History Series / Class2016

In May 2018, it was announced that Creator/BigFinish Productions would be releasing audio dramas based on the series, which currently compromise two three-story boxsets set during the first series released in August of that year. The original cast reprised their roles alongside Creator/SophieAldred as the Seventh Doctor's companion Ace. Two more boxsets were announced for 2020, this time with two of the regular roles being recast with Joanna [=McGibbon=] taking over the role of Tanya and Dervla Kirwan as Miss Quill. It is not yet known whether any of Ness' planned storylines for Series 2 will be adapted for the audio dramas (see the "What Could Have Been" section under "Trivia").

* ADateWithRosiePalms: Mentioned by an old lady in Episode 1:
-->'''Old Lady:''' I caught my husband fiddling with himself on the stairs.

** Episode Two's title is a reference to ''Literature/TheGirlWithTheDragonTattoo''.

** Miss Quill breaks students' personal property and belittles them in front of the class. [[UpToEleven She also has no qualms about putting them in danger to save herself]].

** Ms. Quill is seen as a slave by Tanya, yet the Doctor knowingly leaves the Arn inside her head.(He says this is a punishment for her tricking someone else into dying, in order to save her).

''Class'' was a short-lived [[SpinOff spin-off]] of ''Series/DoctorWho'', and a part of the Franchise/{{Whoniverse}}. Its first two 45 minute episodes (of eight) premiered on BBC Three on October 22nd, 2016.

->''"I can travel through space, and I can travel through time, but I can't always be there when you need me. Sometimes, you have to take survival upon yourselves. What will you do when the shadows come, and you can't turn away? For the darkness ahead. For time has looked at your faces ... and time never forgets."''
-->-- '''The Twelfth Doctor''', [[https://youtu.be/eoqzLfcMV-4 "Time Never Forgets" teaser]]

!!Tropes present in ''Class'':

* ActionGirl: Quill, definitely. Tanya becomes this after Quill trains her.

* ADateWithRosiePalms: Mentioned by an old lady in Episode 1:
--> '''OLD LADY''': I caught my husband fiddling with himself on the stairs.

** Aliens like Quill and Charlie that are new arrivals to Earth have no idea about the pop culture and social norms there and have to ask A LOT of questions. Charlie eventually finds this frustrating. Meanwhile, the teens are the ones who have to answer those questions, and Tanya later reveals that she is fed up of doing this.
** April meets up with her father who almost killed her and paralyzed her mother in an aborted suicide attempt. She ends up not forgiving him, even after [[spoiler: he went to a dangerous planet to bring her back.]]

* {{Foreshadowing}}: The intro shot of the opening shows April, then a heart, presumably hers, then Ram running inside it. [[spoiler:It's a hint as to their future relationship (they start dating in episode 3), as well as the overall plot with her sharing the heart of the BigBad.]]

* IdiotBall: Appears to be possessed by UNIT and other authorities given that, despite staff ''and students'' being killed in mysterious and violent circumstances, the school is allowed to continue operating, never mind not having investigators all over the place. Even the school inspector doesn't bring it up. Although events later in Series 1 could suggest interference, early on it makes no sense for UNIT not to be all over the school.

* TheInternetIsForCats: Miss Quill spends much of her time on the Internet looking at cat pictures.

* NonHumanHumanoidHybrid: [[spoiler: Quill conceives a child after sleeping with Ballon, who is a Lorr]].

* ReligionOfEvil: The Shadow Kin have a very messed up set of religious beliefs. To wit, they believe that they were a mistake by the Universe and condemned to the Underneath because of it. Because of this they believe it is their duty to get back at the Universe by destroying all life.
* RewatchBonus: If the first and the second episode are watched again, seeds of later storylines and plots are planted. During the dance, April is watching Ram and Rachel with an envious look, and Ram is the one who saves her from Corakinus. [[spoiler: Thus, it's no real surprise that they end up together later on.]] Meanwhile, Tanya was already making snide remarks about her "white" friends not having the same types of problems as she and Ram both behind their backs and to their faces. [[spoiler: So, the later conflict in "Detained" did not come out of nowhere after all.]]

