In his memoir The Queerest of Folk: A Life in Television, Russell T Davies outlined plans for three more Doctor Who spin-offs, in addition to The War Between the Land and the Sea, featuring UNIT at war.

But it wasn’t to be because the deal with Disney to co-produce and stream Doctor Who content on Disney+ wasn’t extended past 21 episodes of Doctor Who and five episodes of its spin-off The War Between the Land and the Sea.

“We actually planned The War Between as a recurring format. If the Disney deal had been successful, we would have done a different story every year…,” Davies wrote in his memoir.

The War Between the Earth and the Moon
“The War Between the Earth and the Moon had been fairly well developed, and it was brilliantly contentious – a mad, tyrannical American president at the end of his days, about to face impeachment and prison, visits the UNIT Moonbase and starts a revolution, his private army commandeering the place as his own. He declares independence, and the base has nuclear weapons aimed at Earth, so who’s in charge now? At the same time, some weird, creepy, wailing, unearthly essence is being dug up on a nearby crater… God, I love that idea. I’m sure we’d have had to change America to some fictional country like Votislavia, but you get the point. [Head of UNIT] Kate [Stewart] would have been at the centre of it, because I’d love to write more for Jemma Redgrave, putting her right in the spotlight. To have a beautiful, middle-aged woman leading a show like that, with a broken heart and a tough core and a taste for danger – oh my, it would be gorgeous. It could still happen. Sometimes these ideas just have to wait.”

The War Between the Clever and the Not
“…my favourite, The War Between the Clever and the Not, which is, frankly, the story of our society now. I’m not quite sure what side I’d be on.”

The War Between the Men and the Women
Davies didn’t describe his idea for this premise but it can be seen played out in real life between the “red pill” “manosphere” and feminists. Programmes such as The Handmaid’s Tale have covered this conflict.

With the Disney deal ended, the plan for more divisive battles set in the Doctor Who universe is now shelved.

“The idea seems to be fading, because they say it would be hard to extract the crucial three words of The War Between title from the Disney+ contract – though I’ve got to say, no one’s actually tried. But again, the steam’s going out of the concept. That’s such a shame,” Davies concluded.

According to Davies, the original plan was to have Disney+ stream The War Between the Land and the Sea between Season 1 and Season 2 of Doctor Who but “The truth is, it took us too long to get the show made.”

“In an ideal world, we would have transmitted the first series of Doctor Who, then this spin-off, The War Between, and then the second series of Doctor Who.”

“If The War Between had played in the middle of the two Doctor Who series as planned, it could have boosted the whole profile of the Whoniverse; it could have had more swagger, more visibility, more fun, and it could have helped the entire brand. But I kind of fucked that up.”

Davies’memoir, The Queerest of Folk: A Life in Television is now available from Penguin Books.