In some ways, this final episode feels like an inevitable outcome. Obviously things would have to go back to some form of normality, but it's a credit to the show that it didn't automatically feel like a foregone conclusion -- and they do provide a bit of leeway, rather than definitively shutting the door.
Hold on, let's back up a bit.
So after Salt escaped at the end of last episode, Barclay's been in protective custody and Aquakind has started melting the polar ice caps so they can drown humanity and turn the world into ocean. "You have five years [to clean up the world]," the new ambassador, Tide, tells humanity, "or all the water of the world will be set free. And be certain of this. Little people. This was never a war. This was an inconvenience. You were the dirt that gathered while we were away. But now we have returned, and you will be cleansed." So with that threat hanging over everyone's heads, Kate chooses to go to the Prime Minister to ask him about Severance. "I can help," she tells him. "There's always a way out. I can find it for you." But rather than convince him to accept Kate's help, this move instead pushes him to enact Severance -- which apparently involves injecting Barclay with some substance (and spraying his face with something) and then letting him out of his room to try and find Salt. Which he does, inadvertently infecting her with a virus that spreads throughout Homo aqua, killing off 90% of the population.
So yes, as I said at the top, it's a tribute to the show that this doesn't feel inevitable. You're often left wondering if there will be a peaceful resolution, and the show initially fakes the audience out when Salt seems to provide one: "Send out a signal to the seas, ask them for accord, and we might survive. All of us," she tells Barclay. We get a nice little scene where they figure out how to do it, and initially it seems like it might work, but it turns out it's already too late; the virus has already done its work. It's an effective pump fake. But, as with "The Hungry Earth"/"Cold Blood" (and the 20th-century Silurian/Sea Devil stories, to an extent), we see that ultimately it's humanity's violent nature that wins out. The villains, in this case, win. It leads to an emotional meeting between Barclay and Salt in front of the world, as she informs humanity that they've won. And when Barclay, per Kate's request, offers Aquakind a particular area to live, Salt bitterly calls it a "hunting ground" for humans to kill them, while it's not too hard to draw parallels to the way Native Americans were forced onto reservations by the American government. Definitely something of a downbeat ending then.
It's not completely downbeat though; sure, most of Aquakind was murdered by humanity (specifically the British Prime Minister and the two generals, who we see killed (maybe? It's not clear if this is the future or just imagined) by vomiting water and drowning inside a parked car, respectively), but at least Salt is still alive. And we learn that the reason Barclay has been having neck pain is because he's actually growing gills for some reason (I think this may have something to do with the accord, but if they actually explained it I missed it) and is now much like Salt, able to live both on the land and in the sea. So at least they get to end up together, with Kate sending them off. It's not a big triumphant ending, but it's at least something.
Except then after the credits start to roll they do the equivalent of an MCU post-credits scene, with a jogger tossing aside a drink bottle and Kate asking him to pick it up, which escalates to her holding him at gunpoint and demanding he pick the bottle up. (Which is definitely extreme, of course, but also, my guy, you just lived through the planet getting pelting with trash and almost getting wiped out because of humanity's pollution and littering, so why the hell are you still tossing bottles aside on the beach instead of putting it in a bin?) It looks like the stress has finally gotten to Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, and this is her cracking.
That may look like a tease for the future, but we're not going to get any sort of follow-up anytime soon, if ever. The War Between the Land and the Sea did OK critically, but ratings weren't anything special -- basically the same as the most recent series of Doctor Who. In some ways that's a shame; while this wasn't the best show (or even Who spin-off) ever, it was still solid, and it showed that there is indeed some merit to the idea of a UNIT-focused show. Russell Tovey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, and Jemma Redgrave all deserve praise for their performances, and they were aided by an excellent supporting cast, with Cat Gannon as Kirby, Ruth Madeley as Shirley, and Francesca Corney as Sgt. Hana just some of the many great actors seen here. Other than some unresolved questions, the scripting was also good (and writing-wise, this final episode was leagues ahead of "The Reality War" or "Empire of Death"). It's frankly a little surprising that, in the United States at least, Disney still haven't released this yet. It's nothing embarrassing and honestly there's no reason it couldn't just be quietly released on Disney+ without a lot of fanfare, like any number of other shows on the platform (or even Doctor Who itself, to an extent). The War Between the Land and the Sea is a generally enjoyable story, even if it's not the flashiest thing ever.
But that, perhaps surprisingly, may be the final word on Doctor Who on television for some time to come.309 After Disney officially announced they weren't renewing their agreement with the BBC, a Christmas special was announced, but as time passed and nothing happened on the front it became clear that this wasn't going to happen, and eventually the BBC cancelled it in June 2026, with Russell T Davies/Bad Wolf Ltd. officially stepping down from making the show (and Davies stating he'd never even written a script for the special). The BBC don't seem to want the show to just go away, the way they did in 1989, since they officially began the process in September of finding another production partner for the show, opening it up to companies to bid for. But even if anything comes of that, it will still take time for a new series to start moving. The Doctor, it seems, is on another break. Let's just hope this one is shorter than 16 years.
309 Unless you count this animated Doctor Who: TARDIS Crew show aimed at preschoolers that's coming out on CBeebies (the dedicated BBC channel for ages 5 and under) sometime in the next year or two. Maybe I'll cover it, but the teaser image that's been released so far makes this look like little more than a fun and silly way to entertain young kids, and not anything intended for a larger audience.
October 29: "The Witch of the Waterfall" (The War Between the Land and the Sea)
After last time's shocking end, we spend a lot of this episode dealing with the aftermath. Not only is Colonel Christopher Ibrahim dead (you bastards), but everyone on the diplomatic mission was also killed by what apparently was a massive sonic bomb triggered by Ted. Everyone, that is, except Barclay, who was saved by Salt when she raced him to the surface while maintaining hyperbaric pressure in his lungs via mouth-to-mouth contact. (I assume "hyperbaric" was added after someone pointed out that Barclay would likely be seriously injured from the rapid decompression accompanying his speedy ascent.) So while he and Salt get picked up by a UNIT helicopter in the ocean, Kate has to deal with the fallout of the assassination attempt -- not only the death of Christopher and the fact that someone targetted her, but that the diplomatic conference was destroyed by a bomb and that Salt is apparently claiming credit. (Of course, we know that's been faked because we've seen Salt's actions the whole time, but that doesn't mean the rest of the world has.) Jemma Redgrave does an excellent job, as the focus of the show shifts from Barclay to her, with showing a wide range, from grief over Christopher to steel over handling the assassination attempt to calm as she's forced to negotiate with the new Aquakind ambassador, Tide, who threatens to escalate the war if Salt isn't turned over to them for the crime of saving Barclay over fellow Aquakind. Redgrave handles all of these very well, often shifting between them in the same scene. It's very well done. (Plus, we get an offhand reference to a hitherto unknown daughter in Dubai, which is fun.)
But then it turns out that both assassination attempts (Kate's and the Homo aqua people) is the work of some new fanatical group called the Institute of Las Clemente who are concerned with the Great Replacement Theory (which in this case is being replaced by Aquakind instead of minorities, but the parallels are clear). The evil American general makes quick work of them, so it's not completely clear at this stage what the point of this second group is. Is it to show that there are other violent groups out there, not just the warmongering cartoon villains with the ear of the Prime Minister? Or was it just to have some action at the halfway point that didn't immediately implicated Sir Keith and company? As it currently stands, it's just a touch awkward.
