In an interview with Collider, actor Russell Tovey was asked what he loves about Doctor Who and The War Between the Land and the Sea showrunner Russell T Davies as a storyteller.

“He’s just so enthusiastic. He loves what he does, and he loves stories, and he loves entertaining and is compelled to make shows and connect people and bring people together. I think his dream is that we all, as family and friends, sit around and watch TV as an event-based thing, which rarely happens now.”

With global warming an ongoing concern, The War Between the Land and the Sea, a Doctor Who spin-off, is a drama that covers the environmental issues and political conflict when a sea-dwelling species wages war on humans for their pollution of the oceans. It also covers an interspecies love story between Tovey’s character and sea-dwelling humanoid played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw.

“He’s really driven by these shows that culturally shift the dial but also represent and show who we are as human beings.”

“With this new show that I’m doing with him, called The War Between the Land and the Sea, he’s pushing the dial again.”

“I just think his work is an act of generosity. He’s addicted to telling stories, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing.”

Written by Russell T Davies and Pete McTighe and directed by Dylan Holmes Williams, The War Between the Land and the Sea will transmit on BBC iPlayer and BBC One in the UK, and exclusively on Disney+ outside of the UK (where available) some time in 2026.