Doctor Who Spinoff Sets UK Airdate, US Fans Will Have to Wait
The War Between the Land and the Sea will officially premiere in the U.K. in December. In America... not so much.
American Doctor Who fans will have to polish off their spoiler-dodging skills if they want to experience spinoff The War Between the Land and the Sea without knowing some of the story’s biggest twists in advance. The five-part series will officially begin airing on BBC One and BBC iPlayer with a two-episode premiere on December 7, leaving U.S. fans (and pretty much anyone who doesn’t happen to live in the United Kingdom) out in the proverbial cold for what will likely be months to come.
Disney+, which still controls the rights to broadcast the series thanks to its original partnership deal with the BBC that has since gone up in flames, doesn’t seem particularly pressed about airing it, and has only said that the show will be available “in 2026”. They’ll get to it when they get to it, okay? The break-up is clearly not going all that well.
To be fair, this sort of airing schedule isn’t unusual — we’d all just gotten used to not having to really deal with it anymore. In the early days of the modern reboot, the series aired in America on the Sci-Fi Channel (now Syfy) and would often premiere months after its original U.K. broadcast. (And with terribly inserted commercial breaks!)
But in recent years, the show had finally begun to transmit on the same day and date in both countries — thanks to time differences (and what seems to be a profound lack of network interest), the show even dropped several hours ahead of its BBC One airings for U.S. viewers during the Disney+ era. Hardcore Whovians who’d basically spent years using livestreams or VPNs to watch the British broadcasts were finally able to relax. It was, honestly, a golden time for all of us. But nothing lasts forever, it would seem.
The series stars Russell Tovey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, and franchise regular Jemma Redgrave in a story that will theoretically explore how Earth copes with an alien threat when the Doctor’s not around to help. This will involve the return of the classic monsters known as the Sea Devils (sorry…I mean, Homo Aqua), who are apparently quite pissed that humankind has spent centuries polluting the seas they call home. Human negotiator Barclay (Russell Tovey) and don’t-call-her-a-Sea-Devil ambassador Salt (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) will have to come together in order way to find a forward for both their species that avoids a potentially cataclysmic conflict.
They’re also totally going to make out. No spoilers, obviously, but that series’ poster could not be more Rose-and-Ten-from-”Doomsday”-coded if it tried. (Don’t believe me? Just look at that second shot!) Seriously, folks, what are we even doing here?
The War Between the Land and the Sea will premiere its first two episodes on Sunday, December 7 on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. The second two episodes will broadcast the following week, with the series’ finale slated to hit just before Christmas on December 21.
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Lacy Baugher is a digital producer by day, but a television enthusiast pretty much all the time. Her writing has been featured in Paste Magazine, Collider,…