Harder or softer than Doctor who? If Doctor who is for adults, and this is for adults, then they're on the same level? I'm fine with showing Doctor Who to 6 year olds. (I think I actually have to scroll up and read the literature before making anymore sweeping assumptions.)
Doctor Who is for the "family audience." It's suitable for ages 6 to 96. Class is, theoretically, aimed for a slightly older audience than Doctor Who. Definitely older than Sarah Jane. Not as old as Torchwood.
I let children watch Torchwood at the time it aired. Men kissing each other should not be more shocking than women kissing men. Their video games where way more violent. Nah. I did read the full article, but I don't believe it. The lad in charge may think he can go hard core, but there's going to be an incredibly humourless man with veto powers and a clip board constantly restricting his vision, which is a shame, since even Grange Hill had a couple teen pregnancies. As far as sex on this show goes, it'll be about the frustration of being 16 and still a virgin and having no idea how to remedy it. Did you ever see Some Girls? Teen comedy full of sex issues, drinking, drugs, mistakes and after a few hickups a lot of good choices. If you notice very carefully half of FireStorm from Legends of Tomorrow is in there. It's not impossible to paint an accurate rendition of teen life today on TV, but a story about 16 year olds in the Doctor Who universe? Wussies and soft cocks that couldn't aid guidance to an 11 year old trying to wonder if they're too old for teddy bears. "Sigh" Some of us are still annoyed that Rani and Clyde never hooked up.
They're 6th formers. So they're 15 turning 16. (j1, j2, Standard 1 - standard 4, Form 1 -7th form. Go to University.) Form 1 and 2 are comparable to middle school in the US.
Sixth Form in England is Year 12 (age 16-17) and Year 13 (age 17-18). Watch The Inbetweeners to get a sense of it.
Of course if they're sixth formers, and sixth form only lasts 2 years then if Class is a big success does this mean: After 2 seasons we get a whole new cast at Coal Hill School? After 2 seasons they all go off to Coal Hill University? Always assuming that each season equates to one year of sixth form of course.
Hmm, so given they they are shooting on DW's stages it'll be now be some point in July before the main series is finally back in production, which would also tie in with the end of shooting on Sherlock S4. (Must be odd for Benny to be Doctor Strange on Saturday, and Sherlock on Monday.)
From the cast picture, it's almost as if this show will be about five teachers fighting off the weird and dangerous? I hate Dawson Casting...
That's if our time is running at the same rate as their time. One season = 1 Semester. One season = 1 Week. One season = 24 Hours.
It's a necessity that didn't start with Dawson's Creek. Teenagers are tricky to cast. At their ages, they're still legally required to be educated, which leaves only three options: only film on weekends, which would severely hamper production since they'd only be able to film anything two days per week, film during the summer, but you'd have to get everything done within two months, or hire an on-set tutor to see to the actors' education requirements, which would cost extra money. Going with older actors allows freedom to film whenever and to save money without the presence of a tutor.
Yeah that makes sense, although older actors might earn more which negates the tutor savings, but these guys still look much older than teenagers, and unless my Google Fu failed me one of the girls is actually 25 at the moment!, which again feeds into how long you can run a series set with teenagers unless you go down the Buffy route of having them leave school and move on to college/university/jobs, and given Coal Hill school is supposed to be the central point for whatever is going on how viable is this? Then again the Hellmouth in Buffy was under Sunnydale High (unless I'm remembering wrong) so it could just be that the school becomes less of a focal point. You are right that this was happening way before Dawson, and I'm sure all of these will make for more convincing school kids than Mark Strickson did
Growing up, I thought that this is 16, and this is the body I would have to look forward to having as a 16 year old boy, years from my then childhood in the mid 1970s.
For all we know this is just stop-gap filler. It may only run for a single series (six, ten, thirteen episodes) then never be renewed. It can't be much shorter than K9 & Company!
That's only because K9 was caught soliciting prostitutes outside Paddington Station by the Daily Mirror during production of the pilot.
Looking over their IMDB pages, none of them have very many acting credits under their belt, so I doubt BBC is breaking the bank on any of them. In fact, Class is the first and only credit for one of them.
True. Kelly's probably the big earner. As for her, the write up is vague, is she going to be their ally or their enemy do you think?
I'm guessing ally. If we're going with Buffy analogies, she'll be the Giles of this show. Though maybe for reasons the others might at first be suspicious of her only to have to trust her by the end of the season.
Silly thing is, they can have Jenna Coleman as a guest star. The Doctor has dropped people off on the wrong date before, and he certainly will again. Second possibility is a Clara shard walking around town, or where (when) ever the story that week happens to be, and the students recognize her as one of the old teachers (or the alien of the class might recognize her as either a companion of the Doctor, or that weird crazy woman that also rolls around time and space in another TARDIS.