Class as a Doctor Who spin-off: How it could have worked better

Class was a show that was supposed to establish itself as a Doctor Who spin-off. But did it really do it right?

After finishing the one and only series of Class, I began to wonder why it had been cancelled. Yes, it was flawed, at times, heavily so. But being a Doctor Who spin-off series should have helped with its success, shouldn’t it?

After all, it wouldn’t have been the first Doctor Who spin-off series that struggled to find its feet. While the first season had some good episodes, Torchwood only really found its feet in the last few episodes. And that was successful enough to get a second season (and beyond). So how come Class didn’t?

I suddenly realized Class’s problem: “the hook”.

With Class, there’s arguably less of a “hook” than with Doctor Who’s previous two spin-offs. Torchwood had Captain Jack Harkness. The Sarah Jane Adventures had, well, Sarah Jane. Both of these characters were greatly loved at the time the spin-off series was made.

Class had no such draw. Oh don’t get me wrong, some of the characters were very well-written and fleshed out. But it’s quite a big ask to label your series a Doctor Who spin-off and have no major characters from that series involved. With the exception, of course, of the first episode.

The Doctor appeared in the first episode of Class. But was that enough of a draw for Whovians to check out the spin-off?

(Image credit: Class/BBC.

Image obtained from: official Class website.)

Mishandling the Doctor

This leads me to my second problem with Class: how the Doctor was handled. Obviously, Peter Capaldi’s Doctor was included in the first episode to bring that audience in. But honestly, that just felt like completely the wrong way to use that character.

The first episode should have established that these students were ready to deal with aliens every week. But here’s the problem: they have some serious difficulty until the Doctor shows up waving his sonic screwdriver. It just makes the team of regular characters seem almost incapable of fighting off evil without the Doctor’s help. Which is a bad first impression to leave on your audience.

It also lead to a weak introduction of these main characters. While most of their introductions were handled OK in this episode, particularly the students, Quill’s and Charlie’s felt rushed and badly handled.

If Class really wanted to work properly as a Doctor Who spin-off, then it should have been set up much better. Torchwood had an arguably shaky start, but it had been set up well in Doctor Who to keep the fanbase watching. In fact, David Tennant’s whole first series was about setting up Torchwood as a major organization, thus adding to the show’s key appeal to Doctor Who’s audience.

Setting up Class better

More from Winter is Coming

I’m not saying the characters needed to be set up in an entire season of Doctor Who first. But Charlie and Quill at the very least should have been introduced in at least one episode of the main show. To be honest, their whole introduction to April just feels like it was trying to sum up a Doctor Who episode, and doing it badly.

If Charlie’s and Quill’s relationship had been clearly established in Doctor Who first, I think it would have meant a much bigger draw for the parent show’s audience. As a result, a clearer link between the shows would have been established.

As it was, the series just didn’t have enough of a draw. It labelled itself as a Doctor Who spin-off, but with the exception of Peter Capaldi in the first episode, it rarely came across that way. And that’s a shame, because I think if those connections to the Doctor Who universe had been made clearer, the show would have drawn in more fans. (Including yours truly, who didn’t watch the spin-off until very recently.)

dark. Next. Class review: The Lost (Doctor Who spin-off finale)

What do you think? Would establishing clearer links to the Doctor Who universe have helped Class in its appeal? Could having higher viewing figures have helped lead to a second series? Let us know in the comments below.

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