A war between the adult and the juvenile in this Dr Who spin-off

Anyone who has seen Russell T Davies's future dystopia Years and Years will not have been surprised by the warnings of apocalypse in his new series The War Between the Land and the Sea (BBC1, Sun, 8.30pm).

- 

While his 2019 series dealt with a huge array of issues-all equally depressing-from austerity to immigration to the rise of populist demagogues, this new show seems more tightly focused on man's effect on the environment.

Specifically, the seas, rivers, lakes and waterways of Earth and everything that dwells therein, including a race of fishy-looking creatures called the Sea Devils.

If they sound familiar, it's because they are creatures battled by everyone's favourite Gallifreyan, Doctor Who, in several adventures.

This spin-off, so far at least, has no appearance from the Doctor-whether in the guise of Ncuti Gatwa, Billie Piper or anyone else-but he is mentioned in reverential terms.

Here, Davies concentrates on UNIT, the Unified Intelligence Taskforce, and although the Doctor isn't present, several characters from the Whoniverse do show up, including Jemma Redgrave as UNIT chief Kate Lethbridge-Stewart and Ruth Madeley as her indispensable aide-de-camp Mrs Bingham.