‘Doctor Who’ Spinoff ‘Class’ Sets Premiere Date; Peter Capaldi To Guest Star
Good news, Whovians: we now know exactly whenClasswill be in session. U.K. fans will be able to catch theDoctor Whospinoff startingOctober 22on BBC Three. U.S. fans, unfortunately, will have to wait a bit longer, asClasswon’t hit BBC America until spring 2017.
Whenever it reaches your country, though, you may count on the Doctor himself to help get the party started.Peter Capaldiis confirmed to appear in theClassseries premiere, which is called “For Tonight We Might Die.“Patrick Ness(A Monster Calls) created the series and is executive producing withDoctor Who’sSteven MoffatandBrian Minchin.
Set in London’s Coal Hill School (a location which has been part of the Whoniverse since the 1960s),Classchronicles the ups and downs of four students — Charlie (Greg Austin), April (Sophie Hopkins), Ram (Fady Elsayed), and Tanya (Vivian Oparah) — and their physics teacher Miss Quill (Katherine Kelly). How exactly the Doctor gets mixed up with all of them in the first episode remains unclear.
The kids juggle the usual teen stuff like romance, friendship, family, and schoolwork along with less usual teen stuff like the possible end of the world as we know it. Turns out the Doctor’s frequent visits to the school have thinned the walls of space and time, and now a sinistersomethingis out to get them. In other words, it’s basically “a BritishBuffy,” as Moffat put it.
BBC announced today that the first two episodes ofClass, “For Tonight We Might Die” and"The Coach With the Dragon Tattoo,“will hit BBC Three on Saturday, October 22.
UK fans! It’s the news you’ve been waiting for…#ClassDWeps 1 & 2 drop on@bbcthreeon Saturday 22 October!pic.twitter.com/tu3Mh1TmuW
— Class (@bbcclass)July 11, 2025
But American audiences will have to wait until spring 2017.
#ClassDWpremieres on@BBCAMERICAalongside#DoctorWhoin 2017, with Peter Capaldi appearing in the first episode as the Doctor.pic.twitter.com/vySsuyXv2B
— BBC America (@BBCAMERICA)July 31, 2025
In any case, Capaldi will be there for the first roll call.
📢CONFIRMED!Peter Capaldi will guest star as the Doctor in#ClassDW’s opening episode 🙌#DoctorWhopic.twitter.com/u68KL99Tws
It seems a bit odd that we haven’t seen much promotion forClass— we haven’t even seen a proper trailer yet, despite the fact that this show debuts in the U.K. in about a month — but we can surely expect to get much more whenClasshits New York Comic-Con. In the meantime, check out a couple of behind-the-scenes clips featuring Ness and Kelly.
