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\n\t\tThe War Between the Land and the Sea saw Barclay share that he\u2019s met the Doctor (Picture: BBC Studios\/Bad Wolf\/Alistair Heap)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tThe War Between the Land and the Sea saw Barclay share that he\u2019s met the Doctor (Picture: BBC Studios\/Bad Wolf\/Alistair Heap)<\/p>\n
The War Between the Land and the Sea<\/a> might be a Doctor Who<\/a> spin-off for Whovians and the Gallifrey-uninitiated alike<\/a>, but it doesn\u2019t make this storied world any easier to get your arms around for the first time.<\/p>\n \u2018There\u2019s a lot of lore there. A lot of history,\u2019 admits Francesca Corney, who plays Sergeant Hana in the new BBC<\/a> miniseries. She tells Metro she had only seen a handful of greatest hits episodes, including Blink, before she was cast in the show. That likely precluded Russell Tovey<\/a>\u2019s prior role as Titanic midshipman Alonso Frame.\u00a0<\/p>\n So was it Tovey\u2019s top-drawer Christmas special<\/a> that the spin-off was alluding to when his new character Barclay tells Hana he\u2019s met the Doctor? Whovians had shared hopes on Reddit<\/a> that the moment might pave the way for a jaw-dropping reveal: that Alonso and Barclay are one and the same.<\/p>\n \u2018I don\u2019t know how much I can say,\u2019 laughs Corney. \u2018I\u2019d say it\u2019s probably a little Easter egg.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2018I\u2019m not sure under what circumstances [Barclay and the Doctor] met. It could have been a nod to his previous character. It could mean they were in an elevator together at one point.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\tGet personalised updates on Doctor Who\t\t\t<\/p>\n Wake up to find news on your TV shows in your inbox every morning with Metro\u2019s TV Newsletter.<\/p>\n Sign up to our newsletter<\/a> and then select your show in the link we\u2019ll send you so we can get TV news tailored to you.<\/p>\n \u2018I think that\u2019s definitely up to our imaginations in how we view that.\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web Whovian or not, the 33-year-old actor likely wasn\u2019t the only one unfamiliar with the Sea Devils before the spin-off.<\/p>\n Well, that would be Homo Aqua to us now. They\u2019re the fishfolk who have been left all the worse off by whoever\u2019s harebrained idea it was to integrate plastic into every area of our lives. Creator Russell T Davies\u2019<\/a> desire to let the fat cats and water companies have it through these scripts was something he touched on at the table read, Corney says.<\/p>\n This morality tale plays out in huge set pieces: the aquaman army emerges from the sea in a rocky bay, then face off with the world\u2019s diplomats from a giant fishbowl. The sets were on a scale Corney had not yet experienced in her career.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2018In my mind, I was like, \u201cIt\u2019s going to be huge green screens, you\u2019re going to have to use your imagination to get in there.\u201d But I was so amazed by the set builds.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2018They were just so grand and monumental and really, really incredible. It was not hard at all to assimilate into that world. It\u2019s given me high expectations for future jobs.\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t \t\t Even the Homo Aqua were, for the most part, rendered with practical effects. \u2018What you see is how it is,\u2019 she says, recalling how the cast had first been shown the visuals for Gugu Mbatha-Raw\u2019s Salt at the \u2018very big deal\u2019 table read.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2018I\u2019ve done table reads before and they\u2019re usually quite low-key. But this was huge, there were so many people there,\u2019 Corney recalls.<\/p>\n \u2018We had a set behind us and they had this big projector. As we were going through the script, they had concept art flash up showing what they were going to look like.\u2019<\/p>\n We\u2019re two episodes in, with two more<\/a> airing on BBC One tonight. There\u2019s rampant speculation about a big character death<\/a> (most of which is trending towards Jemma Redgrave\u2019s Kate).<\/p>\n The rather futile question about whether that\u2019s the case gets a big laugh. \u2018You\u2019ll have to wait and see,\u2019 Corney says, at the end of the laugh. The unwieldy show title \u2013 no, she isn\u2019t sure why either \u2014 certainly implies the H2O diplomacy goes south.<\/p>\n The War Between the Land and the Sea returns at 8:30pm on BBC One.<\/p>\n Got a story?<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk<\/a> entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff<\/a> page \u2013 we\u2019d love to hear from you.<\/p>\n Arrow Arrow Arrow![\"TX](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SEI_276290797-cc6f.jpg\")
\n\t\tFrancesca Corney plays Unit\u2019s Sergeant Hana (Picture: BBC Studios\/Bad Wolf)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tThere\u2019s rampant speculation about a big character death\u2026 (Picture: BBC Studios\/Bad Wolf\/James Pardon)<\/p>\n![\"TX](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SEI_276363386_3d52e9-4d0a.jpg\")
\n\t\t\u2018It\u2019s given me high expectations for future jobs\u2019 (Picture: BBC Studios\/Bad Wolf\/James Pardon)<\/p>\n
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