The spin-off series, aimed at a dystopian fiction-loving teen audience, is being written by acclaimed author Patrick Ness.
In a bid to expand the captive audience for ‘Doctor Who’, the BBC has announced the launch of a spin-off series of the sci-fi mainstay written by young adult author Patrick Ness, aimed at a Hunger Games-loving teen market.
The new eight-part series will be called ‘Class’, and is set in contemporary London at the fictional Coal Hill school – incidentally, the scene of the very first ‘Doctor Who’ episode in 1963. ‘Class’ will be broadcast on BBC Three at some point in 2016, and is described by the BBC as “action, heart and adrenalin of the best YA [young adult] fiction… …’Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ [and] Hunger Games”.
A new 'Doctor Who' spin-off series 'Class' will be debuting in 2016
It will mark the first time that two-time Carnegie Award winner Ness, who is critically acclaimed for novels like ‘A Monster Calls’ and the ‘Chaos Walking’ trilogy, has tackled the art of TV scriptwriting. He has, however, handled the screenplay for the movie adaptation of A Monster Calls, starring Liam Neeson and Sigourney Weaver and due to be released next year.
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“I’m astounded and thrilled to be entering the 'Doctor Who' universe, which is as vast as time and space itself,” said Ness in a statement. “I can’t wait for people to meet the heroes of 'Class', to meet 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.”
‘Doctor Who’ writer Steven Moffat will also be an executive producer on ‘Class’, and he reacted to the news by saying: “This is growing up in Britain, but with monsters. No one has documented the dark and exhilarating world of the teenager like Patrick Ness, and now we're bringing his brilliant story-telling into ‘Doctor Who’.”
‘Class’ will not be the first spin-off series of the time-travelling saga. ‘Torchwood’, which ran between 2006 and 2011, and ‘The Sarah Jane Adventures’, from 2007 to 2011, were both written by Russell T Davies and were well-received.
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