BBC Teases Epic Conflict In Doctor Who Spin-Off

‘The Reality War’ has been. Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor is gone. But if you thought that a regenerating Doctor meant that the world has stopped turning in the Whoniverse, then you are very much mistaken. Right after Doctor Who‘s explosive Season 2 finale aired earlier this evening, the BBC dropped our first official teaser for hotly anticipated upcoming spin-off series The War Between The Land And The Sea, a new Doctor-less series poured from the pen of Who showrunner Russell T. Davies and A Discovery Of Witches‘ Pete McTighe. Led by the mercurial talents of Russell Tovey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, and main show UNIT regulars Jemma Redgrave, Alexander Devrient, and Ruth Madeley, the series looks set to serve up some tense-looking close encounters of the third — and briny — kind. Check out the teaser below and you’ll see what we mean;

Sea Devils left, right, and centre. Gugu Mbatha-Raw going full The Shape Of Water with the prosthetics. A stressed out Russell Tovey trying to stave off an international incident. The UNIT crew all furrowing brows with nary a sonic receptacle in sight. Sure, this may be about forty seconds of footage, but it’s footage that looks pretty class all the same. (And yes, that is class with a lower case ‘c’, not Class, the ill-fated last attempt at a Whoniverse spin-off that was never really given a chance.) The tone is decidedly less wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey than Doctor Who, the potential for a politically pointed allegory to be explored fully apparent, and the cast is solid as a rock. And while more in-depth character and plot specifics aren’t being released just yet, the logline is pretty enticing too: “When a fearsome and ancient species emerges from the ocean, dramatically revealing themselves to humanity, an international crisis is triggered. With the entire population at risk, UNIT step into action as the land and sea wage war.”

While we eagerly wait for confirmation of Doctor Who Season 3, and for further word on whether [REDACTED] is actually going to be playing [REDACTED] whenever the world’s longest-running sci-fi series returns, The War Between The Land And The Sea — which, we should add, is being directed by Dylan Holmes Williams, who helmed last year’s exceptional ’73 Yards’ episode of Who — looks like it’ll be just what the Doctor ordered. Here’s hoping it’ll hit BBC One and BBC iPlayer (and Disney+ outside of the UK) before the year is through!