The sixth formers of Coal Hill Academy all have their own secrets and desires. They have to deal with the stresses of everyday life, including friends, parents, school work, sex, and sorrow - and also the horrors that come from space and time. The Doctor and his TARDIS have made the walls of space and time stretch thin, and monsters beyond imagination are planning to break through and wreak havoc upon the Earth. It is up to students April, Charlie, Ram, Tanya and Mateusz, and their unorthodox teacher Miss Quill, to defend the Earth from whatever threat may next come through these rifts...

A spin-off from 'Doctor Who', 'Class' consisted of eight episodes, which premiered on BBC Three from October 2016. It was created and written by Patrick Ness (best known for his books for young adults, including the 'Chaos Walking' trilogy and 'A Monster Calls'), who was also executive producer for the series alongside 'Doctor Who' showrunner Steven Moffat, and Derek Ritchie, who had previously produced episodes for the ninth season of 'Doctor Who'.

Unfortunately, despite an engaging main cast (in particular, the enigmatic Miss Quill as played by Katherine Kelly, who easily stole any scene she was in), and some interesting storylines, ‘Class’ mainly just fell flat. Hampered from the start by a boring and uninspiring title, ‘Class’ ultimately fell victim to the BBC’s inability to schedule it properly: episodes were originally released on the online channel BBC Three with very little publicity, and hardly any mention of the fact that it was part of the ‘Doctor Who’ universe. When download figures proved a huge disappointment (episode 1 got 660,000 requests, while episode 2, which was released at the same time, only got 296,000; requests for later episodes fell even further), the BBC then buried ‘Class’ in a 10.45 pm timeslot on BBC 1, a time when its key audience would be hardly likely to be watching, and scheduled two episodes at a time in a bid to get its transmission over and done with. As a result, broadcast ratings were shamefully low (the 1.06 million viewers for episode 1 plummeted to fewer than 100,000 for later episodes), an embarrassment that nullified any chances of a second season.

It’s a shame really, as ‘Class’ could have been so much more if it had been handled properly; instead we got a case of ‘could do better’, before ‘Class’ was dismissed…

'Class' was later resurrected for six new episodes in August 2018, this time in audio form by Big Finish; these stories were an improvement on the television series, so let's hope there will be more to come...


'Class' - Season 1


'Doctor Who' Episode Guide


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