Doctor Who: Scorched Earth

The TARDIS lands in a village in Normandy in 1944, shortly after it is liberated from the German occupiers, leading to a story that's about the aftermath of victory rather than the war itself. Although there are hints of the science-fiction elements right from the opening teaser, most of the first half is about the mundane situation in the village, making it almost feel like a straight historical. Even in the second half, once the monster begins to take centre stage, a key element is the different perspectives that Flip and Constance (the latter seeing her own near-future) have on the War and its outcome.

There are a few historical inaccuracies in here, including a general impression that the War is over in France at the time it's set (it wasn't; Paris had yet to be liberated, for one). Furthermore, the commanding officer of the company of British soldiers passing through the village is described as a “corporal” and I'm fairly sure that you can't get three people into a DeHavilland Tiger Moth, but these are minor points in a story that's focussed on the contrast between vengeance and justice. Even if everyone wrongly insists on calling them “Nazis”, the two German characters in the story are not the villains and there is some sympathy for the character who is.

While the monster features more heavily in the second half than the first, it's never really a character in its own right and is essentially a metaphor for the human events going on around it. What we really get is an examination of a part of the War that we don't normally hear too much about and some strong character interaction, especially between Constance and Flip whose cultural backgrounds are bringing them into conflict more than usual. So, yes, technically, this is science fiction, but that's almost irrelevant in a story about shades of grey and character development between the leads.