The Whoniverse

We’re really calling it that now. It has a logo. And short reunion stories highlighting some classics. And nearly everything available on iPlayer.

K9 And Company!

Character Class

I mean... Class characters for DWAITAS, thanks to Siskoid.

Class: The Lost

April has a nice singing voice.

Class: The Metaphysical Engine

... or What Quill Did

The flipside of Detained has Miss Quill going off on her own mini adventure.

Class: Detained

The almost inevitable “detention” episode of a school-based show manages to avoid any overt references to The Breakfast Club by becoming the classic “everybody is trapped in a confined space” bottle episode, a bit of an “everybody acts out of character” episode and the “everybody confesses their dark secrets” episode. And a Doctor-Lite episode where Miss Quill is absent for most of it.

I liked the characters taking a moment to figure out whether it was an asteroid or meteor.

The secrets being revealed helped make this feel like a balanced “young adult” show rather than something that would be kid-friendly apart from the swearing and gore.

Class: Brave-ish Heart

I appreciate the candour of making a Frodo joke as two characters clamber through a volcanic wasteland to battle a dark lord...

The Shadowkin planet is called the Underneath and is supposedly at the bottom of the universe, which adds to the king and the burning shadow swords that slash portals to make them feel like a classic fantasy monster rather than a science-fantasy one.

Killer petals - still not scaring me.

Class: Co-Owner Of A Lonely Heart

Between A Monster Calls, the veiny-tree-like things in the previous episode and the killer cherry blossom this time, is Patrick Ness scared of plants?

Anyway, they’re a subplot that will take centre stage next week, because this week, earlier than I’d anticipated, April sharing her heart with the king of the Shadowkin gets addressed. Her eyes glow ragily and she manifests scimitars of darkness, while he (in an amusing and very Buffy moment) wants a cuddle after the first time April makes love.

Oh, and her terrible dad appears, one episode after being established in dialogue. Was this show meant to have a couple more episodes?

The subplot also brings in the new headteacher.

Tanya stands up for Miss Quill. Yay!

And we also find out how the cabinet works. That may be an issue later on.

Class: Night Visitors

It’s the classic “ghosts of past regrets” episode with the classic “ghosts are really aliens” twist. With past regrets from before the series as the aliens imitating ghosts go for the nearest and dearest, and only three episodes in, so only one of them is someone we’ve seen die in the show itself, and they actually get the least to do.

With some turning to dust rather than gore (for those keeping track, Ram doesn’t get blood all over his face!) it’s the least needs-to-be-after-the-watershed episode of the first half of the run. It could have been a Sarah Jane two-parter. Apart from Miss Quill stabbing her visitor in the hand.

(And she essentially saves the day and gets no thanks for it. Bloody kids.)

Class: The Coach With The Dragon Tattoo

Class gets its first monster of the week episode, and it lets Ram integrate a bit more with the group and deal with the trauma of losing his leg and girlfriend. (Although Ram getting blood all over his face is in danger of becoming a running gag.)

The gore quota gets ramped up quite a bit with some gratuitous bloody skinning.

Meanwhile, Miss Quill has to deal with an OFSTED school inspector. Which is funny, but I think might have been funnier after a couple more episodes showing her terrible teaching style.

Class: For Tonight We Might Die

Class starts with Miss Quill being mysterious and fighting a shadow...

Then a credits sequence which is a bit Doctor Who and a bit Seven Nation Army.

Not sold on a bouncy poppy show choosing a bouncy poppy theme song (Up All Night by Alex Clare) with lyrics about boredom, “watching my youth slip away” and how “we go on and on and on and on...”

We meet our assorted heroes as they arrive, then find they’re all being subtly pursued by shadows.

April, the kind helpful girl next door.
Charlie, the terribly polite and slightly confused guy who is, as April points out, rather obviously an alien. (The biggest laugh of the episode is April asking if they look human naturally or had to change - cut to them in monster makeup and back saying “... No...”)
Matteusz, his boyfriend.
Tanya, the socially awkward three-years-ahead genius.
Ram, the jock.
Miss Quill, the snarky alien ninja teacher.

Class Programming

Class gets its terrestrial premiere on Monday on BBC One, starting at 10.45 p.m. Seems like a good time to start talking about individual episodes.

Class reading

More adaptations of novels by Class creator Patrick Ness, with Daisy Ridley and Tom Holland looking to star in Chaos Walking.

Class is now in session

For Tonight We Might Die is an interesting title choice for the first episode...

The Coach With The Dragon Tattoo to follow.

To avoid spoilers, reviews once they’re on the unsmart TV in a few days.

Class Visit

... New York Comic Con.

And Peter Capaldi narrates the first trailer.

And the proper trailer.

Class Video Project

An intro video for Class, and for Miss Quill.

Class Badge

Class now has a logo, as revealed on the covers of three tie-in novels. And is that The Crack?

Class Photo

That pun is not getting old.

A first photo from Class, now that filming has wrapped, showing April, the mysterious Miss Quill, and a laser gun.

As you can see from the RT article, wild mass guessing about what this photo means in terms of the show’s plot, mood and style is already underway. More to come between now and October...

Class due in October

Class creator Patrick Ness talking to Empire.

Representation in Class

Patrick Ness reveals an LGBTQ main character to feature in Class.

Class cast

Registration for Class is now well underway.

“I’ve always wondered if there could be a British Buffy,” Steven Moffat comments, filling those of us who remember Demons with an icy dread.