But because there's this deepfaked video of Salt claiming responsibility that they don't prove is deepfaked until the end of the episode, Kate is forced to take Salt into custody of a prisoner of war. Obviously this upsets Barclay, so he takes matters into his own hands and helps her escape, following her into the river as a fugitive. In other hands this new bravery might feel inconsistent, but Tovey makes it a natural growth of the character. This new fugitive life also gives Gugu Mbatha-Raw a chance to show a more playful side of Salt. Before she's been primarily the diplomat, serious and resolute, with only hints of something else, but once she's no longer in that role, Salt becomes more light-feeling, marvelling at glass and finding herself attracted to Barclay. To their credit, Tovey and Mbatha-Raw continue to play this well, with both confusion and desire for Tovey and playful romance for Mbatha-Raw. Not that it lasts long, since Barclay isn't as clever at evading UNIT as he thinks he is -- which honestly makes sense.
The other thing to note is that our cartoon villains are still out there but being a lot less cartoony this time around. Instead we have the American General taking charge, having Sir Keith murdered because he was involved (possibly coincidentally, though that's not certain), rounding up the Las Clemente people, and taking command of the British army (with the PM's blessing) so that they can capture Salt and run experiments on her, either alive or dead. That does lead to a tense standoff on a bridge, as Kate is willing to shoot British soldiers rather than let the US General (I should probably learn his name; hold on... apparently it's Gunsberg? Well that's subtle) take custody of Barclay and Salt, which is only resolved when Salt temporarily paralyses everyone (except Barclay, oddly) with some special scream and then dives into the river.
So with one episode to go, I'm genuinely not sure how they're going to resolve all this. But between this and the last episode, things are definitely looking up, entertainment-wise. It's possible it could all collapse at the last minute, like the last two Doctor Who season-enders Davies wrote (since he's also writing the wrap-up for this series), but if they maintain this level of quality then this miniseries will have been worthwhile. Fingers crossed...
But then it turns out that both assassination attempts (Kate's and the Homo aqua people) is the work of some new fanatical group called the Institute of Las Clemente who are concerned with the Great Replacement Theory (which in this case is being replaced by Aquakind instead of minorities, but the parallels are clear). The evil American general makes quick work of them, so it's not completely clear at this stage what the point of this second group is. Is it to show that there are other violent groups out there, not just the warmongering cartoon villains with the ear of the Prime Minister? Or was it just to have some action at the halfway point that didn't immediately implicated Sir Keith and company? As it currently stands, it's just a touch awkward.
But because there's this deepfaked video of Salt claiming responsibility that they don't prove is deepfaked until the end of the episode, Kate is forced to take Salt into custody of a prisoner of war. Obviously this upsets Barclay, so he takes matters into his own hands and helps her escape, following her into the river as a fugitive. In other hands this new bravery might feel inconsistent, but Tovey makes it a natural growth of the character. This new fugitive life also gives Gugu Mbatha-Raw a chance to show a more playful side of Salt. Before she's been primarily the diplomat, serious and resolute, with only hints of something else, but once she's no longer in that role, Salt becomes more light-feeling, marvelling at glass and finding herself attracted to Barclay. To their credit, Tovey and Mbatha-Raw continue to play this well, with both confusion and desire for Tovey and playful romance for Mbatha-Raw. Not that it lasts long, since Barclay isn't as clever at evading UNIT as he thinks he is -- which honestly makes sense.
The other thing to note is that our cartoon villains are still out there but being a lot less cartoony this time around. Instead we have the American General taking charge, having Sir Keith murdered because he was involved (possibly coincidentally, though that's not certain), rounding up the Las Clemente people, and taking command of the British army (with the PM's blessing) so that they can capture Salt and run experiments on her, either alive or dead. That does lead to a tense standoff on a bridge, as Kate is willing to shoot British soldiers rather than let the US General (I should probably learn his name; hold on... apparently it's Gunsberg? Well that's subtle) take custody of Barclay and Salt, which is only resolved when Salt temporarily paralyses everyone (except Barclay, oddly) with some special scream and then dives into the river.
So with one episode to go, I'm genuinely not sure how they're going to resolve all this. But between this and the last episode, things are definitely looking up, entertainment-wise. It's possible it could all collapse at the last minute, like the last two Doctor Who season-enders Davies wrote (since he's also writing the wrap-up for this series), but if they maintain this level of quality then this miniseries will have been worthwhile. Fingers crossed...
October 28: "The Deep" (The War Between the Land and the Sea)
So if the previous two episodes were basically focused on setup, "The Deep" is where things start to move into a new phase. There's not exactly much in the way of action in this episode (at least, until the last 5 minutes or so), but they've replaced the sense of exposition and plot-maneuvering with one of tension and impending dread. This, on the whole, is a good thing.
This episode concerns itself primarily that the agreement Barclay made at the end of last episode, to meet Homo aqua on their home turf at the bottom of the Romanche Trench near the west coast of Africa: one of the deepest parts of the ocean. So we get lots of discussions about the preparations of that descent: getting the diving bell ready, picking a team to accompany Barclay, and seeing Barclay himself open up to his ex-wife about being scared. This last part helps humanise Barclay, lest we forget that he's been rather unexpectedly thrust into all this. Because much of the rest of the episode calls on him to be the calm and collected one, particularly in the diving bell while many of his teammates start to experience panic attacks, it's nice to see the more vulnerable side here.
But for large parts of this, Barclay is the level-headed one of the team. We see a team of six sent down in the diving bell: Barclay, General Pierce, Captain Louise Mackie (one of the UNIT people we've seen working with the Homo aqua language), Min Tso (another UNIT person we've seen doing science things), and two new diplomatic personnel named Ravi (who's rather nervous) and Ted (a friendly South African guy). They do a good job of wringing tension out of the diving bell scenes with little more than acting and lots of loud bangs and groans from the bell as it adjusts to the pressure. While Pierce remains perhaps predictably reasonably calm, the others all have moments of anxiety, some more severe than others. It's good to see each of them get a moment, a bit of characterisation, since it makes us care about them a bit more (along with giving Barclay a chance to show some leadership qualities).
There's also something of a sense of wonder when we see the domain of Homo aqua; the way it looks elegantly organic, while everything is lit in a gentle blue bioluminescent glow, is nicely done. And while the characters may initially show fear when the diving bell is seized (although why are they so surprised and alarmed by this? What did they think was going to happen?), we quickly move on to trust from most of the characters (except Ted, for reasons that will soon become clear). And so while Min gets to show off a bit, discussing the lighting, our focus shifts to a scene between Barclay and Salt that shows a surprising amount of sexual tension. Their scene is almost crackling with electricity, even though all they're really doing is standing in front of each other and feeling the texture of the other person's skin; nevertheless, Russell Tovey and Gugu Mbatha-Raw have clear chemistry, even with a diving suit and a bunch of prosthetics in the way.
Meanwhile on the surface, tensions are rising, partly in thanks to our cartoon villains from last time. They're not quite as overtly evil this time, although the way they seem to be running the Prime Minister's meeting for him isn't exactly innocent-looking. As Kate wonders, why are a civilian and two foreign generals present at an emergency meeting? We get some waffle from the PM about needing industry on his side, but it doesn't sound terribly convincing, and the way they try to muscle UNIT out of the way is so clumsy that it's a bit surprising that it's working. I guess this Prime Minister doesn't have a particularly strong backbone (another similarity this shares with Children of Earth). Then they overegg the pudding with a scene where Sir Keith gets to be cartoonishly evil again, making quips about how the PM likes Sir Keith's money and hinting at something called "Severance" (probably not the Apple show). Come on, Pete McTighe, I know these guys are villains but couldn't you have given them at least a little more subtlety?
