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Class is a British science fiction drama programme, and a spin-off of the long-running programme Doctor Who. It was created and written by Patrick Ness, who also produced alongside Doctor Who showrunner and lead writer Steven Moffat, and Brian Minchin, who acted as producer on Doctor Who and two of its previous spin-offs, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures.
The series of eight episodes was released on BBC Three between 22 October and 3 December 2016. The story focuses on five of the students and staff at Coal Hill Academy, a longtime recurrent location of Doctor Who, who are tasked by the Doctor to deal with alien threats while trying to deal with their personal lives.
The series received generally mixed reviews from critics, with praise for its darker tone, writing, music, and acting. However, the series scored poor viewership figures for its broadcast on BBC One. In September 2017, BBC Three confirmed that the series was cancelled.
Premise
The programme is set in Coal Hill Academy, a fictional school that has been featured in Doctor Who since the 1963 serial, An Unearthly Child, and focuses on six of its students and staff members.[1]
The sixth formers of Coal Hill Academy all have their own secrets and desires.[1] They have to deal with the stresses of everyday life, including friends, parents, school work, sex, and sorrow, but also the horrors that come from time travel.[2] The Doctor and his time-travelling 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.[3]
Cast
Main
- Greg Austin as Charlie Smith, an alien posing as a human student. He is the prince of the Rhodians, and the last of his species; after being rescued by the Doctor when his race is slaughtered by another species called the Shadow Kin, he changes his body to a human's and poses as an average 17-year-old student from Sheffield.[4]
- Fady Elsayed as Ram Singh, a tough, antisocial student and gifted football player. After losing his right leg in the first episode, he is given a prosthetic one by the Doctor.[4]
- Sophie Hopkins as April MacLean, an ordinary, unremarkable student whose life is forever changed when she encounters the king of the Shadow Kin, Corakinus.[4]
- Vivian Oparah as Tanya Adeola, a child prodigy of Nigerian origin who moved up three years at Coal Hill School due to her "outstanding examination results" and "truly extraordinary academic capability".[4]
- Katherine Kelly as Miss Andrea Quill, real name Andra'ath, the physics teacher at Coal Hill Academy. Like Charlie, she is secretly an alien and the last of her species, the Quill, long-time war enemies of the Rhodians. While posing as a Coal Hill Academy teacher, she caused the death of a student; as a punishment, the Doctor put her in charge of the main characters' group.
Reception
Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gave the series an 88% rating based on 16 reviews, with an average rating of 6.9/10.[48] Overall reception for the series have been mostly positive. The show's darker tone, writing, music, and acting were praised, as was the overall evolution of the characters during the series.
The Guardian gave the show a positive reception, with Phil Harrison writing: "Ever since the sad demise of Torchwood, Doctor Who fans have been looking for something to fill those fallow months when the Tardis is away in another part of the galaxy and Who is missing from our screens. Now they might finally have it."[49]
Digital Spy was hesitant in its review, praising the cast for their performances but felt the script and pacing needed to take a breath and explore ideas in more depth, with Morgan Jeffery writing "A fast pace is all well and good – in fact, it's essential to hold on to a younger audience – but at times, 'For Tonight, We Might Die' is racing so much that it trips itself up". Summarising the programme so far: "Class is a bit like a hormonal teen – all over the place, with quite literal moodswings. But also like a teen, it's finding itself."[50]
Den of Geek recommended the programme and critic Louisa Mellor summed it up as: "Witty, energetic Doctor Who spin-off Class wears its influences well and gets a great deal right for its target audience."[51]
WalesOnline gave the programme's first couple of episodes a rating of five stars out of five, with writer David Prince summarizing the show as: "It's a bit like a British Buffy and Cardiff looks amazing – but it's not for kids".[52]
Brisbane Times television critic Melinda Houston gave the show a rating of three and a half stars out of four.[53] In a review for Flickering Myth, Alex Moreland rated the first episode of Class with a grade of 9 out of 10 — "Ultimately, Class debuts with a particularly strong first episode; it introduces us to a compelling cast of characters and an establishes an engaging overarching plot. Most importantly of all, though, it makes it obvious that this is a programme that can and will stand on its own – and maybe even surpass Doctor Who, one day."[54]
The Daily Dot writer Gavia Baker-Whitelaw gave the first few episodes a negative review stating "Unless you’re completely new to supernatural teen dramas, Class will seem hopelessly formulaic. In the first two episodes, it offers nothing we haven't already seen in Buffy, Teen Wolf, or Smallville. The comparisons to Buffy are especially unflattering because Class displays none of its subversiveness or wit, and Buffy was already playing with old tropes when it premiered almost 20 years ago." She goes on to say that despite the show's high-profile link to Doctor Who, "It's just too bad it doesn't live up to the hype, failing to move beyond a watered-down Joss Whedon structure or exhibit fresh insight into young adult life. With so many brilliant teen dramas already available elsewhere, it’s hard to see what Class has to offer unless it drastically improves in later episodes."
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