"Doctor Who" Young-Adult "Class" Spin-off To Launch Spring 2017

[JamesG]

"Doctor Who" Spinoff "Class", Aimed at Teen Audience, Premiering in 2016
by Andy Swift
October 1, 2015


The "Doctor Who" universe is about to get a touch of "Class".

BBC Three on Thursday announced a spinoff to the wildly popular franchise set in present-day London, where “incredible dangers are breaking through the walls of time and space. And with darkness coming, London is unprotected.”

Young adult author Patrick Ness will pen the drama series — eight 45-minute episodes airing in 2016 — which "Doctor Who" showrunner Steven Moffat likens to “growing up in modern Britain… but with monsters!”





Ness said in a statement, "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 Steven Moffat and 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."

http://tvline.com/2015/10/01/doctor-...-details-2016/

[JamesG]

BBC America Unveils "Doctor Who" Spin-Off
by Malcolm Venable
Jan 8, 2016


"Class", a spin-off of "Doctor Who", comes from American young adult writer Patrick Ness, making his screenwriting debut.

Set in a school in modern-day London, the show features all-new villains and aliens and premieres some time this year.

http://www.tvguide.com/news/bbc-amer...s-day-special/

[JamesG]

"Doctor Who" Spin-off Cast Revealed: Katherine Kelly to Teach Coal Hill Class
by Matt Webb Mitovich
April 4, 2016


UK TV vet Katherine Kelly is set to teach the Class at the center of "Doctor Who‘s" upcoming spinoff, which is being likened to a “British Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”

Set in contemporary London at Coal Hill School, "Class" is described as “scary, funny and as painful and sharp as youth,” shining a light on “a whole new corner of the Whoniverse.”





Kelly will play a teacher and powerful new presence at the school, while Vivian Oparah, Greg Austin (Mr. Selfridge), Sophie Hopkins and Fady Elsayed (Silent Witness) have been cast as students who will face “their own worst fears, navigating a life of friends, parents, school work, sex, sorrow… and possibly the end of existence.”

Per the BBC America write-up, “All the time traveling 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.”





Says Doctor Who/Class EP Steven Moffat, “Coal Hill School has been part of Doctor Who since the very first shoot in 1963, but this new show is anything but history. Class is dark and sexy and right now. I’ve always wondered if there could be a British Buffy, and it’s taken the brilliant Patrick Ness to figure out how to make it happen.”

Production on "Class" begins this week, its BBC Three launch date TBD.

http://tvline.com/2016/04/04/doctor-...therine-kelly/

[JamesG]

"Doctor Who" Spin-off Finally Gets Premiere Date
by Nivea Serrao
9/23/16


Get out those red sharpies and circle those calendars – BBC America’s "Class" will finally be making its way to the small screen!

The first young adult-themed "Doctor Who" spin-off will be opening doors on TV in the spring of 2017.





The show, which is set at the Coal Hill School in London, follows the lives of four high school students (played by Greg Austin, Fady Elsayed, Sophie Hopkins and Vivian Oparah) as they try to balance their teenage troubles with less regular ones – like the end of the world.

As it turns out, attending the iconic (and frequently time-and-space-travelling-trouble-prone) school comes with it’s own set of issues. Namely, the various visits from the Doctor over the years – most recently in season 8 – which have caused the very walls of space and time to thin, all while something waits on the other side with eyes on killing everyone and bring them into the Shadow.

Lucky for Coal Hill School though, it was also announced that the Doctor himself (Peter Capaldi) will make an appearance in the series premiere, which is titled “For Tonight We Might Die.”

http://www.ew.com/article/2016/09/23...spin-off-class

[TMC]

Class: 5 More Doctor Who Spin-Offs We Need To See