So we get conflict and tension both on land and in the sea, and things start to really come to a head at the end. The way they juxtapose Kate's (attempted) assassination with the reveal that Ted, who's spent a bunch of time being likable, is really working for Sir Keith and company (well, probably), having smuggled some sort of weapon in as a gift, does mean that this episode ends on a suitably dramatic note (which is also a change from the last two cliffhangers, which both end on Russell Tovey saying "OK"). It does raise some vetting questions from UNIT again though, if this diplomatic representative can smuggle a weapon into their mission; who's clearing these people? It's like we're back to the slightly ramshackle days of '70s UNIT again. And so help me, if they kill Colonel Ibrahim (the way that ending shot, his having taken a bullet meant for Kate, seems to imply), I will be very very unhappy.
So yeah, this is definitely picking up. I'm interested to see what happens next.
This episode concerns itself primarily that the agreement Barclay made at the end of last episode, to meet Homo aqua on their home turf at the bottom of the Romanche Trench near the west coast of Africa: one of the deepest parts of the ocean. So we get lots of discussions about the preparations of that descent: getting the diving bell ready, picking a team to accompany Barclay, and seeing Barclay himself open up to his ex-wife about being scared. This last part helps humanise Barclay, lest we forget that he's been rather unexpectedly thrust into all this. Because much of the rest of the episode calls on him to be the calm and collected one, particularly in the diving bell while many of his teammates start to experience panic attacks, it's nice to see the more vulnerable side here.
But for large parts of this, Barclay is the level-headed one of the team. We see a team of six sent down in the diving bell: Barclay, General Pierce, Captain Louise Mackie (one of the UNIT people we've seen working with the Homo aqua language), Min Tso (another UNIT person we've seen doing science things), and two new diplomatic personnel named Ravi (who's rather nervous) and Ted (a friendly South African guy). They do a good job of wringing tension out of the diving bell scenes with little more than acting and lots of loud bangs and groans from the bell as it adjusts to the pressure. While Pierce remains perhaps predictably reasonably calm, the others all have moments of anxiety, some more severe than others. It's good to see each of them get a moment, a bit of characterisation, since it makes us care about them a bit more (along with giving Barclay a chance to show some leadership qualities).
There's also something of a sense of wonder when we see the domain of Homo aqua; the way it looks elegantly organic, while everything is lit in a gentle blue bioluminescent glow, is nicely done. And while the characters may initially show fear when the diving bell is seized (although why are they so surprised and alarmed by this? What did they think was going to happen?), we quickly move on to trust from most of the characters (except Ted, for reasons that will soon become clear). And so while Min gets to show off a bit, discussing the lighting, our focus shifts to a scene between Barclay and Salt that shows a surprising amount of sexual tension. Their scene is almost crackling with electricity, even though all they're really doing is standing in front of each other and feeling the texture of the other person's skin; nevertheless, Russell Tovey and Gugu Mbatha-Raw have clear chemistry, even with a diving suit and a bunch of prosthetics in the way.
Meanwhile on the surface, tensions are rising, partly in thanks to our cartoon villains from last time. They're not quite as overtly evil this time, although the way they seem to be running the Prime Minister's meeting for him isn't exactly innocent-looking. As Kate wonders, why are a civilian and two foreign generals present at an emergency meeting? We get some waffle from the PM about needing industry on his side, but it doesn't sound terribly convincing, and the way they try to muscle UNIT out of the way is so clumsy that it's a bit surprising that it's working. I guess this Prime Minister doesn't have a particularly strong backbone (another similarity this shares with Children of Earth). Then they overegg the pudding with a scene where Sir Keith gets to be cartoonishly evil again, making quips about how the PM likes Sir Keith's money and hinting at something called "Severance" (probably not the Apple show). Come on, Pete McTighe, I know these guys are villains but couldn't you have given them at least a little more subtlety?
So we get conflict and tension both on land and in the sea, and things start to really come to a head at the end. The way they juxtapose Kate's (attempted) assassination with the reveal that Ted, who's spent a bunch of time being likable, is really working for Sir Keith and company (well, probably), having smuggled some sort of weapon in as a gift, does mean that this episode ends on a suitably dramatic note (which is also a change from the last two cliffhangers, which both end on Russell Tovey saying "OK"). It does raise some vetting questions from UNIT again though, if this diplomatic representative can smuggle a weapon into their mission; who's clearing these people? It's like we're back to the slightly ramshackle days of '70s UNIT again. And so help me, if they kill Colonel Ibrahim (the way that ending shot, his having taken a bullet meant for Kate, seems to imply), I will be very very unhappy.
So yeah, this is definitely picking up. I'm interested to see what happens next.
October 27: "Plastic Apocalypse" (The War Between the Land and the Sea)
I see Pete McTighe has taken over the writing duties for this episode (and the next two). That's perhaps appropriate, given that one of the Doctor Who episodes he (co-)wrote was series 12's "Praxeus", which was about plastic pollution and is in some ways a sister episode to "Plastic Apocalypse".
This is, perhaps unsurprisingly, another fairly talky episode. The primary focus is on Barclay's new position as ambassador, dealing with all the political juggling among many nations as he tries not to screw things up. And while we get a couple early series of Barclay being sternly questioned by Kate Lethbridge-Stewart ("What communication have you had with with Homo aqua prior to today?" Kate demands. "None, never," Barclay responds. "I had a goldfish once, is that relevant?" he adds. "This isn't a joke, Mr Dupont," Kate says sternly. "I wasn't joking," Barclay says quietly. "His name was Simon"), fortunately we don't spend too much time questioning Barclay's background and allegiance. We do get a nice scene between Barclay and Kate in the back of a van, where she can let down her front with him a bit, though: "Barclay, I need someone I can work with," she tells me. "And I think I can work with you."
But it still feels like a fair amount of setup is happening in this episode. This is where the initial negotiations between humanity and Homo aqua begin, but we only get a couple sessions, both of which are controlled by the Homo aqua's ambassador, Salt, despite humanity (aka Kate)'s best efforts. Salt is played by another familiar Who veteran: Gugu Mbatha-Raw, who played Martha's sister Tish back in 2007. She, like Russell Tovey, also does a good job of staying engaging (no mean feat under that makeup), and you kind of wish we could get more scenes of her and Barclay talking, since they're both compelling performers. Salt is obviously the aggrieved party, dealing with all the pollution that humanity has been pumping into the oceans, so that means she has to be a lot more severe and solemn than Barclay. Barclay is doing the best he can, and while the moments where he goes off-script are fun ("This is like working with the Doctor," Kate grumbles), he also does a good job of sticking to the script and trying to negotiate in good faith with Salt and not assuming that he knows better. It's kind of refreshing, to be honest, to be provided a protagonist who doesn't automatically assume he knows what's best and has it blow up in his face, the way you could see the American version of this series going. Instead we get someone who seems reasonably competent and only sometimes speaks his mind. It's a good balance.
