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Doctor Who showrunner confirms when filming will wrap on spin-off
All five episodes of the miniseries, which is in production now, are being directed by Dylan Holmes Williams.
BBC STUDIOS 2023, Sophie Mutevelian
- James Hibbs
Published: Saturday, 12 October 2024 at 2:00 pm
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While fans are still waiting for Doctor Who to return this Christmas, they're also no doubt looking forward to the show's first entirely new spin-off for some time, The War Between the Land and the Sea.
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The five-part miniseries, centred around a battle between UNIT and the Sea Devils, is currently in production, and Russell T Davies has now given a hint as to when that series will finish filming.
Writing in this month's edition of Doctor Who Magazine, he said: "In the office, this show is generally shortened to TWB*,* which makes me think it stands for Torchwood: Birmingham*.* We’re in the third week of filming. Very exciting!
"The shoot will go on until just before Christmas, and it’s a mammoth task, all wrangled by one director, Dylan Holmes Williams.
"I wrote eps 1 and 5, Pete McTighe wrote eps 2 and 3, and ep 4 is by both of us. Shooting a miniseries as one block brings its own challenges."
Jemma Redgrave, Ruth Madeley, Russell Tovey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Alexander Devrient and Colin McFarlane. Alistair Heap/Bad Wolf/BBC Studios
He continued: "Normally, five episodes would be broken down into two or three blocks, filmed roughly in order.
"But this is all one big block, so an actor could appear for the first time in the very last scene of the very last episode (and indeed, someone does), but we could need them to shoot tomorrow.
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"Equally, someone could be needed in ep 1 sc 1, but maybe we won’t shoot that until December. Logistics galore.
"When you see all those names listed in the credits, that’s people hammering this into shape, with smoke and steam hissing from the joints as they batter the schedule with big hammers! Production! It’s brutal!"
While fans will note that the series will complete filming "just before Christmas", they will also no doubt pick up on the suggestion that one actor will only appear in the last scene of the last episode.
While this could be a small part for an unknown actor, could it also be a cameo? Perhaps from a certain Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor?
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The War Between the Land and the Sea will star Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Russell Tovey, returning to the Whoniverse to play new characters, while Jemma Redgrave, Alexander Devrient and Ruth Madeley will be back in their established Doctor Who roles, and Colin McFarlane will return as his Torchwood character General Austin Pierce.
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The new issue of Doctor Who Magazine is available to purchase now. Doctor Who will return to BBC One and BBC iPlayer this Christmas. Previous seasons are available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
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Check out more of our Sci-Fi coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to see what's on tonight. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Authors
James HibbsDrama Writer
James Hibbs is a Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering programmes across both streaming platforms and linear channels. He previously worked in PR, first for a B2B agency and subsequently for international TV production company Fremantle. He possesses a BA in English and Theatre Studies and an NCTJ Level 5 Diploma in Journalism.
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