More Doctor Who? It seems like it.
The BBC announced on Thursday that a spin-off to the popular sci-fi series was being developed over at BBC Three with the help of author Patrick Ness. The series will be called Class and is set in present day London and will focus on the activities at the Coal Hill School, which is the fictional school where Doctor Who began with 1963’s “An Unearthly Child.”
Class is described as this:
Incredible dangers are breaking through the walls of time and space, and with darkness coming, London is unprotected. With all the action, heart and adrenalin of the best YA fiction (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Hunger Games), this is Coal Hill School and Doctor Who like you’ve never seen them before.
Coal Hill School has been featured throughout the series with the most recent companion, Clara, working as a teacher there. It seems unlikely Jenna Coleman will return to the show in spin-off form since she has already hinted at a departure in order to star as Queen Victoria in an upcoming series.
Ness, a young adult novel author, spoke highly of the series and what he wants to do with Class.
“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.”
Class is set to film in and around Wales during the spring with a late 2016 release date set.