That said, there are still a couple odd moments. The titular apocalypse comes after Salt basically does a "are you sure that's what you want? OK then" rugpull and sends all the trash from the oceans onto the land. And while it looks dangerous and all falling from the sky (theoretically, at least; I'm not convinced they really sell this the way they're hoping to), it also doesn't look like that much? I was sort of expecting literal mountains of trash, not just a couple feet of it. I'm sure it damaged a bunch of stuff falling from the sky (another thing that isn't remotely explained how), but it also doesn't look that apocalyptic. It'll be a pain to clean up, but not insurmountable. I can see why it would upset humanity and make them scared, as Barclay states, but it seems like it could have been worse.
There's also a short scene (with no closure, so I'm sure we'll see them again in future episodes) with a British oil baron, an American general, and a French general where they plot against peace in such cartoonishly evil ways that they might as well wear signs saying "Villain". There's probably a point to be made about how people with financial investments and short-sightedness are going to working against some sort of treaty if it means they have to stop polluting, but this isn't it. They sit around cackling and eating fish and caviar to ram home the point that these are Bad People and you kind of wish they'd just go away; we're a long way away from the nuance of a Malcolm Hulke308 character here.
Don't get me wrong, there are some good moments in "Plastic Apocalypse", such as Barclay's interaction with his teenager Kirby, where we see that they have a nice loving relationship, or the way we see that the relationship between Kate and Colonel Ibrahim has actually developed, and the interactions between Salt and Barclay are also worth watching. But so far this series has been more interested in talking, and while Tovey and Mbatha-Raw do a great job with this (not to belittle people like Jemma Redgrave, of course, who are also doing a great job), now that we're getting to the halfway point here, it's time for some action. Let's hope "The Deep" can start to deliver.
308 The writer of Doctor Who and the Silurians and The Sea Devils, if you've forgotten.
This is, perhaps unsurprisingly, another fairly talky episode. The primary focus is on Barclay's new position as ambassador, dealing with all the political juggling among many nations as he tries not to screw things up. And while we get a couple early series of Barclay being sternly questioned by Kate Lethbridge-Stewart ("What communication have you had with with Homo aqua prior to today?" Kate demands. "None, never," Barclay responds. "I had a goldfish once, is that relevant?" he adds. "This isn't a joke, Mr Dupont," Kate says sternly. "I wasn't joking," Barclay says quietly. "His name was Simon"), fortunately we don't spend too much time questioning Barclay's background and allegiance. We do get a nice scene between Barclay and Kate in the back of a van, where she can let down her front with him a bit, though: "Barclay, I need someone I can work with," she tells me. "And I think I can work with you."
But it still feels like a fair amount of setup is happening in this episode. This is where the initial negotiations between humanity and Homo aqua begin, but we only get a couple sessions, both of which are controlled by the Homo aqua's ambassador, Salt, despite humanity (aka Kate)'s best efforts. Salt is played by another familiar Who veteran: Gugu Mbatha-Raw, who played Martha's sister Tish back in 2007. She, like Russell Tovey, also does a good job of staying engaging (no mean feat under that makeup), and you kind of wish we could get more scenes of her and Barclay talking, since they're both compelling performers. Salt is obviously the aggrieved party, dealing with all the pollution that humanity has been pumping into the oceans, so that means she has to be a lot more severe and solemn than Barclay. Barclay is doing the best he can, and while the moments where he goes off-script are fun ("This is like working with the Doctor," Kate grumbles), he also does a good job of sticking to the script and trying to negotiate in good faith with Salt and not assuming that he knows better. It's kind of refreshing, to be honest, to be provided a protagonist who doesn't automatically assume he knows what's best and has it blow up in his face, the way you could see the American version of this series going. Instead we get someone who seems reasonably competent and only sometimes speaks his mind. It's a good balance.
That said, there are still a couple odd moments. The titular apocalypse comes after Salt basically does a "are you sure that's what you want? OK then" rugpull and sends all the trash from the oceans onto the land. And while it looks dangerous and all falling from the sky (theoretically, at least; I'm not convinced they really sell this the way they're hoping to), it also doesn't look like that much? I was sort of expecting literal mountains of trash, not just a couple feet of it. I'm sure it damaged a bunch of stuff falling from the sky (another thing that isn't remotely explained how), but it also doesn't look that apocalyptic. It'll be a pain to clean up, but not insurmountable. I can see why it would upset humanity and make them scared, as Barclay states, but it seems like it could have been worse.
There's also a short scene (with no closure, so I'm sure we'll see them again in future episodes) with a British oil baron, an American general, and a French general where they plot against peace in such cartoonishly evil ways that they might as well wear signs saying "Villain". There's probably a point to be made about how people with financial investments and short-sightedness are going to working against some sort of treaty if it means they have to stop polluting, but this isn't it. They sit around cackling and eating fish and caviar to ram home the point that these are Bad People and you kind of wish they'd just go away; we're a long way away from the nuance of a Malcolm Hulke308 character here.
Don't get me wrong, there are some good moments in "Plastic Apocalypse", such as Barclay's interaction with his teenager Kirby, where we see that they have a nice loving relationship, or the way we see that the relationship between Kate and Colonel Ibrahim has actually developed, and the interactions between Salt and Barclay are also worth watching. But so far this series has been more interested in talking, and while Tovey and Mbatha-Raw do a great job with this (not to belittle people like Jemma Redgrave, of course, who are also doing a great job), now that we're getting to the halfway point here, it's time for some action. Let's hope "The Deep" can start to deliver.
308 The writer of Doctor Who and the Silurians and The Sea Devils, if you've forgotten.
October 26, 2026: "Homo Aqua" (The War Between the Land and the Sea)
OK, sorry about that. Jet lag is a real pain. But I'm back now and ready to resume!
So part of the deal the BBC made with Disney wasn't just for two seasons (and a handful of specials) of Doctor Who: the intention was to also launch a brave new world of spin-offs (just like 2006 again!), with the first being a five-episode UNIT miniseries called The War Between the Land and the Sea.
But as with many things involving the Disney partnership, things didn't shake out the way they'd first been envisioned. In October 2025, Disney announced that they weren't renewing their deal with the BBC for Doctor Who -- although it wasn't officially confirmed, part of the issue was apparently that Disney was suddenly worried that an unapologetically progressive series starring a gay person of color wouldn't play as well as they thought it would in the US, in the wake of Trump's 2024 reelection, and so they were no longer that interested in promoting (or paying for) the series.
Somewhat awkwardly, however, that still left a five-episode spin-off still to air. The show did end up airing in December 2025 on BBC One, but as of writing there's still no sign of it on Disney+ in the United States, either available or even scheduled. Consequently, that means that I've gone ahead and imported a nice Blu-ray copy from the UK for these purposes -- and that, perhaps more importantly, I haven't actually watched this yet. That means in some ways you'll be getting my first impressions of this series, without any idea of what's actually coming up. So with that understood, let's go ahead and dive in (sorry not sorry).
