THE WAR BETWEEN BECOMES ONE OF THE BIGGEST DRAMA LAUNCHES OF THE YEAR AS DOCTOR WHO SPIN-OFF STARTS STRONG FOR BBC
- TV Zone
- 4 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Doctor Who spin-off The War Between The Land And The Sea launched on BBC One this weekend with a double bill from 8:30pm on Sunday evening.
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The show, created by Russell T Davies, launched with 2.8m for its first episode, followed by 2.1m for its second episode*. These figures are higher than most regular episodes of Doctor Who in recent years - with Episode 1 of The War Between rating higher than any episode in Season 1 or Season 2.
The show has become one of - if not the - biggest new drama launch of the year for the BBC based on overnight ratings only, ahead of Sally Wainwright's Riot Women and other new titles including King & Conqueror, This City Is Ours and Virdee.
Not only are these figures a success in themselves, the show achieved this opposite the toughest competition ITV could offer - the live final of I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here. The second episode - which clashed with the ITV reality show for its entire duration - was 400,000 viewers ahead of the BBC's slot average.
The five-part series follows Barclay (Russell Tovey), a low-level UNIT staff member whose ordinary life becomes a world of terror when an ancient species rises from the sea. Barclay becomes humanity’s ambassador when the mysterious Salt (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) emerges from the Tank at a summit on the Thames. UNIT, led by Kate Lethbridge-Stewart (Jemma Redgrave), fights for control as humanity faces destruction.
Alongside Russell Tovey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, and Jemma Redgrave, the series features a star-studded cast including Ruth Madeley as Shirley Bingham, Alexander Devrient as Colonel Christofer Ibrahim, and Colin McFarlane as General Austin Pierce.
The War Between The Land And The Sea continues Sunday at 8:30pm with a further two episodes, before its final on Sunday 21st December at 8:05pm. Episodes 1 and 2 are available now on BBC iPlayer and the series will land on Disney+ internationally in 2026.
*as reported by Broadcast.
