UPDATE: Thursday 25th December
The War Between The Land And The Sea episodes one and two have consolidated to 4,308,000 and 3,560,700 respectively.
8th December 2025
Doctor Who spin-off The War Between The Land And The Sea launched on BBC One this weekend with a double bill from 8:30pm on Sunday evening.
The show, created by Russell T Davies, launched with 2.8m for its first episode, followed by 2.1m for its second episode*. These figures are higher than most regular episodes of Doctor Who in recent years – with Episode 1 of The War Between rating higher than any episode in Season 1 or Season 2.
The show has become one of – if not the – biggest new drama launch of the year for the BBC based on overnight ratings only, ahead of Sally Wainwright’s Riot Women and other new titles including King & Conqueror, This City Is Ours and Virdee.
Not only are these figures a success in themselves, the show achieved this opposite the toughest competition ITV could offer – the live final of I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here. The second episode – which clashed with the ITV reality show for its entire duration – was 400,000 viewers ahead of the BBC’s slot average.
The five-part series follows Barclay (Russell Tovey), a low-level UNIT staff member whose ordinary life becomes a world of terror when an ancient species rises from the sea. Barclay becomes humanity’s ambassador when the mysterious Salt (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) emerges from the Tank at a summit on the Thames. UNIT, led by Kate Lethbridge-Stewart (Jemma Redgrave), fights for control as humanity faces destruction.
Alongside Russell Tovey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, and Jemma Redgrave, the series features a star-studded cast including Ruth Madeley as Shirley Bingham, Alexander Devrient as Colonel Christofer Ibrahim, and Colin McFarlane as General Austin Pierce.
The War Between The Land And The Sea continues Sunday at 8:30pm with a further two episodes, before its final on Sunday 21st December at 8:05pm. Episodes 1 and 2 are available now on BBC iPlayer and the series will land on Disney+ internationally in 2026.
The full top 50 for 01 Dec 2025 – 07 Dec 2025 is as follows:
| Audience | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Programme | Broadcaster | TOTAL |
| 1 | I’M A CELEBRITY… GET ME OUT OF HERE!: SERIES 25, EPISODE 22 | ITV | 8,261,000 |
| 2 | I’M A CELEBRITY… GET ME OUT OF HERE!: SERIES 25, EPISODE 16 | ITV | 7,812,500 |
| 3 | I’M A CELEBRITY… GET ME OUT OF HERE!: SERIES 25, EPISODE 17 | ITV | 7,787,600 |
| 4 | I’M A CELEBRITY… GET ME OUT OF HERE!: SERIES 25, EPISODE 19 | ITV | 7,449,800 |
| 5 | STRICTLY COME DANCING: SERIES 23, EPISODE 22 | BBC | 7,442,600 |
| 6 | I’M A CELEBRITY… GET ME OUT OF HERE!: SERIES 25, EPISODE 18 | ITV | 7,371,300 |
| 7 | STRICTLY COME DANCING: SERIES 23, EPISODE 21 | BBC | 7,225,900 |
| 8 | I’M A CELEBRITY… GET ME OUT OF HERE!: SERIES 25, EPISODE 20 | ITV | 7,118,600 |