This first episode, "Homo Aqua", opens in grand Who tradition with a never-to-be-seen-again group of people (Spaniards in this case, it seems) fishing while also tossing garbage into the sea and inadvertently catching something. But where we might then expect to cut to some familiar faces in UNIT, we instead move to a slightly different (but still familiar) face: Russell Tovey is back, having last been seen in 2010's "The End of Time Part Two", but this time (also in grand Who tradition) playing a new character. Here he's Barclay Pierre-Dupont, a low-grade civilian UNIT employee who's in charge of transportation but who has been accidentally pulled into this situation due to a bureaucratic cock-up. (Nice to know that one of the most advanced organisations on Earth isn't immune to stupid human error.) What this effectively means is that Barclay is the audience surrogate, experiencing this new situation the same way we presumably would. In this case, it's the accidental killing of a new form ofSilurian Sea Devil Homo reptilia ancient Earth inhabitant that looks rather like a fish. (Though the dialogue says they appear to have evolved from temnospondyls, which were (maybe) a form of amphibian.) General Pierce (last seen in Torchwood: Children of Earth, of all places, taking command of the operation to hand over the kids to the 456, if you've forgotten) refers to them as Homo aqua, and that seems to be the name that sticks. But this is the situation Barclay finds himself in, dealing with the body of a Homo aqua that everyone else seems pretty sanguine about.
This episode moves at a pretty brisk pace, introducing Barclay and his family, the UNIT crew, and the new Homo aqua presence. It's to Tovey's credit that we get a reasonable sense of Barclay as just an average guy who's been thrust into a strange situation. His general sense of alarm and confusion comes off as rather endearing, rather than just annoying, and so we're interested in seeing where this is going. That said, where it's going seems to be, at least at this stage, a retread of Children of Earth, only with Homo aqua revealing themselves to the world instead of the 456. Humanity even builds a holding tank to interact with Homo aqua, just like we saw in Children of Earth. (The presence of General Pierce does little to dispel this sense of familiarity.) The main difference here is that we don't have the underlying sense of conspiracy that pervaded Children of Earth (but then again they've still got time to go down that path if they want). So instead of conspiracy, or possibly wonder, we get a vague sense of unease. It's not perhaps the most exciting feeling in the world, so it's good that Barclay's presence really anchors this -- to the point where when a bunch of familiar UNIT faces show up (Kate Stewart! Colonel Ibrahim! Shirley Anne Bingham!), it actually feels mildly like a distraction. It doesn't help that the episode seems to assume that the viewer will be vaguely familiar with these characters, so they don't really get a proper introduction. (Mind you, the moment where the camera goes out of its way to delay showing us what Sir Jonathan Hynes looks like, only to show someone we've never seen before, has the opposite problem of building up a reveal that doesn't actually seem to warrant it. (Unless we're just meant to be excited that it's Adrian Lukis?)) That means that our sympathies lie with Barclay while we wait for all this to unfold.
So this is definitely an episode all about setup, which is why it's a touch odd how many things get just sort of glossed over. I get that they want to get to the "monsters" as soon as they can, but it means we're left with questions such as, how much contact has UNIT had with Homo aqua before? Given the general is coining the name in this episode, it seems like not much, but then how can they translate their language? But then they also know about the pearls in the throat, so maybe there has been contact before. But if they have been in contact before, why does Homo aqua (and specifically them, no Silurians or Sea Devils in sight) decide to reveal themselves to the entire world now? Are they just fed up? And why is General Pierce so casual about Barclay's revelation that he has no real clearance and is basically there due to a clerical error? Maybe some of this will be addressed later, but right now it feels like we're being asked to just go along with it for now and not worry. Which isn't perhaps the worst of sins, but there's not enough action or drama in this episode that they can get away with that just yet.
I'm worried I may be making this sound worse than it is. To be fair, this is a well-crafted and reasonably self-assured piece of television: it looks great (even if for every shot of Mallorca there's a shot of Wales pretending it's Spain), and none of the performances let the side down. The writing, at least at the dialogue level, is also pretty good, as you'd generally expect from a Russell T Davies script. (Although there's a weird moment where Barclay and his family discuss the pejorative meaning of "homo" in a joking manner that falls really flat, even while they try to acknowledge it's outdated.) It's just that there are just enough flaws to be noticeable, to bring things down to the level of "Wait and see" rather than "This looks like it will be excellent". And to be fair, the idea that Homo aqua want Barclay to be the representative of humanity because he was the only one to show some respect to the body of their killed comrade (making a rather sloppy-looking (to my Catholic eyes) sign of the cross) is an interesting one, setting up the "civilian" compassionate viewpoint as a potential contrast to the more military-minded approach of the rest of the UNIT. (Although composer Lorne Balfe seems to have over-scored this episode rather, with a number of lighter moments sounding like they're just as dramatic as the rest of the episode: the ending, where Barclay squeaks out "OK" to being asked to represent humanity, being underscored with serious dramatic music instead of a lighter touch is only the most noticeable moment.) So we have reason to be cautiously optimistic about where The War Between the Land and the Sea is going, even if it's not yet eager anticipation for what's coming next.
But as with many things involving the Disney partnership, things didn't shake out the way they'd first been envisioned. In October 2025, Disney announced that they weren't renewing their deal with the BBC for Doctor Who -- although it wasn't officially confirmed, part of the issue was apparently that Disney was suddenly worried that an unapologetically progressive series starring a gay person of color wouldn't play as well as they thought it would in the US, in the wake of Trump's 2024 reelection, and so they were no longer that interested in promoting (or paying for) the series.
Somewhat awkwardly, however, that still left a five-episode spin-off still to air. The show did end up airing in December 2025 on BBC One, but as of writing there's still no sign of it on Disney+ in the United States, either available or even scheduled. Consequently, that means that I've gone ahead and imported a nice Blu-ray copy from the UK for these purposes -- and that, perhaps more importantly, I haven't actually watched this yet. That means in some ways you'll be getting my first impressions of this series, without any idea of what's actually coming up. So with that understood, let's go ahead and dive in (sorry not sorry).
This first episode, "Homo Aqua", opens in grand Who tradition with a never-to-be-seen-again group of people (Spaniards in this case, it seems) fishing while also tossing garbage into the sea and inadvertently catching something. But where we might then expect to cut to some familiar faces in UNIT, we instead move to a slightly different (but still familiar) face: Russell Tovey is back, having last been seen in 2010's "The End of Time Part Two", but this time (also in grand Who tradition) playing a new character. Here he's Barclay Pierre-Dupont, a low-grade civilian UNIT employee who's in charge of transportation but who has been accidentally pulled into this situation due to a bureaucratic cock-up. (Nice to know that one of the most advanced organisations on Earth isn't immune to stupid human error.) What this effectively means is that Barclay is the audience surrogate, experiencing this new situation the same way we presumably would. In this case, it's the accidental killing of a new form of
This episode moves at a pretty brisk pace, introducing Barclay and his family, the UNIT crew, and the new Homo aqua presence. It's to Tovey's credit that we get a reasonable sense of Barclay as just an average guy who's been thrust into a strange situation. His general sense of alarm and confusion comes off as rather endearing, rather than just annoying, and so we're interested in seeing where this is going. That said, where it's going seems to be, at least at this stage, a retread of Children of Earth, only with Homo aqua revealing themselves to the world instead of the 456. Humanity even builds a holding tank to interact with Homo aqua, just like we saw in Children of Earth. (The presence of General Pierce does little to dispel this sense of familiarity.) The main difference here is that we don't have the underlying sense of conspiracy that pervaded Children of Earth (but then again they've still got time to go down that path if they want). So instead of conspiracy, or possibly wonder, we get a vague sense of unease. It's not perhaps the most exciting feeling in the world, so it's good that Barclay's presence really anchors this -- to the point where when a bunch of familiar UNIT faces show up (Kate Stewart! Colonel Ibrahim! Shirley Anne Bingham!), it actually feels mildly like a distraction. It doesn't help that the episode seems to assume that the viewer will be vaguely familiar with these characters, so they don't really get a proper introduction. (Mind you, the moment where the camera goes out of its way to delay showing us what Sir Jonathan Hynes looks like, only to show someone we've never seen before, has the opposite problem of building up a reveal that doesn't actually seem to warrant it. (Unless we're just meant to be excited that it's Adrian Lukis?)) That means that our sympathies lie with Barclay while we wait for all this to unfold.
