There are more rumours of a Doctor Who spin-off show featuring the Sea Devils — but these don’t hail from newspapers, but instead a production listings site which includes a few further details, including the series’ supposed name.

The War Between The Land And The Sea is described as a “spin-off of the fantasy-action saga Doctor Who, that will feature the Sea Devils” (the “fantasy-action” term riffing off showrunner Russell T Davies’ eagerness to include more fantasy elements than previously seen in Who). What’s more, productionlist.com lists Davies as the writer, and Phil Collinson, Vicki Delow, Julie Gardner, and Jane Tranter (i.e. Bad Wolf Studios) as producers.

Filming in Cardiff, the spin-off is said to start shooting on 4th March 2024, meaning it’s currently in pre-production.

But is it? Is this actually happening? Well, we know Davies is keen on spin-offs, and presumably Disney+ is too. Though some might mock the idea of this, and pinches of salt should be dispensed liberally, spin-offs are going ahead, so why not this one? It would presumably include UNIT too, so would be an under-the-radar pilot for a UNIT-focused programme. Plus, though Legend of the Sea Devils wasn’t met with great acclaim at all, the Sea Devils themselves were a nice updated design and we can see the BBC being keen to reuse those masks and costumes.

The titular foes debuted in Malcolm Hulke’s The Sea Devils, as aquatic cousins to the Silurians, original owners of the planet, and were an immediate success — despite this, they were only seen once more, in Warriors of the Deep, before coming up against the Thirteenth Doctor.

We can’t say for sure that The War Between The Land And The Sea is happening, but it feels quite likely. Unless it’s a smokescreen, of course — when Doctor Who was coming back, it went under the title Torchwood, so Davies is a fan of fake titles…