Doctor Who Spin-Off Class Announces Cast and Story Elements

The cast and description for the @bbcdoctorwho spinoff #Class has been announced! Sounds fun! @DoctorWho_BBCA pic.twitter.com/jej2arrSXJ

— The Nerdy Bird (@JillPantozzi) April 4, 2016

Whovians have been intrigued since the BBC announced a new Doctor Who spin-off called Class, which will be set at Coal Hill Secondary School where recent companion Clara Oswald as well as original companions Ian and Barbara taught before they were whisked away by the First Doctor.

As reported by The Nerdy Bird today, the BBC has announced the main cast for Class, as well as a little more information about what we can expect from the show. Produced by Steven Moffat and Brian Minchin, and written by YA writer, Patrick Ness (the Chaos Walking trilogy), Class tells the story of a group of students at Coal Hill, which has been an important location to Doctor Who since the very beginning. All that interaction with the Doctor over the years has caused the walls of space and time around the school to become thin, which is allowing something to press in from beyond those walls. Whatever it is is waiting for the chance to kill everyone it can, and drag humanity “into Shadow.”

The BBC posted a rather interesting logline for the show, which gives even more insight into the plot:

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…?

Hmmm. So, whatever it is that’s pushing through… is looking for one of the students? Or maybe a teacher? Whatever is going on, it’s clear that not everyone at Coal Hill is human, which only makes sense in this show universe.

Playing the four main students in the cast of Class are newcomers Greg Austin, Fady Elsayed, Sophie Hopkins and Vivian Oparah. They are joined by Katherine Kelly, who will play one of Coal Hill’s teachers and a “powerful new presence at Coal Hill School.” Could this teacher be the one being hunted? Who knows?

What surprises me so far is that this show is skewing older than I expected. When I wrote about it last, I compared it to The Sarah Jane Adventures, but these students are “sixth formers” (ie; aged 16-19) and apparently “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.” So much for Ellis George being the lead, as I’d hoped.

Then again, the Doctor is currently in need of a new companion. Perhaps her Courtney Woods won’t be at Coal Hill, because she’ll be getting home schooling…on the TARDIS.

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