| 9 | I’M A CELEBRITY… GET ME OUT OF HERE!: SERIES 25, EPISODE 21 | ITV | 6,893,700 |
| 10 | CELEBRITY RACE ACROSS THE WORLD: SERIES 3, EPISODE 5 | BBC | 5,358,700 |
| 11 | HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU: SERIES 70, EPISODE 9 | BBC | 5,269,000 |
| 12 | SHETLAND: SERIES 10, EPISODE 5 | BBC | 4,785,500 |
| 13 | MICHAEL MCINTYRE’S THE WHEEL: SERIES 6, EPISODE 7 | BBC | 4,724,700 |
| 14 | THE WAR BETWEEN THE LAND AND THE SEA: SERIES 1, EPISODE 1 | BBC | 4,308,000 |
| 15 | KINGDOM: SERIES 1, EPISODE 5 | BBC | 4,292,700 |
| 16 | CORONATION STREET: SERIES 66, EPISODE 283 | ITV | 4,080,600 |
| 17 | CORONATION STREET: SERIES 66, EPISODE 279 | ITV | 3,942,500 |
| 18 | CORONATION STREET: SERIES 66, EPISODE 281 | ITV | 3,894,200 |
| 19 | BBC NEWS AT SIX: SERIES 2025 | BBC | 3,791,500 |
| 20 | BBC NEWS AT SIX: SERIES 2025 | BBC | 3,603,500 |
| 21 | EMMERDALE: SERIES 54, EPISODE 10457 | ITV | 3,579,600 |
| 22 | THE WAR BETWEEN THE LAND AND THE SEA: SERIES 1, EPISODE 2 | BBC | 3,560,700 |
| 23 | EMMERDALE: SERIES 54, EPISODE 10455 | ITV | 3,546,300 |
| 24 | BBC NEWS AT SIX: SERIES 2025 | BBC | 3,503,100 |
| 25 | EMMERDALE: SERIES 54, EPISODE 10454 | ITV | 3,448,400 |
| 26 | EMMERDALE: SERIES 54, EPISODE 10452 | ITV | 3,439,400 |
| 27 | BBC NEWS AT SIX: SERIES 2025 | BBC | 3,404,800 |
| 28 | EMMERDALE: SERIES 54, EPISODE 10453 | ITV | 3,376,900 |
| 29 | EASTENDERS: SERIES 2025, EPISODE 194 | BBC | 3,332,700 |
| 30 | EASTENDERS: SERIES 2025, EPISODE 191 | BBC | 3,291,100 |
| 31 | BBC NEWS AT SIX: SERIES 2025 | BBC | 3,230,400 |
| 32 | EASTENDERS: SERIES 2025, EPISODE 192 | BBC | 3,214,800 |
| 33 | EASTENDERS: SERIES 2025, EPISODE 193 | BBC | 3,153,300 |
| 34 | FILM: ROBIN ROBIN (2021) | BBC | 3,134,600 |
| 35 | MATCH OF THE DAY: SERIES 2025 | BBC | 3,085,100 |
| 36 | COUNTRYFILE: SERIES 2025 | BBC | 2,931,900 |
| 37 | RETURN TO PARADISE: SERIES 2, EPISODE 5 | BBC | 2,925,000 |
| 38 | ALAN CARR’S PICTURE SLAM: SERIES 3, EPISODE 4 | BBC | 2,919,700 |
| 39 | GOGGLEBOX: SERIES 26, EPISODE 14 | CHANNEL 4 | 2,868,500 |
| 40 | THE ONE SHOW: SERIES 2025 | BBC | 2,707,900 |
| 41 | THE ONE SHOW: SERIES 2025 | BBC | 2,630,800 |
| 42 | THE GRAHAM NORTON SHOW: SERIES 33, EPISODE 10 | BBC | 2,594,600 |
| 43 | THE ONE SHOW: SERIES 2025 | BBC | 2,437,000 |
| 44 | THE MARTIN LEWIS MONEY SHOW LIVE: SERIES 14, EPISODE 16 | ITV | 2,432,700 |
| 45 | ONLY CONNECT: SERIES 21, EPISODE 20 | BBC | 2,377,500 |
| 46 | THE ONE SHOW: SERIES 2025 | BBC | 2,373,300 |
| 47 | CELEBRITY CATCHPHRASE: SERIES 11, EPISODE 3 | ITV | 2,329,400 |
| 48 | BBC WEEKEND NEWS: SERIES 2025, EPISODE 36 | BBC | 2,326,600 |
| 49 | BBC WEEKEND NEWS: SERIES 2025, EPISODE 36 | BBC | 2,279,300 |
| 50 | PRISONER 951: SERIES 1, EPISODE 4 | BBC | 2,270,200 |
Considering the amount of promotion and the Dr Who connection, these numbers are not that great.
Tovey was appalling in the star role. The script was classic Dr Who bloated out to provide a series.
I gave up after 2 episodes.