It’s official — Peter Capaldi’s incumbent 12th Doctor will show up for the first day of Class.
The forthcoming Doctor Who spinoff show will give Doctor Who fans an early glimpse of the beloved Time Lord’s inter-dimensional antics.
Set at the fictional Coal Hill School and featuring teenagers grappling with aliens and other ruptures in the space-time continuum, Class is being billed as “scary” and looks to be edgy. Capaldi’s incarnation of the Doctor visited Coal Hill School a few times before, owing to the fact that his previous bestie and time-traveling companion — Clara Oswald — was once a teacher there. And because William Hartnell’s very first Doctor hung out near the school back in 1963, the entire area has a history of time and space-altering events. It’s thought that Class will focus on the fallout from these kinds of intergalactic struggles, commenting on the alien messes the Doctor might leave behind on Earth when he zips away in his TARDIS after “saving the day.”
Thematically, the Doctor Who universe has dealt with the notion of terrestrial crises caused by the Doctor’s extraterrestrial heroics before. Last season’s “The Zygon Invasion” saw the Doctor dealing with the conundrum of shaped-shifting aliens living in secret among the human population. While previous Doctor Who spin-off shows Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures have depicted the exploits of the Doctor’s former companions as they fight the good fight on Earth.
Unlike Torchwood or The Sarah Jane Adventures, Class will be the first of the Who spin-offs to actually feature the Doctor in the very first episode. Will this link to the continuity of the Christmas special or the eagerly awaited 10th season in 2017? Will the Who-universe return to its glory days of interconnected storylines between different shows, as it did back in 2008?
Class is set to debut on BBC3 on a yet-to-be-announced date in this October.
