Doctor Who showrunner reveals reason behind tragic The War Between the Land and the Sea death

The War Between the Land and the Sea didn't hold back when it came to tragedy and loss, killing off a key character from the Whoniverse - and now, Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies has explained why that needed to happen.

In episode 3, the spin-off, which saw humanity embroiled in a conflict with the classic Doctor Who monsters the Sea Devils (now known as Homo Aqua), brutally killed off Colonel Christofer Ibrahim (Alexander Devrient) shortly after confirming his relationship with Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave).

Speaking in a recent behind-the-scenes documentary, Davies explained: "Sadly there has to be a loss.

"The problem at the heart of The War Between is real. Never mind your fantasy creatures from under the sea, what we’ve done to the oceans is real, so the drama has to get a patina of reality that you wouldn’t necessarily put into every episode of Doctor Who - it kinds of just opens us up to the fact that someone’s got to die."

Redgrave added: "I felt, when I read the scripts, that she didn't know quite how much she felt for him. She never allowed herself to really know how deeply she loved him. The loss of him, in that moment, she knows everything she didn't allow herself to know. It's life-changing for her."

Devrient and Redgrave previously opened up to Radio Times about the "risky" romance between Christofer and Kate.

"I think the conflict for her is the thing that struck me about the relationship…. I don't believe that she thinks [the relationship] has a future because of the age difference, because of the power imbalance – but mainly for the age difference," Redgrave pointed out.

"What we discussed was how differently they both felt about it and that being interesting. It's there in the script, it's there in the episodes that Pete [McTighe] and Russell [T Davies] wrote, the deep differences between the way they feel about this relationship and what the future is for both of them.

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"I think there's a very key line in episode 2 about [Colonel Ibrahim's] father. [Kate] says ‘He sounds very wise,’ and he says, ‘You should meet him.’ And I think in her mind, that seems impossible. But also she has no time at this minute, there's no time to talk about it. There's no time, really, for their relationship. And I think that's the other difficulty, is that she's so driven, and her work is so important. It's the most important thing that runs through her life."

Meanwhile, Devrient added: "There were a lot of little moments that were placed throughout the seasons [of Doctor Who]. And to be honest with you, we weren't even sure, me and Jemma, whether this was going to go any further or not. Initially, we held back a little bit.

"Obviously, there is the hierarchy element, when you work in a sort of context that we work in within UNIT, that's quite important. There's an important age gap. There are various different factors that meant that this is quite a tricky and risky potential relationship.

"But, in the end, I think also with with what Russell wrote and how he wrote it, we just thought, 'Okay, we're going to go for it.' These two, there is something behind that element of stoicism and respect and loyalty and discipline, something really pure and beautiful, a connection that they can't really fight against. Let's just go with that and explore what that looks like when you're in the midst of yet another catastrophe."

The War Between the Land and the Sea is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

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