A new Doctor Who spin-off by the BBC has been announced. The spin-off will be aimed at teenagers and will be written by young adult fiction author Patrick Ness, pictured below.
The series, titled 'Class', will be set in a school in modern London but be filmed in and around Cardiff like Doctor Who itself. Class will consist of eight 45-minute episodes and will air on BBC Three in 2016.
I'm astounded and thrilled to be entering the Doctor Who universe, which is as vast as time and space itself. There's so much room there for all kinds of amazing stories and to work with [Doctor Who writer] Steven Moffat and [producer] Brian Minchin to find a place to tell one of my own has been an absolute joy. 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.
Previous Doctor Who spin-offs include Torchwood, aimed at adult audiences and The Sarah Jane Adventures, aimed at younger audiences. Doctor Who Confidential and Torchwood Declassified were behind-the-scenes spin-offs that were also broadcast on BBC Three. Class will be the first spin-off aimed at teenage audiences, as well as the first new spin-off of the Moffat-era of Doctor Who.
What are you hoping to see in Class? It's pretty likely that the Doctor himself will turn up at some point, as he did in The Sarah Jane Adventures. I'm hoping to see the premise for Class set up in Doctor Who itself. Being set in a London school, it seems quite possible that the series could feature Coal Hill School, which the Doctor's granddaughter Susan attended and where Clara Oswald teaches. Jenna Coleman departs Doctor Who at the end of the current series - could it be becuase Clara Oswald wants to focus on a teaching career, leading into Class?
Finally, what do you think of the title Class? I'm not totally convinced by it, but I may warm up to it yet. Class doesn't air until 2016 so we may see a title change yet. Discuss it in the comments below and we'll get a conversation started!
It's pretty unlikely because a new spin-off will want to enter with as little continuity baggage as possible, but I'd love to see characters from The Sarah Jane Adventures pop up!
ReplyDeleteClyde Langer and the other characters were around college level when The Sarah Jane Adventures ended, so I could totally see them appearing with a little fudging of the timeline.