So this is definitely an episode all about setup, which is why it's a touch odd how many things get just sort of glossed over. I get that they want to get to the "monsters" as soon as they can, but it means we're left with questions such as, how much contact has UNIT had with Homo aqua before? Given the general is coining the name in this episode, it seems like not much, but then how can they translate their language? But then they also know about the pearls in the throat, so maybe there has been contact before. But if they have been in contact before, why does Homo aqua (and specifically them, no Silurians or Sea Devils in sight) decide to reveal themselves to the entire world now? Are they just fed up? And why is General Pierce so casual about Barclay's revelation that he has no real clearance and is basically there due to a clerical error? Maybe some of this will be addressed later, but right now it feels like we're being asked to just go along with it for now and not worry. Which isn't perhaps the worst of sins, but there's not enough action or drama in this episode that they can get away with that just yet.
I'm worried I may be making this sound worse than it is. To be fair, this is a well-crafted and reasonably self-assured piece of television: it looks great (even if for every shot of Mallorca there's a shot of Wales pretending it's Spain), and none of the performances let the side down. The writing, at least at the dialogue level, is also pretty good, as you'd generally expect from a Russell T Davies script. (Although there's a weird moment where Barclay and his family discuss the pejorative meaning of "homo" in a joking manner that falls really flat, even while they try to acknowledge it's outdated.) It's just that there are just enough flaws to be noticeable, to bring things down to the level of "Wait and see" rather than "This looks like it will be excellent". And to be fair, the idea that Homo aqua want Barclay to be the representative of humanity because he was the only one to show some respect to the body of their killed comrade (making a rather sloppy-looking (to my Catholic eyes) sign of the cross) is an interesting one, setting up the "civilian" compassionate viewpoint as a potential contrast to the more military-minded approach of the rest of the UNIT. (Although composer Lorne Balfe seems to have over-scored this episode rather, with a number of lighter moments sounding like they're just as dramatic as the rest of the episode: the ending, where Barclay squeaks out "OK" to being asked to represent humanity, being underscored with serious dramatic music instead of a lighter touch is only the most noticeable moment.) So we have reason to be cautiously optimistic about where The War Between the Land and the Sea is going, even if it's not yet eager anticipation for what's coming next.
An Apology
So yesterday I should have started discussing The War Between the Land and the Sea, the most recent (and, as of this date, final) televised Doctor Who show. But I've actually been out of the country the last couple weeks and only just got back, and my schedule ended up precluding my ability to blog. I promise I'll dig into this spinoff in the next day or so, but if you've been wondering what happened, well, that's what happened. Normal service will resume shortly.
October 15: "The Reality War"
The Rani is ready to use Omega to resurrect the Time Lords, even if it means getting rid of everything that was wished into existence -- including the Doctor's daughter, Poppy...
And it was going so well too.
To be fair, the issues with "The Reality War" don't immediately raise their heads, and for the first third or so things aren't too bad, other than somehow stuffing even more references into the show. And so we get Anita from "Joy to the World", now working at the Time Hotel, ready to rescue the Doctor from that plunging balcony we left him on last time. She apparently went looking for him, which means we get clips of the 11th Doctor from "The Wedding of River Song", the 3rd Doctor from Day of the Daleks, and the 15th Doctor from "Rogue", which apparently upset Anita enough to go run off and find someone else to fall in love with. (So we couldn't even let that remain as a friendship; it had to be another woman pining after the Doctor...) We also get the return of Rose Noble, brought back into existence via some technobabble with the Time Hotel letting reality into UNIT -- it seems Conrad couldn't even conceive of the existence of transgender people. And Mel's back at UNIT with the rest of the UNIT team (having been summoned back thanks to an implanted biochip that UNIT placed in its people to track them, which is definitely not creepy at all). Mel's being at UNIT means that when the Rani shows up, they get to spit poison at each other, having met back in Time and the Rani. All this and a Zero Room (Castrovalva) too.
So yes, overstuffed, but it's not the worst of sins, honestly. None of the references to the past are crucial to understanding what's going on, so we haven't sunk into the dark days of the 1980s again. And you can tell everyone involved is having a lot of fun -- I know I keep raving about Archie Punjabi, but come on, she is so clearly having a blast as a glam villain that it's difficult not to get wrapped up in it. Ncuti Gatwa is also clearly enjoying himself, running around joyously when UNIT comes back, contronting the Rani with an amused-yet-serious demeanor, or even just wishing himself up a new suit consisting of a sleeveless vest and matching kilt with trousers underneath. At this point, the main fault is just that since this is a season finale, we need lots of shouting and explosions while giant CGI Bone Beasts attack a rotating UNIT Tower with guns. In other words, a big dumb action sequence. But honestly that's pretty much par for the course for modern Who season-enders. The Rani's plan even makes a sort of sense, even if it involves some minor retconning of the events described in "The Timeless Children". Apparently the Master sent out a "genetic explosion" (whatever that means) that turned all the Time Lords sterile so that they could never have children. (And then I guess he went and killed all the ones he could find on Gallifrey for good measure?) The Rani saw it coming (somehow) and so "flipped" her DNA (somehow) so that it didn't affect her, but she still needs a source of pre-sterilised Time Lord DNA: hence the quest for Omega. (And curiously, Gatwa keeps pronouncing it the American way, with the stress on the second syllable, while everyone around him pronounces it the British way, with the stress on the first syllable.) As far as villain plans go, hers is downright prosaic. So you can just about accept what the show is presenting to you and have fun with it.
But the bigger problem starts to set in with the discussion of Omega, as once again (much like in "Empire of Death"), Russell T Davies is changing what we'd been told before about returning characters to suit his own needs. Back in The Three Doctors, Omega was referred to as a forgotten hero who had created the source of the power that the Time Lords used to gain mastery over time, but who was trapped in an antimatter world and presumed lost. (Arc of Infinity, Omega's other appearance, tells a broadly similar story.) It was only his isolation in the antimatter realm that drove him mad. But now we're told here that he's "the original sin of the Time Lords. Cast out from Gallifrey, legend says that they bound him and banished him because he is insane!" Even allowing that something happened during the Time War to change things, this feels a bit difficult to swallow. And the only reason this change is happening is so that there's an excuse for Omega to have turned into some giant weird half-skeleton CG monstrosity, justified with some bafflegab about him turning into what the legends said he was during his time trapped in a vault in the Underverse. All this so he can literally eat the new Rani (oh come on, really?! Punjabi was wonderful, why are you getting rid of her?) before getting blasted back into his vault by the Doctor, thanks to the Vindicator the Rani stuck on the big clock last episode. (Chekhov, eat your heart out.) The Doctor even yells "Back into hell!" at Omega as he does it! In other words, this feels pointless: Omega could have been any random imprisoned Time Lord and nothing would have changed -- indeed, it might have been easier for long-term fans (well, me) to accept -- just so they could have a surprisingly macho conclusion.
