When the BBC unveiled the trailer for The War Between the Land and the Sea on The One Show, it wasn’t just another moment in the ever-expanding Whoniverse. For South West Wales, it was a reminder of how deeply the region is woven into the fabric of modern British television. The five-part drama, created by Swansea-based showrunner Russell T Davies, is the latest Doctor Who spinoff — and its story, themes and production all carry echoes of the Welsh coast.
A world without the Doctor
Davies has long spoken of how his walks along the Swansea shoreline inspired the series. Sitting on a bench overlooking the sea, he began to imagine the ocean as alive, restless, and ready to rise. Out of those musings came a new kind of Doctor Who story: one without the Doctor. Instead, humanity must face the consequences of its actions alone.
The plot begins when a fishing trawler off Spain hauls up a creature from the deep. Its death awakens an ancient species — Homo Amphibia — who demand redress for centuries of pollution and exploitation. Suddenly, the world is plunged into a diplomatic and existential crisis. Without the Doctor’s guiding hand, UNIT must manage the fallout, balancing political factions and military brinkmanship against the threat of war.
Davies calls it a “geopolitical eco‑thriller”, tougher in tone than Doctor Who because the safety net of the TARDIS is gone. “Normally the Doctor has a magic blue doorway they can take everybody safely through,” he explains. “That safety net has gone. You find these characters up against the wall and pushed to the limit.”
(Image: BBC Studios / Bad Wolf)
Characters at the heart of the crisis
At the centre of the story is Barclay, played by Russell Tovey. A low-level UNIT staffer, Barclay is described as “a lost boy” — divorced, drifting, booking taxis for important people — until fate thrusts him into the role of humanity’s ambassador. Tovey says the scripts gave him everything he needed: “I wanted Barclay to feel like a lost boy at the beginning, and I really wanted to go on a journey with him.”
(Image: BBC Studios / Bad Wolf)
Opposite him is Salt, portrayed by Gugu Mbatha-Raw. Salt is an amphibian ambassador representing Homo Amphibia, regal and fearsome, yet gradually revealing a more human side. Mbatha-Raw recalls her first day in prosthetics, neck-deep in a wave pool: “It was quite a bracing start. But it’s an epic love story. Barclay is the first human who really sees her species with respect, and that connection grows into something profound.”
(Image: BBC Studios / Bad Wolf)
UNIT’s leader Kate Lethbridge-Stewart (Jemma Redgrave) anchors the human response. Redgrave says the series allows Kate to show “strength and vulnerabilities not explored before,” as she manages competing political factions and keeps Barclay on message.
South West Wales on screen
For viewers in Swansea, Neath Port Talbot and Carmarthenshire, the series carries a special resonance. Filming took place not only at Bad Wolf Studios in Cardiff but also across South West Wales.
- Swansea Bay seafront provided a dramatic backdrop for UNIT sequences.
- Port Talbot steelworks offered gritty industrial landscapes, contrasting with the natural coastline.
- Carmarthenshire estuaries gave atmospheric settings for the Sea Devils’ emergence.
- And just east of Bridgend, the Merthyr Mawr dunes once again became a stage for large-scale exterior shots.
These locations continue a proud tradition. Swansea University’s Bay Campus doubled as the futuristic city of Finetime in Dot and Bubble (2024, Fifteenth Doctor Ncuti Gatwa). The Guildhall/Brangwyn Hall and Central Library on Alexandra Road became the haunted setting of Silence in the Library (2008, Tenth Doctor David Tennant). And Plantasia transformed into alien worlds in The Doctor’s Daughter (2008, Tennant) and Cold Blood (2010, Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith).
For local crews, actors and suppliers, the spinoff represents another major project bringing jobs and visibility to the region. For audiences, it’s a chance to see familiar landmarks reimagined as the front line of a global crisis.
Sets, stunts and spectacle
The production built enormous sets in Cardiff, including the Empress Hall, a cavernous chamber filled with supporting artists. Underwater sequences were filmed at Pinewood’s famous water stage, with Mbatha-Raw enduring three-hour prosthetic sessions before plunging into wave pools. Tovey embraced the physicality: “Barclay has a lot of leaping and jumping and fighting,” he said.
Writer Pete McTighe admits he sometimes wondered how the team would achieve the scale he imagined: “There are BIG set pieces in this show, at least one in every episode. It still blows my mind that everything Russell and I wrote has ended up on screen, looking so good.”
Themes for today
Beyond the spectacle, the series carries a message. Davies and McTighe both stress that it is about the oceans, pollution and climate. “Look at what we’ve done to the oceans and climate across the 20th century,” McTighe says. “This was a story crying out to be told, and to be told now.”
Davies adds: “I think there’s a lot to think about in terms of what we’re doing to the oceans, but let’s face it, we should be thinking about that anyway. It’s a love story, it’s an adventure, and it has a shocking climax.”
Launch details
The War Between the Land and the Sea will debut with a double bill on BBC iPlayer and BBC One at 8.30pm on Sunday 7 December, before rolling out internationally on Disney+ in 2026.
Looking forward to this mini series, especially as there’s no Docto, I know that sounds bad, but since the last 2 incarnations I’ve not watched since the first 2 episodes of Jody, there was just something that was lost, I even gave Ncuti a 2 episode chance, but didn’t impress and you could tell Disney had their fingers in the filming and production, there’s other companies you could have jumped into bed with, that wouldn’t push transgender etc down our throats (and this I was told by a gay severely sight impaired friend)
Maybe 2026 and beyond will bring the Doctor back from the brink of destruction?
But till then, we need a Torchwood series to bring back the magic and it was this type of show that appealed to the adults and teens who wanted a more gritty, hard hitting Doctor spin-off, fingers crossed and already counting down the 7’ish days till it’s available…..