** Coach Dawson comes across as this, although Ram thinks of him as a SternTeacher ("the right kind of scary") [[spoiler: And then we learn he's controlling a dragon and letting it eat people to power his aura of authority.]]
* SchoolIsMurder: The academy is a WeirdnessMagnet which attracts [[BigBad Big Bads]] that [[WouldHurtAChild think nothing of harming children]].

** The elsewhere-mentioned shout outs to ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', ''Series/OnceUponATime'' and ''Series/TheVampireDiaries''.

** Tanya says she downloaded a program to hack into UNIT systems off of {{Website/Reddit}}.

* SidetrackedByTheAnalogy: When one of the kids reacts incredulously to the idea of a [[NegativeSpaceWedgie "tear in space and time,"]] the others start referencing examples of shows [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer where something]] [[Series/OnceUponATime similar]] [[Series/TheVampireDiaries happened.]]

--> Our [[spoiler:teacher here]] was the Quill's leading terrorist.
--> '''QUILL''': Freedom fighter.

* RealityEnsues: The Doctor basically left the kids and Quill to their own devices on how to handle the aliens that invade their school. Cut to the next episode, where they are all at a complete loss on what to do exactly. Even when they finally band together to face the latest threat, they still don't know what to do (Ram eventually solves the problem). This persists right up to the finale.
** Ram ends up with PTSD after the events of the first episode, [[spoiler: where he lost his girlfriend]].
** Aliens like Quill and Charlie that are new arrivals to Earth have no idea about the pop culture and social norms there and have to ask A LOT of questions. Charlie eventually finds this frustrating. Meanwhile, the teens are the ones who have to answer those questions, and Tanya later reveals that she is fed up of doing this.
** April meets up with her father who almost killed her and paralyzed her mother in an aborted suicide attempt. She ends up not forgiving him, even after [[spoiler: he went to a dangerous planet to bring her back.]]
** Matteusz got kicked out by his homophobic parents for dating Charlie.
** Being the only one in your group who is the same age and race can cause isolation and resentment. As a result, Tanya slowly grows apart from the rest of the gang, leading to some major blow-ups.
** While Quill is dangerous and Charlie's people made her prisoner for her crimes on their planet, her punishment can be seen as inhumane and cruel to humans. Tanya calls him out on this.
** Quill's usual attitude and behavior towards people gets her in trouble with her boss when she blows up at the inspector in the middle of her class. Also, her lack of regard for innocent lives would rub others the wrong way, like the Doctor. [[spoiler: That may be why he left the Arn in her head.]]
** Turns out that [[spoiler:April]] abandoning the Shadow Kin after becoming their King and just trusting them to [[spoiler:keep Corakinus prisoner]] wasn't the best idea, as [[spoiler:he escapes with little effort and takes over the power vacuum by the series finale.]]
** It turns out that a group of sixth-formers and an alien terrorist/freedom-fighter are a lot less tolerant of JokerImmunity than the Doctor is. After the Shadow Kin have been exiled to their planet (twice) and come back (twice), the second time [[spoiler:killing the parents of two of the sixth-formers]], the team ultimately decides to [[spoiler:[[FinalSolution wipe out the entire race and implode their planet.]]]]

* RealSongThemeTune: The show uses "Up All Night" by Alex Clare.

* AChildShallLeadThem: Downplayed in both instances:
** Technically, after the death of his parents Charlie (whose human form is 17) should become a king. He is still styled as prince, though.
** [[spoiler:In Episode 5, April (who is also 17) becomes a king, though she doesn't get to lead them a lot]].

** Ms. Quill is seen as a slave by Tanya, yet the Doctor,knowingly leaves the Arn inside her head.(He says this is a punishment for her tricking someone else into dying, in order to save her).

* DarkerAndEdgier: Zigzagged. More so than ''Doctor Who'' and ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'', somewhat less so than ''Torchwood''. There is much more graphic violence and sex than its parent show, and the overall tone is significantly bleaker, with even the theme song lamenting wasted youth. Whereas even ''Torchwood'' had an adventurous atmosphere in its earlier seasons, ''Class'' deals with a group of disaffected students who are reluctant to fight alien invaders but are forced to do so because their school is a magnet for them. However, nothing in this show got as dark as the places the later seasons of ''Torchwood'' visited.

