‘Doctor Who’ Spin Off: ‘Class’ Just Announced Today!
BBC Three has just announced a new Doctor Who spin off entitled Class. In writing this initial 8 episode run centered on students in modern-day London, they may be shooting for a middle road between previous spin offs. Torchwood featured some darker stories of a special ops. team aimed more at older audiences, while The Sarah Jane Adventures was a decidedly kid friendly installment in the Whoverse. Class sounds like a unique creation of Who-ology, geared more toward the young adult crowd.
Class is a YA series set in contemporary London. Incredible dangers are breaking through the walls of time and space, and with darkness coming, London is unprotected.
—BBC Three
Executive producer Steven Moffat (Doctor Who, Sherlock) has teamed with award winning author Patrick Ness (the Chaos Walking trilogy and A Monster Calls) to create the series. Ness, born in the States—and having lived in Virginia, Washington state, Hawaii and southern California (where he attended USC)—before becoming a naturalized British citizen in 2005, seems an excellent choice to be writing about other worlds and dimensions. Moffat sound very excited about Ness, saying, “No one has documented the dark and exhilarating world of the teenager like Patrick Ness, and now we’re bringing his brilliant storytelling into Doctor Who. This is growing up in modern Britain—but with monsters!” I’m guessing something along the lines of the setting being a British school sitting on the Doctor Who universe equivalent of the Hellmouth from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The Whosphere got a taste of Ness’ skills with his 2013 short story for the 50th anniversary, Doctor Who: Tip of the Tongue, which is available as a bite-size ebook featuring Peter Davison’s fifth Doctor.
Ness has nine other full novels under his belt—his latest The Rest of Us Just Live Here (read the back cover below) hits US store shelves on October 6th. He appears to have a strong storytelling resume outside of his novels as well, having written and reviewed for The Daily Telegraph, The Times Literary Supplement, The Sunday Telegraph and The Guardian. He has even taught creative writing at Oxford University! None of it, however, makes him too hoity-toity to play in The Doctor’s sandbox. To hear him tell it, “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.”
Whew! If he’s that into it, sign me up! The show will air on Britain’s BBC Three later next year—no word yet on when it might hit American shores but BBC America is probably the logical venue. Can’t wait for more details!
The Rest of Us Just Live Here Back Cover:
What if you aren’t the Chosen One?
The one who’s supposed to fight the zombies, or the soul-eating ghosts, or whatever the heck this new thing is, with the blue lights and the death?
What if you’re like Mikey? Who just wants to graduate and go to prom and maybe finally work up the courage to ask Henna out before someone goes and blows up the high school. Again.
Because sometimes there are problems bigger than this week’s end of the world, and sometimes you just have to find the extraordinary in your ordinary life.
Even if your best friend is worshiped by mountain lions.
Award-winning writer Patrick Ness’s bold and irreverent novel powerfully reminds us that there are many different types of remarkable.
