One of the longest-running mysteries in Doctor Who has now been answered in the sci-fi series’ newest spinoff, The War Between the Land and the Sea. The first two episodes of The War Between the Land and the Sea released on BBC One in the United Kingdom on December 7, 2025, the first official Doctor Who spinoff since Class. The spinoff marks the return of the Sea Devils—renamed Homo Aqua, an aquatic variant of Homo Reptilia—after they ended their 38-year hiatus in Doctor Who’s 2022 special, “Legend of the Sea Devils,” but also marked the return of UNIT.
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The Unified Intelligence Taskforce have been a huge element of the Doctor’s Earth-based adventures throughout most of Doctor Who’s history. It’s surprising UNIT has never been the subject of a Doctor Who spinoff before now, and The War Between the Land and the Sea shows the huge extent of UNIT-focused stories that could be explored, as it follows Homo Aqua revealing their existence to the entire world. Throughout UNIT’s 57-year history in Doctor Who, we’ve wondered about some of their staff choices, but The War Between the Land and the Sea has finally answered this mystery.
The War Between the Land and the Sea Revealed Something Huge About UNIT
In the opening moments of The War Between the Land and the Sea, Barclay Pierre-Dupont (Russell Tovey) is called into action by UNIT when a fishing trawler kills a Homo Aquan. Barclay soon realizes he doesn’t belong with the UNIT platoon, as he was simply on file as the replacement for an actual soldier, despite being a low-level UNIT transport clerk. Even after revealing the truth to General Austin Pierce (Colin McFarlane reprising his Torchwood role), Barclay is allowed to stay on-board as the civilian witness to the Homo Aqua emerging from the sea and revealing themselves to the world.
Herein the mystery lies. Ever since UNIT’s very first Doctor Who story, we’ve wondered why a top secret military organization dealing with various otherworldly threats would allow untrained civilians to tag along, but The War Between the Land and the Sea has now revealed why. It’s detailed in the UNIT protocols that it’s required for a civilian observer to be present on all UNIT operations. While this would surely be a huge point of risk, and may lead to confusion such as that expressed by Barclay during their mission in the Mediterranean, but it also does make some sense.
Perhaps inspired by the Doctor’s own traveling companions, who are often just regular civilians, UNIT’s requirement to involve civilians on its mission means normal people are represented in all earth-alien communications. This point is stressed in The War Between the Land and the Sea, when Salt (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) chooses Barclay to be humanity’s ambassador because he is an Everyman—representing humans who aren’t in positions of power, wealth, status, and ego. Having a civilian on UNIT’s missions may also avoid bias and misinterpretation, as the regular individual observes, acts as a witness, and keeps a record from a grounded perspective.
UNIT Needing a Civilian Observer Dates Back to Their First Doctor Who Story
UNIT first appeared in Doctor Who back in 1968’s “The Invasion,” a serial that pitted UNIT, the Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton), Jamie (Frazer Hines), and Zoe (Wendy Padbury) against the Cybermen. At this time, Brigadier Alastair Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney)—Kate Lethbridge-Stewart’s (Jemma Redgrave) father—led UNIT, as he did for many years after, and this was where UNIT’s civilian-centric protocols were first teased. After meeting the Doctor, who traveled at that time with two regular humans, UNIT started to recruit civilian advisors, some of whom actually became companions to the Doctor after his regeneration.
Cambridge University scientist Liz Shaw (Caroline John) was UNIT’s civilian scientific advisor and the Third Doctor’s (Jon Pertwee) first companion. Jo Grant (Katy Manning) replaced shaw as UNIT’s junior civilian operative and the Third Doctor’s next companion, who even traveled with him in the TARDIS. Investigative journalist Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) became UNIT’s most notable civilian liaison during her travels with the Third and Fourth Doctors (Tom Baker), while Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman), Donna Noble (Catherine Tate), Mel Bush (Bonnie Langford), Tegan Jovanka (Janet Fielding), Ace (Sophie Aldred), Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson), and more all also worked with UNIT.
Many of UNIT’s civilian advisors and observers have previously traveled in the TARDIS with various incarnations of the Doctor. They have been joining UNIT en masse in recent years, as Lethbridge-Stewart is collecting the Doctor’s former companions. Perhaps this is because of UNIT’s civilian protocols, as the Doctor’s former companions would be incredible candidates to fill this role for UNIT—they have some training on the job and have experience with extraterrestrial lifeforms. The War Between the Land and the Sea has finally uncovered this mystery, and could even lead to Barclay joining the TARDIS team in the future.
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