Now, that said, the climax of the story isn't all bad. The resolution of Conrad's story, where Ruby transmats in to grab Desiderium and then wishes for Conrad to have a happy life, where he won't be getting people angry or raging against the world, is nicely handled; I like the way Ruby wins through kindness. And there's something right about giving Desiderium over to Carla to foster (since, as the Doctor points out, he's still a human baby). I also like the triumph of the Zero Room having worked, with Poppy and Belinda (who's still rather unfairly sidelined this episode, just like last) still remaining safe and sound even after Ruby ends Conrad's wish world. It's a sweet, hopeful ending.
Which is why it's really weird how the rest of the episode then seems to backtrack on that ending, with Poppy saved but then disappearing from existence anyway, with Ruby the only one the wiser (again, probably because of the events of "73 Yards" that caused her to be resistant to Conrad's illusory world).306 Honestly, the moments of everyone not believing her go on a bit too long, but eventually the Doctor decides that yes, he should save Poppy, even if it kills him. This involves him summoning up regenerative energy (somehow) so that he can redirect it into the TARDIS console and reset time -- but not before we get a rather sweet cameo from the 13th Doctor. It's genuinely lovely to see Jodie Whittaker back again and connecting with Ncuti Gatwa, even if the scene itself isn't anything too substantial. But then it's time to shatter reality (based on the visuals, at least) and wake up once more to say goodbye to Belinda.
Honestly, divorced from everything else, this isn't a bad scene. Poppy has been saved, at least, and it's a bit bittersweet how she's no longer the Doctor's daughter (time having been rewritten to make Poppy the daughter of Belinda and an old boyfriend named Ritchie). It's only in the larger context of the episode that things really sag. Instead of a nice denouement after defeating the Rani and Omega, we get scene after scene, all of which are fine on their own but strung all together feel a bit interminable. And then, after saying goodbye to Belinda and Poppy, it's finally time for the Doctor to regenerate - - but not before we get one more reference tossed in, as the Doctor decides to regenerate out in space in the company of Joy the star from "Joy to the World". It does give the Doctor some nice final words though: "This has been an absolute joy." And so the 15th Doctor regenerates into... Billie Piper. Sigh. Twenty years on and the show still can't escape the shadow of Rose Tyler.307 Although if you pay close attention, you'll note they never actually introduce her as the Doctor: the credits just say "Introducing Billie Piper", and if you look carefully at the regeneration sequence, you don't see her face emerge from Gatwa's (although she is wearing his clothes). So it doesn't seem unreasonable to think that shenanigans are going on. But we'll have to wait and see what the future holds...
So in the end, "The Reality War" is an overstuffed episode that starts decently but then fumbles its ending, both the Rani and the Poppy storylines. It's a shame; up to this point, series 15 was running pretty much at full clip, so it's unfortunate that it falls during the final stretch. Ncuti Gatwa and Varada Sethu both deserved a better swan song.
But really, other than the end, series 15 was a very strong season -- possibly the strongest since at least series 10. After the more experimental, somewhat uncertain approach of series 14, this year found the show on more confident footing. While there were still some more unusual episodes, they felt more self-assured this time around, with less of a sense of trying to throw tons of things against the wall to see what would stick. It helps that this time around they had a new and different storyline for the companion with Belinda -- not that this is a knock on Ruby or Millie Gibson, mind. But the fact that Belinda was just looking to get home, and that she wasn't necessarily in this for the wonders of the universe, provided a new dynamic that shook things up. Belinda had a fire to her that the Doctor reacted well to. Between her, the 15th Doctor, and some really wonderful stories, series 15 proved that there's still plenty of life in the show.
However, this means that it's time to say farewell not just to Belinda, but also to Ncuti Gatwa and the 15th Doctor. If I were to sum up Gatwa's performance in a word, it would be, as he says at the end, joy. This was a Doctor who embraced life, who saw the wonder and beauty in everything, and who was so eager to share it with people. But if he was more open with his joy, he was also more open with his other emotions, from his anger (as we saw a few times this series) to his sorrow (all right, since we're here at the end, I'll just come out and ask it: can Ncuti Gatwa cry on command? Because it did feel like this Doctor cried a lot). Watching this Doctor's ebullience was infectious, and I only wish he'd stayed around longer; much like Christopher Eccleston by the end of series 1, you could see Gatwa really coming into his own throughout this series, and it makes you wonder what could have been had he stayed. So goodbye, Fifteen: you will definitely be missed.
But even if he hadn't decided to go, we might not have gotten more of the 15th Doctor. Doctor Who is currently in an unusually precarious position: apparently the show wasn't the ratings bonanza that Disney had hoped for, and so they haven't chosen to pick up the option to co-produce more episodes. In some ways this is just due to the fragmented nature of TV these days: although we don't have any viewing figures from Disney+, we do have the BBC figures, which typically hovered around 3 million for the week (with 4 episodes actually coming in below Battlefield Part One's record of only 3.1 million viewers) -- and yet every episode was among the 40 most watched programmes of the week in the UK. So it's not so much that people have stopped watching Doctor Who so much as that there are very few shows these days that can still command a widespread audience. Perhaps Disney was hoping the show could become a crossover hit again, but that's harder to do for a show that's been on reasonably consistently for 20 years than for one that's still pretty fresh and new, the way it was during David Tennant's era (and Matt Smith's, in the US). But regardless, this means that there currently is no new series of the show in production. The BBC have insisted that they intend to bring it back (it is still one of their flagship shows), but they need to work out how to make it, now that Disney is no longer footing part of the bill. One can only hope it's not as long a wait as the last time. Because Doctor Who, despite the occasional bumps and missteps, is still the greatest television show ever created, and series 15 has simply underlined that point.
(Oh, but we're not quite done yet: next year we can at least look forward to the UNIT spinoff show, The War Between the Land and the Sea. So (assuming it airs before October) I'll see you again on 16 October 2026...)
306 It feels so bizarre and ill-fitting for the story they'd been telling up to that point, in fact, that a rumour has sprouted up that this wasn't the intended ending, and that things only changed after Gatwa unexpectedly decided to leave. As with all rumours, this should all be taken with a very large grain of salt, but there are some corroborating details. We know that at one point Gatwa had expressed an intention to do a third series. We also know that something happened after principal filming wrapped that required extensive reshoots for this episode. There's also a promo shot of Belinda and the Doctor dancing at a party that doesn't appear in the final episode. And Billie Piper has said that she was asked to make a cameo appearance at the end of the episode very late in the day. So does this mean that the original plan was in fact for Gatwa to stay on, and that he only later in the day decided that two series was enough for him, requiring a major sea change? The modern Who production office has a reputation for not letting leaks or anything other than the official version of a story out, so this is all still rumour, and it could of course be nothing. But based on what we get on screen, it seems plausible...
307 The one saving grace here is that 2025 marks the 20th anniversary of the show's return, so there's actually a reason to bring back Piper besides desperation.
