The Time Lord known as the Doctor tasked four students at Coal Hill School with protecting their classmates from anything that slithered through a tear in time and space, but it seems the bad guys are going to win. BBC’s latest Doctor Who spinoff series, Class, has been canceled after one 8-episode season, even before it’s premiered in the United States.
The series’ final episode, “The Lost,” premiered on December 3 after a shakily reviewed season with dismal numbers — viewership had dropped to 300,000 by the finale. Even the appearance of a classic Who monster in the finale and a visit from Peter Capaldi’s Doctor in the first episode wasn’t enough.
Class, for Who fans with no clue what it is, followed the story of four students and a teacher at the Coal Hill School — that mysterious academy in London where Clara Oswald worked and where the first Doctor’s daughter attended school back in 1963’s “An Unearthly Child.” Charlie, Ram, April, Tanya, and Miss Quill spent their time at Coal Hill battling the various beasts and baddies that crawled out of a tear in time and space, caused by the Doctor having spent so much time at the school over the years.
The show was a true-blue teenage drama, created and written by young-adult novelist Patrick Ness. Charlie was a secret alien prince of a dead race, Quill was his grudging protector, and the gang dealt with evil aliens, hormones, and homework.
Class is the fourth Who spin-off, though not the most short-lived. That title belongs to K9 and Company, which received a single episode and followed the story of popular companion Sarah Jane Smith receiving K9 — the robotic dog — as a present from the Doctor. There was a goddess-worshipping cult involved, so K9 and Company also wins for the most unusual plot.
The first and only season of Class premieres on BBC America on April 15.
