{"id":161951,"date":"2025-12-01T01:16:03","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T01:16:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/161951\/"},"modified":"2025-12-01T01:16:03","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T01:16:03","slug":"doctor-who-showrunner-addresses-the-doctors-absence-from-the-war-between-the-land-and-the-sea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/161951\/","title":{"rendered":"Doctor Who Showrunner Addresses The Doctor&#8217;s Absence From The War Between the Land and the Sea"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The hit sci-fi series <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbr.com\/tag\/doctor-who\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Doctor Who<\/a> has been around for over six decades. During its run, there have been fifteen main incarnations with 14 actors playing the character in the flagship series.<\/p>\n<p>Doctor Who will receive a brand-new spinoff soon titled <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbr.com\/everything-we-know-about-doctor-who-spinoff-war-between-the-land-and-the-sea\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The War Between the Land and Sea<\/a>. Set to premiere on Dec. 7, the spinoff comes after several controversies with the flagship series, and its uncertain future. Speaking to Radio Times, Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies explained how the Doctor&#8217;s absence will impact the upcoming spinoff The War Between the Land and the Sea.<\/p>\n<p>Teasing the upcoming spinoff, Davies shared, Teasing what&#8217;s to come, Davies explained: &#8220;One of the most interesting things you can do with Doctor Who is to take the Doctor out. This is a world without the Doctor, and we\u2019re seeing how we cope as the human race. There are monsters, there&#8217;s romance, there are chases, there&#8217;s gunfights.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He explained that the upcoming new series is a &#8220;little bit tougher than Doctor Who, it takes on tougher themes, and people have tougher reactions in it, again, because there&#8217;s no Doctor.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Normally, the Doctor has a magic blue doorway they can take everybody safely through, that safety net has gone,&#8221; Davies continued. &#8220;You very much find these characters up against the wall and pushed to the limit.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>                        What Happens in The War Between the Land and the Sea?<\/p>\n<p>        <img width=\"1650\" height=\"826\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Russell Tovey as Barclay in the Doctor Who spinoff, The War Between the Land and the Sea.\" data-img-url=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/the-war-between-the-land-and-the-sea-trailer-russell-tovey-barclay-doctor-who-spinoff.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/the-war-between-the-land-and-the-sea-trailer-russell-tovey-barclay-doctor-who-spinoff.jpg\"\/><br \/>\n        Image via BBC<\/p>\n<p>The upcoming spinoff <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbr.com\/doctor-who-the-war-between-land-and-sea-plot-characters\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The War Between the Land and the Sea brings back Russell Tovey<\/a>, who previously played Alonso in Doctor Who. This time, he gets a leading role alongside Gugu Mbatha-Raw, who is also familiar with the franchise. Mbatha-Raw had a supporting role in the sci-fi series at the beginning of her career.<\/p>\n<p>Although the upcoming spinoff is billed as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbr.com\/doctor-who-spinoff-the-war-between-the-land-and-the-sea-future-update\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">five-episode miniseries<\/a>, the creator explained, &#8220;It&#8217;s a complete story \u2013 it absolutely ends&#8230; and I will say, stay tuned for the very end, keep watching. That doesn&#8217;t mean&#8230; that sounds like the Doctor appears \u2013 that&#8217;s not what happens! But within the story, the credits start to roll&#8230; keep watching!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The creator added, &#8220;It&#8217;s one of the most powerful endings within the most amazing performance from one of this cast you&#8217;ll ever see.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The War Between the Land and the Seas will premiere on the BBC&#8217;s iPlayer and Disney+ on Dec. 7.<\/p>\n<p>        <img width=\"960\" height=\"1440\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A Doctor Who Sea Devil Holding a Sword\" data-img-url=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/a-doctor-who-sea-devil-holding-a-sword.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/a-doctor-who-sea-devil-holding-a-sword.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                                            Network<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBBC One<\/p>\n<p>                                            Showrunner<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRussell T. Davies<\/p>\n<p>                                            Directors<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDylan Holmes Williams<\/p>\n<p>                                            Writers<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRussell T Davies<\/p>\n<p>                                            Franchise(s)<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDoctor Who \/ Whoniverse<\/p>\n<p>                                                                                <img width=\"100\" height=\"130\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"instar53353629.jpg\" data-img-url=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/instar53353629.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/instar53353629.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Gugu Mbatha-Raw<\/p>\n<p>\n                                                    Uncredited\n                                                <\/p>\n<p>                                                                                <img width=\"100\" height=\"130\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Cast Placeholder Image\" data-img-url=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/screen-hub-cast-placeholder-1.png\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/screen-hub-cast-placeholder-1.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Russell Tovey<\/p>\n<p>\n                                                    Kate Lethbridge Stewart\n                                                <\/p>\n<p>                                                                                <img width=\"100\" height=\"130\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Cast Placeholder Image\" data-img-url=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/screen-hub-cast-placeholder-1.png\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/screen-hub-cast-placeholder-1.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Jemma Redgrave<\/p>\n<p>\n                                                    Colonel Christofer Ibrahim\n                                                <\/p>\n<p>                                                                                <img width=\"100\" height=\"130\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Cast Placeholder Image\" data-img-url=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/screen-hub-cast-placeholder-1.png\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/screen-hub-cast-placeholder-1.png\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The hit sci-fi series Doctor Who has been around for over six decades. During its run, there have&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161952,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[156,111,139,69,437],"class_list":{"0":"post-161951","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-newzealand","11":"tag-nz","12":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161951\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}