The BBC today announced the cast for it’s new Doctor Who spin off series ‘Class‘, set in Coal Hill School, and due to air on BBC Three later this year.
The young cast includes Greg Austin (who you may have seen as Gordon Selfridge in Mr Selfridge), Fady Elsayed (Silent Witness), Sophie Hopkins and Vivian Oparah, who will be joined by Katherine Kelly (Happy Valley, Mr Selfridge, The Night Manager) who takes on the role of a new teacher – maybe to replace the now missing Clara Oswald?
The official synopsis is rather interesting, as it hints that one of those kids might not be just your ordinary sixth formers…
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…?
This is further confirmed by Doctor Who & Class Exec Producer Steven Moffat, who says “There’s nothing more exciting than meeting stars that nobody’s heard of yet. We had the read through of the first few episodes last week, and there was a whole row of them. 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 – it’s taken the brilliant Patrick Ness to figure out how to make it happen.”
That ‘British Buffy’ analogy is a risky one to make, as you’re really setting the bar high. I’m just hoping Ness & Moffat can pull it off.
Apparently all the timey-wimey stuff that’s gone on at Coal Hill School since it first encountered The Doctor in 1963 has rather effected the space/time barrier there, and something is on the other side trying to get through, intent on destroying everything.
So you appear to have a (presumably) super-powered teen with a mission to protect an area (which happens to be in a school) against evil with the help of their friends and a teacher… On second thoughts, that Buffy analogy really isn’t that far off!
I’m rather intrigued to see how Class turns out when it lands on BBC Three later in the year.
