Doctor Who season 10 won’t air until Spring 2017, but to tide Whovians over in the meantime there is, of course, the upcoming Doctor Who Christmas special as well as a new spinoff series - Class. Set at Coal Hill Academy (née School, an institution which has played a small but significant role throughout Doctor Who’s 50+ year history), the spinoff series follows four students as they traverse the trials of their young lives as well as the possible end of all existence. Y’know, high school.
Being that Coal Hill has been at the center of many a strange phenomena - most recently during Clara Oswald’s (Jenna Coleman) tenure as teacher, but even way back in 1963 when The Doctor’s (William Hartnell) granddaughter was a student - the walls of time and space near the site have begun wearing thin. Now, something dangerous that’s been pressing against those walls is starting to break through, threatening to destroy everything.
Sounds like a job for a Time Lord, right? Well, The Doctor (Peter Capaldi) will appear in Class’ debut episode, but he won’t have a regular role on the series. Instead, it’ll be up to the students of Coal Hill Academy - all of whom are hiding their own secrets - to save the day. And in this new teaser for Class, Capaldi’s Doctor delivers something of a pep talk for those brave enough to stand and defend Earth in his place. Give it a watch, above. UPDATE: The full-length trailer for Class has also been released, and you can watch that video, below:
Along with strange happenings around their school, students Charlie (Greg Austin), Ram (Fady Elsayed), April (Sophie Hopkins), and Tanya (Vivian Oparah), will need to also watch out for a mysterious new physics teacher, Miss Quill (Katherine Kelly). Described as a “powerful presence”, her appearing at the same time as Coal Hill is coming under attack by “shadows” can’t be a coincidence. We don’t yet know if she’ll be a friend or foe, but she sure doesn’t look especially friendly brandishing that gun.
Class is expected to be closer in tone to a show like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but will obviously lean more heavily into the sci-fi elements of the Doctor Who universe. Comparisons have also been made to Torchwood, a previous spinoff, and where that series took the Doctor Who brand of sci-fi in a more adult direction, Class is geared towards the young adult/teen crowd. But hey, if these kids can manage to survive their time at school, there may just be job opportunities available to them at Torchwood upon graduation. They might even be able to list The Doctor as a reference!
Class will air on BBC3 from October 22nd in the U.K., and on BBC America in Spring 2017.
Source: BBC
