The War Between the Land and the Sea, which debuted on BBC One and iPlayer on Sunday, is the only new “Whoniverse” content fans are getting for the next 12 months. Starring Russell Tovey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Jemma Redgrave, it features a radical overhaul of a Doctor Who monster first seen in Jon Pertwee’s era: the Sea Devils.
The drama plays as an ecological thriller, with humanity’s mistreatment of the oceans used as a stick by the Sea Devils – now dubbed Homo aqua and Homo amphibia – to justify their demands. Tovey’s “everyman” character is thrust into the global spotlight as humanity’s representative in negotiations that feel increasingly impossible.
