“What if your planet was massacred and you were the sole survivor? What if a legendary figure out of space and time found you a place to hide? But what if the things that want to kill you have tracked you down? And worst of all, what if you haven’t studied for your A-Levels…? Coal Hill School has been a part of the Doctor Who universe since the very beginning, but that has come at a price. All the time travelling over the years has caused the very walls of space and time to become thin. There’s something pressing in on the other side, something waiting for its chance to kill everyone and everything, to bring us all into Shadow.”
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Produced by BBC Wales, Class features the sixth form pupils of Coal Hill School in Shoreditch and their adventures as incredible dangers break through the walls of time and space. With darkness coming, London is unprotected.
Described as having all the action, heart and adrenalin of the best YA fiction such as Buffy and The Hunger Games, this will be Coal Hill School like you’ve never seen it before.
Filming for the series commenced in April of this year and wrapped in September.
Writer Patrick Ness says:
“I can’t wait for people to meet the heroes of Class, to meet the all-new villains and aliens, to remember that the horrors of the darkest corners of existence are just about on par with having to pass your A-Levels.”
Ness also says that the best Young Adult fiction should be aimed at teenagers but also reach beyond it’s boundaries:
“That’s who it should be for first, but the best YA reaches beyond that. The best of anything reaches beyond its boundaries… The idea is to take everything that I love about YA, which is the great breadth of it and the great depth of it and its fearlessness… and the way that it takes teenage characters seriously as complex human beings, and just put that on television in the Doctor Who universe and that sounded very, very exciting to me.”
Cast and Crew
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Greg Austin as Charlie
Fady Elsayed
Sophie Hopkins as April
Vivian Oparah
Katherine Kelly as Miss Quill
Nigel Betts as Season 8’s Mr. Armitage
Paul Marc Davis
Anna Shaffer as Rachel
Cyril Nri as Chair
With a special guest performance by Peter Capaldi as The Doctor
“The main thing I just wanted to say, guys, is how excited I am to get started and how nervous I am to do it justice. I just really hope I can do justice to the whole ‘Doctor Who’ universe and especially to you guys.” – Gregory Austin
Written by: Patrick Ness Produced by: Derek Ritchie Executive Producers: Patrick Ness, Brian Minchin, Steven Moffat. Directors: Ed Bazalgette, Philippa Lansdale, Wayne Yip, Julian Holmes (finale).
“‘Class’ is dark and sexy and right now. I’ve always wondered if there could be a British ‘Buffy’ — it’s taken the brilliant Patrick Ness to figure out how to make it happen.” – Steven Moffat
Episodes
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The series will consist of eight 45 minute episodes, commencing with The Prom this October.
“I want to show the world new stuff. I want to have new things that maybe we haven’t seen before. That’s my goal. That’s what I’m aiming for — shock you with something new. Something like the Weeping Angels, which I think are great, are brand new. Steven Moffat invented them a couple seasons ago. There’s not going to be any weeping angels on ‘Class,’ but I’m just saying that they’re something new to the ‘Doctor Who’ universe that are just awesome, and I would like to do that.” – Patrick Ness
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Merchandise
Three tie-in novels will be published on October 27,
The Stone House by A.K. Benedict
Joyride by Guy Adams
What She Does Next Will Astound You by James Goss
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Albert DePetrillo, Senior Editorial Director at BBC Books says:
“Patrick Ness is simply one of the finest writers working today – in any genre – and his new television series has all the hallmarks of his dazzling fiction. Class is a hugely exciting new brand for the BBC list, and we’re delighted to be working with Patrick and the production team at BBC Wales on these official tie-ins.”
Class will air first on BBC3 before airing on BBC1, the series debuting this October. BBC America will also air the series, with no confirmation on a timeframe.
Synopsis “What if your planet was massacred and you were the sole survivor? What if a legendary figure out of space and time found you a place to hide?
CAST ANNOUNCED FOR BBC AMERICA’S DOCTOR WHO SPIN-OFF – CLASS
Announced today, the stars of BBC AMERICA’s Doctor Who spin-off seriesClass – exciting young new talents Greg Austin, Fady Elsayed, Sophie Hopkins and Vivian Oparah. They will be joined by Katherine Kelly, as she takes the role of a teacher and powerful new presence at Coal Hill School.
These four Coal Hill School students have hidden secrets and desires. They are facing their own worst fears, navigating a life of friends, parents, school work, sex, sorrow – and possibly the end of existence.
Coal Hill School has been a part of the Doctor Who universe since the very beginning, but that has come at a price. All the time travelling over the years has caused the very walls of space and time to become thin. There’s something pressing in on the other side, something waiting for its chance to kill everyone and everything, to bring us all into Shadow.
Fear is coming, tragedy is coming, war is coming. Prepare yourselves, Class is coming.
okay after reading so many of the reactions to “class” on gallifrey base i feel like i’ve had my fair share of “class” related negativity to last me a lifetime, so
yeah, the title is weird
yeah, the description is frustratingly shallow and vague
yeah, it won’t have any clara BUT.
do you know anything about patrick ness? if not, like me when “class” was announced last night, go read his wikipedia page.
this guy seems amazing.
and have you seen what he tweeted in relation to the show?
that guy’s an outstanding writer. he’ll be the sole writer of the show. he writes dark and emotional. he’s got a lot to prove. if that doesn’t sound promising, i don’t know what does.
let’s give this a chance.
I’m beyond excited to have a brand new DW spinoff! I was sure we’d never get one under Moff, so this surprised the hell out of me. The reaction at GB was crap, as usual. They worked themselves into a frenzy thinking it would be a new companion or Moffat leaving. lol No. It was way too soon for a new companion announcement and the twitter feed stressed the announcement was positiveso of course they weren’t going to say Moffat leaving was a great thing, no matter what the Moffat haters think.
I am excited for Ness as a new writer for televised stories. The setting is maybe not my first choice (I would’ve rather had River or the Paternosters), but it’s not a bad setting and I was even saying some time ago that “The Caretaker” sets Coal Hill up as a perfect alien hot spot. The only thing I’m not keen on (aside from no Clara when Clara and Coal Hill work so well together) is the lack of diversity in writers. I think Ness will be great, don’t get me wrong, but we’re still not getting any female and/or POC voices and that’s the biggest downside for me. I sincerely hope that if it gets a second season, they bring in new diverse writers and allow Ness to be lead writer.
