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The War Between the Land and the Sea overnight ratings revealed for double bill premiere

The double-bill premiere saw the military organisation UNIT forced to deal with the arrival of an ancient species...

Jemma Redgrave as Kate Lethbridge Stewart, Alexander Devrient as Colonel Ibrahim and Mei Mac as Min Tso in The War Between the Land and the Sea. They are all stood by computers, Min is holding a tablet and they are looking shocked and distressed at something off screen.

BBC Studios/Bad Wolf/Samuel Dore

Published: Monday, 8 December 2025 at 4:30 pm

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The overnight ratings have been revealed for the double-bill premiere of The War Between the Land and the Sea.

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The Doctor Who spin-off, which is created by Russell T Davies, arrived on BBC One on Sunday (7th December).

And it's off to a strong start, with an average of 2.82m viewers watching the first episode, while an average of 2.05m viewers tuned into the second instalment on BBC One.

These figures bettered the overnight ratings of any episode of Doctor Who from season 14 or 15 (barring the Christmas specials), although it’s worth noting that the new spin-off has a different release model.

While season 15 saw episodes dropping at 8am on BBC iPlayer before airing on BBC One later that same day and season 14 released its episodes on iPlayer at midnight – a full 19 hours before broadcasting on linear TV – episodes of The War Between the Land and the Sea are being released at the same time as broadcast on BBC One.

Russell Tovey as Barclay in The War Between the Land and the Sea, with pieces of plastic flying around him

Russell Tovey as Barclay in The War Between the Land and the Sea. BBC

Set in the Whoniverse, The War Between the Land and the Sea follows Barclay (Russell Tovey) as he's selected from obscurity to become humanity's ambassador when an ancient species, the Sea Devils, suddenly rear their heads.

Tovey leads the series alongside Gugu Mbatha-Raw, while Ruth Madeley, Jemma Redgrave and Alexander Devrient reprise their roles from Doctor Who as Shirley Bingham, Kate Lethbridge-Stewart and Colonel Ibrahim, respectively.

Davies recently spoke of his pride in how the series has turned out, telling Radio Times magazine: “It is enormously entertaining. It is epic and scary and tough and romantic – you’ll be gobsmacked by it.”

Watch Davies and some of the stars of The War Between the Land and the Sea talk to Radio Times below:

The War Between the Land and the Sea will continue on Sunday 14th December. Doctor Who is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

Add The War Between the Land and the Sea to your watchlist on the Radio Times: What to Watch app – download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more.

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Authors

RadioTimes.com senior trends writer Molly Moss. She is sitting outside wearing a black top, holding a white teacup with a smily face on it to her mouth

Molly MossTrends Writer

Molly Moss is a Trends Writer for Radio Times, covering the latest trends across TV, film and more. She has an MA in Newspaper Journalism and has previously written for publications including The Guardian, The Times and The Sun Online.

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