The War Between the Land and the Sea focuses on the military organization UNIT. According to the synopsis, an international crisis ensues when a terrifying and ancient species emerges from the ocean and dramatically reveals itself to humanity. With the entire population at risk, UNIT springs into action as land and sea wage war.
Doctor Who (2024) showrunner and executive producer Russell T Davies co-wrote the spin-off with Pete McTighe and features the return of the Sea Devils, classic villains from Doctor Who (1963) who first appeared in 1972. This comes after the spin-off was already referenced in the episode 73 Yards, the fourteenth episode of season fourteen of the revived era.
The series, which was announced at Comic-Con, is the latest spin-off for the classic British science fiction series. K9 and Company, which focused on the adventures of Sarah Jane Smith and a robot dog, was the first official spin-off, although it was only one episode in 1981. Torchwood was probably the most successful spin-off, coming from Russell T Davies and starring John Barrowman, which ran for four seasons.
There were also two animated series - The Infinite Quest and Dreamland - and the children's series The Sarah Jane Adventures, starring Elisabeth Sladen and airing for five seasons on the children's network CBSC. There was also Class, which ran for one season on BBC 3.
Doctor Who (2024) spin-offs - all set in The Who universe - have been in the works since Davies returned to the franchise and Disney+ came on board. Last year, Davies told GQ that it was "time for the next phase" for Doctor Who.
“I thought — with no criticism whatsoever towards the people who were running it at the time, because they were running it within the BBC’s measures — it was time for the next stage for Doctor Who. I thought the streaming platforms are ready, the spin-offs are ready; I always believed in spin-offs when I was there. I did Torchwood as a spin-off, The Sarah Jane Adventures as a spin-off. Those spin-offs declined when I left, and I can see why. And I very much left after 2008, when the money became scarce, I think that’s fair enough for the public service broadcaster that the money is spent on other things,” he said.
Tovey is best known as the lead actor in series such as the BBC supernatural comedy series Being Human and the HBO series Looking. He also starred in American Horror Story: NYC and Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans.
Mbatha-Raw previously starred in Doctor Who as Tish Jones, sister of Martha Jones. She starred in the Fox series Touch alongside Kiefer Sutherland, Apple TV+'s The Morning Show and Surface, and Disney+'s Marvel's Loki.
The series is produced by Bad Wolf, with BBC Studios for Disney Branded Television and BBC. Filming begins next month and will be directed by Dylan Holmes-Williams, who directed the first season episodes 73 Yards and Dot and Bubble. The series is produced by Davies, Phil Collinson, Joel Collins, Julie Gardner and Jane Tranter.
The spinoff comes after season fourteen (or season 1 for Disney+) aired last month. Ncuti Gatwa stars as the fifteenth Doctor alongside Millie Gibson as his companion Ruby Sunday. Thanks to the arrival of Disney - Doctor Who previously aired on BBC America in the US - the budget of Doctor Who (2024) increased to around $13 million per episode.
However, it was not a ratings success. In Britain, the first episode opened in May to a disappointing 2.6 million viewers, miles behind the previous Doctor's opener, Jodie Whittaker, and also two million fewer than the specials starring David Tennant. When taking into account consolidated seven-day ratings, the entire series averages nearly 1.5 million fewer viewers per episode than Whittaker's final episode in 2021, according to Barb data provided by overnights.tv, while the series failed to light up Barb's daily seven-day streaming rankings. The BBC emphasizes that it is the public broadcaster's top drama for young people under 35 this year.
“The ratings are a problem,” one source told Deadline. “They can talk all they like about young viewers but they’re still down from the specials and down from the Jodie [Whittaker] series. I imagine serious conversations are happening. Disney will want to see results.”
Of course, Disney+ hasn't announced viewership figures for Doctor Who (2024) in the US or internationally. Ratings analyst Parrot Analytics said Doctor Who (2024) was the most requested British series by American audiences during its early release, reaching seventh place on Disney+'s list of most requested series, behind The Simpsons and the Star Wars offshoots.
Russell Tovey also played in Doctor Who. He had a small role as a spaceship helmsman in two episodes in 2007 and 2010.