Doctor Who, move to the head of the Class!

Life at Coal Hill School will get just that much stranger when BBC spins its iconic time lord tale into a brand new series. Helmed by award wining YA author Patrick Ness, Class is being heralded as the British Buffy. Something is attempted to break through time and space, and Coal Hill's teenage heroes are the first line of defense.

"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," the BBC teased last year. "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. Fear is coming, tragedy is coming, war is coming. Prepare yourselves, Class is coming."

On Monday, the BBC officially revealed the main cast. Although many fans were hoping that Doctor Who's Courtney Woods would find a place on the Class roster, Ness and Co. went with an all-new line up. Vivian Oparah, Greg Austin, Sophie Hopkins and Fady Elsayed will play the students while Katherine Kelly will find herself in loco parentis as their teacher.

Doctor Who is beloved by young and old alike, but previous spinoffs have failed to find such a balance. The Sarah Jane Adventures, for one, catered to school age children while Torchwood quickly carved out a niche with young adults.

Class will mark Ness' screenwriting debut. Known for his work on A Monster Calls and his Chaos Walking series, the award-winning scribe has pulled in two Carnegie Medals.

Filming for Class will begin this week.

Tags: Doctor Who television BBC Class