When Steven Moffat's replacement was hard to find the decision was made to postpone the series 10 to Spring, partly to allow Moffat to write a series that he didn't ever plan on doing and also to try and boost the viewing figures which were at a considerable low point (the latter plan didn't work).
This gap was filled by a new spin off, Class. It came about after Patrick Ness, award winning "young adult" novelist was contacted by Moffat to write for series 9. Ness declined because he was working on a new young adult spin off series that he was hoping would be "picked up" by a network. Hearing of this news the BBC contacted Ness and asked him to showrun a new series to air in the autumn slot in 2016, where Doctor Who had been in the past two years. Class was however meant for BBC Three not BBC One.
Doctor Who has enjoyed an array of spin offs over the years, some "canon" (which doesn't officially exist as a term in the Whoniverse) some not (I consider canon to be anything BBC produced on television, although I do tend to choose between big finish audios and novels regarding what is canon and what is not). These spin offs include the short lived K9 and Company, and the 2 Russel T Davies spin offs: The highly regarded children's Sarah Jane Adventures which ran for a successful 5 years before the passing of the lead start Elizabeth Sladen. The second of the RTD spin offs is Torchwood which has recently returned for a 12 part 1 hour 5th series, but audio, so canon or not is to be decided. It did enjoy an on-an off appearance across 6 series. None of these spin offs have ever been targeted at "young adult" level so this was new for the world of Doctor Who, which arguably it's lowest audience range is the "young adult" one.
As previously stated of the past three spin offs 1 was a major success, 1 a partial success and 1 a failure. Class would join the latter group. Class is also not the first to feature on BBC Three. Torchwood joined that channel. It shouldn't have been feared at the early stages that Class being on BBC Three would affect its success for three reasons. Firstly BBC Three is the BBC's channel for the "young adult" which Class is for. Secondly viewing figures don't have to be that high to remain on the channel, they don't expect the same sort of level as BBC One or Two. Thirdly Torchwood started on BBC Three before being moved to BBC Two then BBC One because of its success. Then a change happened.
For two reasons the BBC decided to make BBC Three an online service only. One reason was that the "young adult" target range tends to watch things like Netflix and other online streaming services. The BBC is the leading service in television and radio and enjoys a small but steady appearance on the internet. It had no streaming service and Lord Hall (Director-General of the BBC) was quite keen for the BBC to be a major contender in the relatively new service of broadcasting. The second reason, and the major reason in my opinion, is cost saving. Interestingly the BBC does not own the channels that they broadcast on. Each channel is "rented" by the television network. This idea will probably slowly die out because the channel number doesn't really matter any more. Anyway, this decision could easily affect Class. And arguably it did.
Class was barley advertised on television. BBC Shows on the new online BBC Three require trailers so that the shows are acknowledged because the BBC Three online doesn't automatically become the so well known as Netflix shows. There very little of these as mentioned. The first episode of Class, which had special guest star Peter Capaldi, got relatively good viewers, topping the BBC Three chart. Peter Capaldi's casting was very likely to get the Who viewers interested. This was a mistake in part. Who viewers or a casual fans as opposed to proper fans wouldn't have known so therefore the casting wouldn't have attracted them. Also the "young adult" fans that were "too cool" for Doctor Who wouldn't have been that interested in the spin offs as they wouldn't know that it was different from Doctor Who and more inline with the sort of programme that they like.
However blaming the failure of the show on that is ignoring many facts. Of course the first episode did relatively well for a unknown online service. It topped the chart as I previously mentioned. Now the next thing that I think is a problem with the series is the poor scripts. This can be seen by the fact that the second episode of the 8 part series, which was released on the same day as the first, did not appear in the charts at all. Nor did the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th.
Critics seemed to think that the show was alright but the public seemed to disagree there. The BBC seemed to also agree. The BBC decided when moving BBC Three to online only that new programmes would eventually appear on BBC One. This of course included Class. Class appeared in January on the BBC, about 4 months after its initial release. It appears that the BBC had little faith in the series as it was port on the pre-news slot on a Monday night. Two episodes were also aired back to back which meant that one episode was on at 11.30. Any programme that airs after 10.30 is not really watched. Particularly Monday ones. The two episodes airing back to back also implies that BBC One wanted to get rid of the series as soon as possible. The show got very little viewers the average being about 300,000 which is nothing really for BBC One.
The story is a bit different in America. The series aired straight after Doctor Who in April and aired one a week. The series got about 1 million views, 2 million under the average for Doctor Who. It was the second best show for the channel after its parent show.
Any Class fans who were annoyed by BBC One's lack of faith in the programme were also joined by the showrunner and writer, Patrick Ness. It is unusual for a independent writer to write a Doctor Who spin off as both SAJ and TW were showrunned at first by an independent writer. Ness was so annoyed by this that he resigned from the show. Most shows that loose their showrunner die out. Only successful shows can continue like the great Doctor Who. Class looked like it was going through that door. And it did. BBC Three controller has decided to remove the show.
Patrick Ness promised a series that looked really intriguing. Weeping Angle civil war and the debut of their planet. All of these story ideas seem very interesting and intriguing to see a little more into the theology of the Weeping Angles. I wonder when that cliffhanger will be resolved, if at all it will. I thought as Fady Elysad, actor of Ram Singh has been contracted to Doctor Who the series finale of series 10 would be about the weeping angles but it was not. Now it looks like it wont be resolved, especially as Chibnall has no control over Class. (It's important to remember that Russel T Davies still had creative say over SJA and TW after his departure from the parent show). As much as the story seems exciting it is important to remember that Ness is very annoyed that his show was treated so appalling that he wanted fans to be upset over its cancellation. He was wrong.
In my opinion Class was not a very good series. I'm not however reeling in happiness over its cancellation. Most television series have a dud and it was unfortunate that Class was just one of those series. Rebels was the same but I did remain faithful to that show, which has now produced two more seasons that are very good. I am sad that the series will be forgotten but also I didn't particularly enjoy the first series at all and if it had nothing to do with Doctor Who then I wouldn't have watched it. And that line which I just said is crucial, in my opinion, for the cancellation of the series. If only the core-hard DW viewers were watching and that they were only watching for the sake of knowing everything DW related then therefore the series was a failure and that no casual viewers, them being the majority of the audience, were watching meant that the series had no point of continuing.
It does appear with the decision of a female lead for the first time in Doctor Who that the BBC have full faith that the programme will continue for at least another five years. But as the cat is out of the bag per say - but this metaphor meaning that the cat as escaped as opposed to being aware that it is there - would mean that the show doesn't really have anywhere to go to make it more creative. However back to the main focus - will autumn have a Doctor Who related content or will Spring. Well Spring is less likely as the should be filming right now. My theory is no. New Doctor, new showrunner, new start. Doctor Who related media on television is in hiatus until autumn 2018.
Other spin offs suggested is one featuring the Pastnasor Gang, which CBBC controller suggested to Steven Moffat in 2014, who then declined because he was too busy, is still a major possibility. However semi whovians or soft core fans won't watch that because its a "child's" show. A fifth series of Torchwood, or sixth if you count big finish (that would be a continuity nightmare about what you would call the series) is very much a popular move amongst fans and the cast. John Barrowman is a relatively famous global actor and he is interested enough to reprise the role that he publicly demonised Moffat over Jack not returning and regularly participates in the Big Finish audio dramas. John Barrowman's decision to leave Arrow, a DC Universe TV series, has sparked belief that Jack could be making a come back. I would love that but let's not start to catch the chickens before they've hatched.
Felix Hawes
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