Class – Doctor Who spin-off for teens – planned for BBC Three

Young Doctor Who enthusiasts will be happy to learn that a spin-off show aimed at a teenage audience is on the way. The BBC has enlisted award-winning young adult author Patrick Ness to write the new eight-part series, called Class.

Ness announced that he'll be writing the show on his Twitter account:

The show will be set in contemporary London at the fictional Coal Hill school, where the very first episode of Doctor Who broadcast in 1963 began. The school has made timely appearances throughout the history of Doctor Who, the last time being in season 8's episode Caretaker.

Class is described as having all the "action, heart and adrenalin of the best YA [young adult] fiction [such as] Buffy the Vampire Slayer [and] Hunger Games". The series will consist of eight 45-minute episodes.

Speaking of his new job Ness, who was won two Carnegie awards and is best known as the man behind A Monster Calls, said he was "thrilled to be entering the Doctor Who universe". Class will premiere on BBC Three in 2016.

"I can't wait for people to meet the heroes of Class, to meet all-new villains and aliens, to remember that the horrors of the darkest corners of existence are just about on par with having to pass your A levels," he said.

Like with much of the main Doctor Who series, Class it will be filmed in and around Cardiff, despite being set in London.

Doctor Who writer Steven Moffat, who will be an executive producer on the new show, added: "No one has documented the dark and exhilarating world of the teenager like Patrick Ness, and now we're bringing his brilliant story-telling into Doctor Who."