Class was a multi-mediaspin-off series ofDoctor Who, co-produced byBBC Wales andBBC America^[1] for digital television stationBBC Three and BBC America^[1]. It was announced on1 October2015.Class was aimed specifically at a young adult audience and contained sexual content, violence and language above the level allowed on the parent series.Class was the firstBBC-producedDoctor Who spin-off series sinceThe Sarah Jane Adventures ended in2011.

Created byPatrick Ness, who was also the sole writer,Class took place inCoal Hill Academy,^[2] (formerly Coal Hill School) which first appeared inDoctor Who's very first episode as the schoolSusan attended in1963. Coal Hill had also been a recurring location duringseries 8 andseries 9, as the school whereClara Oswald andDanny Pink both worked as teachers and theTwelfth Doctor brieflyworked as a caretaker whilst under "deep cover".

Class was first released on BBC Three's streaming service on22 October2016. (Though, this was predated by the performance run of an escape room -It Must Be Survived - inCanada, where the spin-off aired on theSpace channel^[3], from15 October to23 October2016.)

ABBC One broadcast of the show would follow the iPlayer release, inJanuary2017.Australia aired it onABC2.^[4]

Class was in many aspects similar to its sister spin-off seriesTorchwood as well asseries 5 of its mother seriesDoctor Who, in which "the boundaries of space-time have been stretched to breaking point, allowing all manner of creatures through." However, Ness pointed out that "We're not telling stories of the 'chosen ones'." and that "It's happenstance that puts these people [at the centre of things]. What if your timing is just weird and things happen to you? How do you deal with it? I'm interested in real consequences. The Doctor is always exciting, but he never [stays]. He goes off on the next adventure. What happens to real people?"^[5]

Cast[[edit] |[edit source]]

Main cast[[edit] |[edit source]]

• Charlie Smith -Greg Austin
• April MacLean -Sophie Hopkins
• Ram Singh -Fady Elsayed
• Tanya Adeola -Vivian Oparah
• Matteusz Andrzejewski -Jordan Renzo
• Miss Quill -Katherine Kelly

Secondary cast[[edit] |[edit source]]

• Corakinus -Paul Marc Davies
• TheTwelfth Doctor -Peter Capaldi
• Mr Armitage -Nigel Betts
• Vivian Adeola -Natasha Gordon
• Varun Singh -Aaron Neil
• Jackie MacLean -Shannon Murray
• Dorothea Ames -Pooky Quesnel
• Chair of the Governors -Cyril Nri

Television stories[[edit] |[edit source]]

Series 1 - 2016[[edit] |[edit source]]

Main article:Series 1 (Class)

Series 2 - unproduced[[edit] |[edit source]]

Main article:Series 2 (Class)

Production[[edit] |[edit source]]

Class originated from discussions betweenSteven Moffat andBrian Minchin about potential spinoffs. Minchin expressed his interest in discussing the idea that they had in mind with Ness. According to Steven Moffat, when interviewed by DigitalSpy, "he came in. And completely changed the idea, really. To, in my view, a much better one."^[6]

Ness, however, related to Radio Times, on 29 July 2016, that the idea forClass had started from the rejection of aDoctor Who episode; "At first they asked me to write an episode ofDoctor Who, and I said it's a brilliant show, but I've just spent so much time doing work for other people, and I really want to do something of my own. And they said, well we have this idea for setting a spin-off in a school. And it was like, 'ding'! It's been fantastic, I've got six weeks of filming to go. The cast are great, and it's been a fantastic experience. I can't wait for you to see it. Fingers crossed! It's going well."^[7]

In an interview forDoctor Who Magazine#502, Steven Moffat told: "My boys are both teenagers, of course, so I'm quite excited to see what they'll make ofClass, which has a lot of great stuff for that age group. Well, for every age group, but thanks to Patrick Ness, it captures that teenage world with great poignancy and wit.^[8]

On13 June 2016, a bit earlier than scheduled, Ness revealed the lead would be a gay character who has a boyfriend, whom he kisses, sleeps with and loves. Ness told that given the recentOrlando shootings, riots caused byhomophobia, over the weekend, it seemed less important to keep that a secret.^[9]

Cancellation[[edit] |[edit source]]

On4 June2017, Patrick Ness announced that the future of the series was uncertain, and that even if it were to be renewed he would not be taking part.^[10][11]

On7 September 2017,Radio Times spoke toBBC3 controllerDamian Kavanagh about a future return ofClass, in which Kavanagh said: "No, no. There was nothing wrong with it, I thought Patrick [Ness] did a great job, he explored an amazing world. In honesty it didn’t really land for us on BBC3; some shows don't and I have to make decisions about what we’re going to do from a drama point of view, and what we did afterClass wasClique which worked really well for us."^[12]

Expanded media[[edit] |[edit source]]

Escape room[[edit] |[edit source]]

To be added.

Novels[[edit] |[edit source]]

Three books set duringseries 1 were released in the UK on27 October2016:

• Joyride byGuy Adams
• The Stone House byA.K. Benedict
• What She Does Next Will Astound You byJames Goss

In the US, they were instead released as follows:7 March 2017 (The Stone House), 3 October 2017 (Joyride) and 6 March 2018 (What She Does Next Will Astound You).

Audios[[edit] |[edit source]]

In2018, it was announced thatBig Finish would be producingClass: The Audio Adventures - audio stories set during Series 1 - and would be releasing two volumes of audio stories starring the cast ofClass. These first two volumes were released21 August2018, and contained the following stories:

• Gifted byRoy Gill
• Life Experience byJenny T Colgan
• Tell Me You Love Me byScott Handcock
• Everybody Loves Reagan byTim Foley
• Now You Know... byTim Leng
• In Remembrance byGuy Adams

A further two volumes - also set during Series 1, as per agreed licensing - were announced in2019. They were then released28 April2020, and contained the following stories:

• The Soers' Ditch byCarl Rowens
• Catfish byKate Thorman
• Sweet Nothings byMichael Dennis
• Mock byAlfie Shaw
• The Creeper byLizzie Hopley
• Queen of Rhodia byBlair Mowat

Further to be added.

Merchandise[[edit] |[edit source]]

To be added.

External links[[edit] |[edit source]]

• Official website
• Official YouTube channel

Footnotes[[edit] |[edit source]]