Class season 2; Doctor Who spin-off officially canceled after long wait
While it was confirmed already that writer Patrick Ness had no intention of returning for a Class season 2, we recieved additional confirmation this week in the form of a new interview over at the Radio Times in the UK. While there, Damian Kavanagh of BBC3 revealed that the show simply wasn’t performing in the way that either he or some other people associated with the network would have liked:
“There was nothing wrong with it. I thought [writer] Patrick [Ness] did a great job; he explored an amazing world. In honesty, it didn’t really land for us on BBC3. Some shows don’t, and I have to make decisions about what we’re going to do from a drama point of view.”
Ultimately, the Class cancellation wasn’t Ness’ fault, or the fault of anyone else as a whole. This was a show that did have great potential, but the final episodes were a little hit-or-miss and even before that, it was hard to attract the young viewership that the network had hoped. The problem here seems to be that the series couldn’t get an audience for itself beyond a certain percentage of the Doctor Who fandom, and even some of them were not necessarily sold on jumping on board a series that was supposed to be geared towards a younger crowd. We certainly do think that Doctor Who spin-offs can work (hello, Torchwood), but it does take a certain degree of planning in order to have them deliver.
We hope that the BBC does try again with these sorts of spin-offs down the road, but the focus at the moment should just be on making sure that Doctor Who season 11 ends up being the strongest show imaginable for the BBC when it premieres. Remember that it is going to be starting up at some point in 2018, with one of the most-exciting parts of it being the arrival of Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor. There is a big risk being taken there, and the BBC should really work on paying that off before they focus on too much else. If the new season is a hit, maybe you produce some more spin-offs following that. The property needs a little bit of a boost after suffering some minor ratings struggles over the course of this past year. The show’s not in any cancellation danger by any means, but it also is not what it once was in terms of being a relative powerhouse.
What do you think about there being no Class season 2 on BBC3? Will you miss it? Share in the comments!
Meanwhile, be sure to head over here to see some of our latest CarterMatt Doctor Who coverage, including some more talk on whether or not we could see Jenna Coleman return for the upcoming Christmas Special. (Photo: BBC.)
Namnoot
September 9, 2017 @ 10:44 pm
Class was not a show for young viewers. There was too much sex and too much blood and gore. It was aimed at the Torchwood viewer. Had it been promoted as such, it might have done fine. Instead people tuned in expecting it to be like Sarah Jane Adventures or on par with Doctor Who, and it turned them off. That, coupled with the fact it just wasn’t a good show. The characters were unlikeable, the plots felt recycled, and when the only moment that actually makes an impact is a cameo by the Doctor in the last 10 minutes of the first episode in which he made reference to a lost companion – basically the entire scene was aimed at Who fans, not the newcomers Class was intending to catch – that’s not a good thing.
The Whittaker thing is not exciting. Female fans are leaving to show in droves because they fell in love with a male Doctor, they aren’t interested in changing sides. And lots of male fans are leaving too because they fell in love with characters like Romana, The Rani, etc. and they don’t like the idea of them having to be played by men now too. Couple this with the fact that Whittaker isn’t that particularly good an actress – if they had to do this, I could give you a long list beginning with Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Gillian Anderson who would have been better choices, with Anderson giving a bonus of bringing along X-Files fans who would make up the deficit of the Who fans who are going to be leaving. A female, bisexual fan I spoke to about this (normally I don’t bring up orientation but I believe it is relevant here) described the decision as the show’s death rattle and an example of gender appropriation. I’ll just leave that here. Those aren’t my words.
ProfRobert
September 9, 2017 @ 3:02 am
I really despised the gratuitous violence and death. As an American, I don’t find mass killings of school children a proper topic for entertainment (and I guess everyone at BBC3 has forgotten about Dunblane). Quill and Tanya were the only characters I found interesting and cared about, though the relationship (master/slave? jailer/convict?) between Quill and Charlie did raise interesting ideas. But anything interesting and challenging was just swept away by the gorefest. I’m glad the show itself finally got a sword through the heart.