* CrystalDragonJesus: "The Metaphysical Engine; or, What Quill Did" focuses on themes of religious faith, through the lens of alien cultures. Using the titular machine, Ms. Quill, Ballon and Ames explore the realms of consciousness. It turns out the Arn, the rodent creatures used as a restraining bolt for criminals like Quill, have their own ideal of heaven despite being genetically engineered for one purpose. Ballon's people, the Lorr, have their own devil and Hell where sinners are kept as frozen statues, unable to shapeshift. The Quill race have their own goddess and creation myth.

* DarkerAndEdgier: Zigzagged. More so than ''Doctor Who'' and ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'', somewhat less so than ''Torchwood''. There is much more graphic violence and sex than its parent show, and the overall tone is significantly bleaker, with even the theme song lamenting wasted youth. Whereas even ''Torchwood'' had an adventurous atmosphere in its earlier seasons, ''Class'' deals with a group of disaffected students who are reluctant to fight alien invaders but are forced to do so because their school is a magnet for them.

* CrystalDragonJesus: "The Metaphysical Engine; or, What Quill Did" focuses on themes of religious faith, through the lens of alien cultures. Using the titular machine, Ms. Quill, Ballon and Ames explore the realms of consciousness. It turns out the Arn, the rodent creatures used as a restraining bolt for criminals like Quill, have their own ideal of heaven despite being genetically engineered for one purpose. Ballon's people, the Lorr, have their own devil. The Quill race have their own goddess and creation myth.

* AcademyOfAdventure: Coal Hill Academy. Students go missing so often they have a standard fill-in-the-blanks form mailed to the parents, and the administration swaps out very frequently.

* DarkerAndEdgier: Zigzagged. More so than ''Doctor Who'' and ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'', somewhat less so than ''Torchwood''. There is much more graphic violence and sex than its parent show, and the overall tone is significantly bleaker, with even the theme song lamenting wasted youth. Whereas even ''Torchwood'' had an adventurous atmosphere, ''Class'' deals with a group of disaffected students who are reluctant to fight alien invaders but are forced to do so because their school is a magnet for them.

* DarkerAndEdgier: Zigzagged. More so than ''Doctor Who'' and ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'', somewhat less so than ''Torchwood''.

In May 2018, it was announced that Creator/BigFinish Productions would be releasing audio dramas based on the series, which currently compromise two three-story boxsets set during the first series released in August of that year. The original cast reprised their roles alongside Creator/SophieAldred as the Seventh Doctor's companion Ace. It is not yet known whether any of Ness' planned storylines for Series 2 will be adapted for the audio dramas (see the "What Could Have Been" section under "Trivia").

* BottleEpisode: Episode 6.

In May 2018, it was announced that Creator/BigFinish Productions would be releasing audio dramas based on the series. The original cast reprised their roles alongside Creator/SophieAldred as the Seventh Doctor's companion Ace. It is not yet known whether any of Ness' planned storylines for Series 2 will be adapted for the audio dramas (see the "What Could Have Been" section under "Trivia").

In May 2018, it was announced that Creator/BigFinish Productions would be releasing audio dramas based on the series. The original cast will reprise their roles alongside Creator/SophieAldred as the Seventh Doctor's companion Ace. It is not yet known whether any of Ness' planned storylines for Series 2 will be adapted for the audio dramas (see the "What Could Have Been" section under "Trivia").

After the Shadow Kin exterminate the whole Rhodian and Quill races, [[Series/DoctorWho the Doctor]] rescues the Rhodian prince and his captured-enemy-turned-slave and sends them to live in secret at [[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E1AnUnearthlyChild Coal Hill Academy]] as student "Charlie Smith" and teacher Miss Quill, keeping their identity's secret from their classmates.

In May 2018, it was announced that Creator/BigFinish Productions would be releasing audio dramas based on the series. The original cast will reprise their roles alongside Creator/SophieAldred as the Seventh Doctor's companion Ace.

* FamilyUnfriendlyViolence: Features a lot more blood and gore than its parent show.

In May 2018, it was announced that Big Finish Productions would be releasing audio dramas based on the series. The original cast will reprise their roles alongside Creator/SophieAldred as the Seventh Doctor's companion Ace.

Also one of them is an alien(Charlie), as is their teacher, Ms Quill .