And it was going so well too.
 |
| Ruby and Rose meet Belinda and Poppy. ("The Reality War") ©BBC |
So yes, overstuffed, but it's not the worst of sins, honestly. None of the references to the past are crucial to understanding what's going on, so we haven't sunk into the dark days of the 1980s again. And you can tell everyone involved is having a lot of fun -- I know I keep raving about Archie Punjabi, but come on, she is so clearly having a blast as a glam villain that it's difficult not to get wrapped up in it. Ncuti Gatwa is also clearly enjoying himself, running around joyously when UNIT comes back, contronting the Rani with an amused-yet-serious demeanor, or even just wishing himself up a new suit consisting of a sleeveless vest and matching kilt with trousers underneath. At this point, the main fault is just that since this is a season finale, we need lots of shouting and explosions while giant CGI Bone Beasts attack a rotating UNIT Tower with guns. In other words, a big dumb action sequence. But honestly that's pretty much par for the course for modern Who season-enders. The Rani's plan even makes a sort of sense, even if it involves some minor retconning of the events described in "The Timeless Children". Apparently the Master sent out a "genetic explosion" (whatever that means) that turned all the Time Lords sterile so that they could never have children. (And then I guess he went and killed all the ones he could find on Gallifrey for good measure?) The Rani saw it coming (somehow) and so "flipped" her DNA (somehow) so that it didn't affect her, but she still needs a source of pre-sterilised Time Lord DNA: hence the quest for Omega. (And curiously, Gatwa keeps pronouncing it the American way, with the stress on the second syllable, while everyone around him pronounces it the British way, with the stress on the first syllable.) As far as villain plans go, hers is downright prosaic. So you can just about accept what the show is presenting to you and have fun with it.
 |
| The Doctor and the two Ranis prepare for the return of Omega. ("The Reality War") ©BBC |
Now, that said, the climax of the story isn't all bad. The resolution of Conrad's story, where Ruby transmats in to grab Desiderium and then wishes for Conrad to have a happy life, where he won't be getting people angry or raging against the world, is nicely handled; I like the way Ruby wins through kindness. And there's something right about giving Desiderium over to Carla to foster (since, as the Doctor points out, he's still a human baby). I also like the triumph of the Zero Room having worked, with Poppy and Belinda (who's still rather unfairly sidelined this episode, just like last) still remaining safe and sound even after Ruby ends Conrad's wish world. It's a sweet, hopeful ending.
Which is why it's really weird how the rest of the episode then seems to backtrack on that ending, with Poppy saved but then disappearing from existence anyway, with Ruby the only one the wiser (again, probably because of the events of "73 Yards" that caused her to be resistant to Conrad's illusory world).306 Honestly, the moments of everyone not believing her go on a bit too long, but eventually the Doctor decides that yes, he should save Poppy, even if it kills him. This involves him summoning up regenerative energy (somehow) so that he can redirect it into the TARDIS console and reset time -- but not before we get a rather sweet cameo from the 13th Doctor. It's genuinely lovely to see Jodie Whittaker back again and connecting with Ncuti Gatwa, even if the scene itself isn't anything too substantial. But then it's time to shatter reality (based on the visuals, at least) and wake up once more to say goodbye to Belinda.
 |
| Ncuti Gatwa regenerates into...Billie Piper? ("The Reality War") ©BBC |
So in the end, "The Reality War" is an overstuffed episode that starts decently but then fumbles its ending, both the Rani and the Poppy storylines. It's a shame; up to this point, series 15 was running pretty much at full clip, so it's unfortunate that it falls during the final stretch. Ncuti Gatwa and Varada Sethu both deserved a better swan song.
But really, other than the end, series 15 was a very strong season -- possibly the strongest since at least series 10. After the more experimental, somewhat uncertain approach of series 14, this year found the show on more confident footing. While there were still some more unusual episodes, they felt more self-assured this time around, with less of a sense of trying to throw tons of things against the wall to see what would stick. It helps that this time around they had a new and different storyline for the companion with Belinda -- not that this is a knock on Ruby or Millie Gibson, mind. But the fact that Belinda was just looking to get home, and that she wasn't necessarily in this for the wonders of the universe, provided a new dynamic that shook things up. Belinda had a fire to her that the Doctor reacted well to. Between her, the 15th Doctor, and some really wonderful stories, series 15 proved that there's still plenty of life in the show.
However, this means that it's time to say farewell not just to Belinda, but also to Ncuti Gatwa and the 15th Doctor. If I were to sum up Gatwa's performance in a word, it would be, as he says at the end, joy. This was a Doctor who embraced life, who saw the wonder and beauty in everything, and who was so eager to share it with people. But if he was more open with his joy, he was also more open with his other emotions, from his anger (as we saw a few times this series) to his sorrow (all right, since we're here at the end, I'll just come out and ask it: can Ncuti Gatwa cry on command? Because it did feel like this Doctor cried a lot). Watching this Doctor's ebullience was infectious, and I only wish he'd stayed around longer; much like Christopher Eccleston by the end of series 1, you could see Gatwa really coming into his own throughout this series, and it makes you wonder what could have been had he stayed. So goodbye, Fifteen: you will definitely be missed.
But even if he hadn't decided to go, we might not have gotten more of the 15th Doctor. Doctor Who is currently in an unusually precarious position: apparently the show wasn't the ratings bonanza that Disney had hoped for, and so they haven't chosen to pick up the option to co-produce more episodes. In some ways this is just due to the fragmented nature of TV these days: although we don't have any viewing figures from Disney+, we do have the BBC figures, which typically hovered around 3 million for the week (with 4 episodes actually coming in below Battlefield Part One's record of only 3.1 million viewers) -- and yet every episode was among the 40 most watched programmes of the week in the UK. So it's not so much that people have stopped watching Doctor Who so much as that there are very few shows these days that can still command a widespread audience. Perhaps Disney was hoping the show could become a crossover hit again, but that's harder to do for a show that's been on reasonably consistently for 20 years than for one that's still pretty fresh and new, the way it was during David Tennant's era (and Matt Smith's, in the US). But regardless, this means that there currently is no new series of the show in production. The BBC have insisted that they intend to bring it back (it is still one of their flagship shows), but they need to work out how to make it, now that Disney is no longer footing part of the bill. One can only hope it's not as long a wait as the last time. Because Doctor Who, despite the occasional bumps and missteps, is still the greatest television show ever created, and series 15 has simply underlined that point.
(Oh, but we're not quite done yet: next year we can at least look forward to the UNIT spinoff show, The War Between the Land and the Sea. So (assuming it airs before October) I'll see you again on 16 October 2026...)
306 It feels so bizarre and ill-fitting for the story they'd been telling up to that point, in fact, that a rumour has sprouted up that this wasn't the intended ending, and that things only changed after Gatwa unexpectedly decided to leave. As with all rumours, this should all be taken with a very large grain of salt, but there are some corroborating details. We know that at one point Gatwa had expressed an intention to do a third series. We also know that something happened after principal filming wrapped that required extensive reshoots for this episode. There's also a promo shot of Belinda and the Doctor dancing at a party that doesn't appear in the final episode. And Billie Piper has said that she was asked to make a cameo appearance at the end of the episode very late in the day. So does this mean that the original plan was in fact for Gatwa to stay on, and that he only later in the day decided that two series was enough for him, requiring a major sea change? The modern Who production office has a reputation for not letting leaks or anything other than the official version of a story out, so this is all still rumour, and it could of course be nothing. But based on what we get on screen, it seems plausible...
307 The one saving grace here is that 2025 marks the 20th anniversary of the show's return, so there's actually a reason to bring back Piper besides desperation.
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