subplot with Colonel Ibrahim could mean tragedy—but is the show setting up a double bluff?
Legacy UNIT leader Kate Lethbridge-Stewart (Jemma Redgrave) may be one of the fan favourite characters in modern era Doctor Who, but fans seem convinced she's going to die in The War Between The Land and The Sea. Even Redgrave started hinting at it when she questioned whether Kate would survive the spinoff series. Is she really going to snuff it, though? Is she really? "If she survives this series, I don't know where she can go next…" Redgrave shared.
That's interesting. Does she mean she doesn't know if there's anything left to do with the character? Kate Lethbridge-Stewart is one of the longest-running supporting legacy characters in Doctor Who. She was created in 1995 by Marc Platt, who wrote the last story to be filmed in the Seventh Doctor's final season, "Ghost Light". She appeared first in two professional-looking fan films written by Platt, "Downtime" in 1995 and "Daemos Rising" in 2004. Both films were initially released on VHS tapes, the latter a year before Russell T. Davies revived Doctor Who.
It was Chris Chibnall who brought her into the TV series in 2012 during Steven Moffat's stint as showrunner. Chibnall was reportedly unaware that she was originally introduced in the two fan films. The character has never had an arc. She was there to serve as the Head of UNIT and act as a foil to The Doctor. It looks like Davies might give her an arc in The War Between the Land and The Sea – and maybe kill her off. After all, the hints are there. She has a poignant romantic relationship with her colleague and underling Colonel Ibrahim (Alexander Devrient). When characters are in love in a modern post-Buffy TV show, that's usually a bad sign. It telegraphs they might be doomed in order to wring out some extra feels from the fans.
But would that be too obvious, though? If the show and the cast hint so strongly that Kate is going to kark it, they might be setting up a swerve. They might end up fridging Colonel Ibrahim instead as a sacrifice to the God of Drama. Kate can have her tragic arc to give her that extra dimension of pathos from then on. Or maybe both she and Colonel Ibrahim might die as tragic losses in the miniseries. However, it turns out, Davies and co. have done their job, which is to keep fans engaged and in suspense so they keep watching the series. Live or die, that's the nature of drama, and the nature of the business.
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