Doctor Who spin-off Class direct from the UK on ABC

The new Doctor Who spin-off series Class will debut with a double episode on ABC2 on Monday 24 October, with episodes fast-tracked to iView straight after it is release in the UK on Saturday 22 October.

Set in modern-day London, Class, is written by award-winning author Patrick Ness. Like the previous spin-off series Torchwood, the series is expected to have a darker take than the Doctor Who show, while aimed at an audience older than the family-friendly Doctor Who audience. The series stars newcomers Greg Austin, Fady Elsayed, Sophie Hopkins and Vivian Oparah, alongside established actress Katherine Kelly. Peter Capaldi, currently starring as the Doctor in Doctor Who, will appear in the opening episode.

The series synopsis reveals that "Class centres on four Coal Hill School students as they face their own fears and navigate a life of friends, parents, school work, sex, sorrow – and possibly the end of existence. Coal Hill School has been a part of the Doctor Who universe since the very beginning, but that has come at a price. All the time travelling over the years has caused the very walls of space and time to become thin. There’s something pressing in on the other side, something waiting for its chance to kill everyone and everything, to bring us all into Shadow."

Ness will write all eight episodes in the first season, which is being produced for the online-only BBC Three service in the UK. BBC Three has a focus on a 16-34 audience and operates as an over-the-top internet channel available through the BBC iPlayer. Class is the second original drama series produced for the service, following the successful launch earlier this year of youth drama Thirteen. A third drama, Clique, is currently in production.