Class, a Doctor Who spin-off, has been a tough case for me. Do I believe that it qualifies for Gone Too Soon? Absolutely. But here’s the kicker, it has been announced that the show is going to be coming back, but that is all that I’ve heard about it. In fact the revival was supposed to drop in April of this year, but I haven’t heard anything about it since. Granted, coronavirus could have interrupted the schedule.
I’m quite frankly tired of waiting (not really, please bring the show back) so for the time being I have officially decided that it belongs on the list of shows that were Gone Too Soon. Class ran for eight episodes in 2016. Just eight episodes, granted it was a British television show so that isn’t all that surprising. What is impressive is how much world-building (or world expanding rather) and relationship developing happens over the course of eight episodes.
Class had tons of potential. I know I say that a lot, but you know when some cancellations hurt just a little bit more than others? Like I obviously think every show that I cover in Gone Too Soon should have gotten another season, but some shows just stay with you. It’s the difference between I really enjoyed that show and would have enjoyed another season and I love this show and am actively looking up continuation fanfiction that suits my needs. For me this list isn’t super long, of the shows that I have covered so far the ones that hurt the most are Stitchers and Eye Candy, Class gets added to this list. So let’s get into it!
The Gist
Class is set at Coal Hill Academy, a location that should be familiar to Doctor Who fans. The show is like most other high school shows, except one of the students is an alien and their school is a hot spot for aliens and more otherworldly characters. Oh yeah, and the Doctor has entrusted a few select students with keeping things contained, and honestly revealing too much more of the plot will feel like a major spoiler. I can say that the aliens have a major effect on these students and change their lives in irreparable ways.
A ton of character development is accomplished during these eight episodes. The show even has time to focus two seperate episodes on the same day. One taking place with the students and the other focusing on the teacher. Two couples are even given the opportunity to get to know each other.
The students protecting the school are: Charlie Smith (Greg Austin) as the alien posing as a high school student, Ram Singh (Fady Elsayed), April MacLean (Sophie Hopkins), Tanya Adeola (Vivian Oparah), and Jordan Renzo as Matteusz Andrzejewski (Jordan Renzo). The teacher, well alien posing as a teacher who has to protect Charlie to survive, but is actually his mortal enemy is Andrea Quill (Katherine Kelly).
Should You Watch It
This is an easy question. Do you like Doctor Who? If the answer is yes, then of course you should watch the spin-off. Do you not like Doctor Who? Then you don’t have to worry about it, he doesn’t show up very often (this was during Twelve’s run). Do you enjoy high school dramas? If you do then you will also like this show. This has all the classic conventions of a teen show with aliens making everything much more complicated. It’s a sci-fi, high school, teen show and it never sacrifices one of these genres for another.
Another draw for this series is Patrick Ness, author of the Chaos Walking trilogy, A Monster Calls, and The Rest of Us Just Live Here. He is also the creator and writer of Class. If you enjoy his writing then you will like this show.
Sunken Ship
Class had two ships I was rooting for, so let’s start with the actual couple, Charlie and Matteusz. They start as love interests and become boyfriends over the course of the show. They aren’t without their problems, but they were super cute.
Also this isn’t show related but for Pride BBC America had a commercial with a bunch of LGBTQ couples from their shows. In it they had a Charlie and Matteusz kiss and I kind of lost my mind. You mean to tell me you can include them in your commercial, but Class couldn’t even get a second season.
The other couple I was rooting for is Ram and April. Before the events of the pilot they weren’t even on each other’s radars, but by the end you are fully rooting for them especially because of everything they have done for one another. They had a lot going for them.
Caution: Cliffhanger
First things first. I wasn’t watching Doctor Who at this time (I had quit during Eleven’s run) so I have no clue if they addressed any of this on there. I also have never read any of the Class books or listened to the audio drama so I’m sure that somewhere in all of that this cliffhanger is resolved, because it was way too big to just be glossed over.
That being said this show really has a pretty big cliffhanger with ramifications for all the characters moving forward. I would have loved to see how these moved forward, which like I said, may have been satisfied my
Where to Watch
Good news is if this seems like a show you would want to watch, you can buy the episodes on Amazon and YouTube and who knows you may be able to find the show on HBO Max soon. Doctor Who will be available to stream on the site.
