Doctor Who is expanding its universe, and the new teen cast has been announced.
Aside from the radio dramas, novels, etc., Doctor Who has had two television spinoffs in the reboot era. For various reasons, these two spinoffs, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures, were cancelled.
Torchwood was aimed at a more mature audience. It aired later in the evening in what is called the “post-watershed” hour in the U.K. For U.S. viewers, the show contained content found on cable, or after 10:00pm on network TV. Torchwood was cancelled after four seasons despite a strong fan following.
The Sarah Jane Adventures sadly was cancelled when its star, Elisabeth Sladen, lost her battle with cancer. The show was aimed at children and tweens. It featured Sarah Jane Smith, her adopted son, and his friends fighting aliens with occasional drops ins by the Doctor, the Brig, and other former companions.
The BBC’s latest venture in appealing to the teen market is Class. The backdrop is the Coal Hill School, the school that Susan attended in classic Doctor Who, and the school where Clara and Danny taught in reboot Doctor Who. According to the BBC, the students of Class (pictured above) are “Greg Austin, Fady Elsayed, Sophie Hopkins and Vivian Oparah. They will be joined by Katherine Kelly, as she takes the role of a teacher and powerful new presence at Coal Hill School. These four Coal Hill School students 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.”
Outgoing Doctor Who showrunner, Steven Moffat, commented on the series stating, “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.”
There is no officially announced air date for the series as of yet. The series will air on BBC Three in the U.K., and BBC America in the U.S. Likely it will air in the fall of 2016 to fill the gap left by Doctor Who, which will instead air in spring 2017.