With Orphan Black in its fifth and final season, and Peter Capaldi kicking off his last outing as the 12th Doctor, BBC America is in the market for its next hit TV series. Is this new Doctor Who spin-off the right prescription? The series reportedly drew disappointing ratings in the UK. Will the Class TV show be cancelled or renewed for season two? Stay tuned.
Airing on the BBC America cable channel, Class stars Greg Austin, Fady Elsayed, Sophie Hopkins, Vivian Oparah, Katherine Kelly, Jordan Renzo, Aaron Neil, Pooky Quesnel, Paul Marc Davis, Anna Shaffer, and Shannon Murray. The sci-fi drama follows four students at Coal Hill Academy. Despite their differing backgrounds, they must band together to wage a covert war against aliens who have traveled through space and time. Under the supervision of Physics teacher Miss Quill (Kelly), Charlie (Austin), April (Hopkins), Ram (Elsayed) and Tanya (Oparah) must rise to the charge to protect Coal Hill, presented to them by the mysterious alien known as The Doctor (Capaldi).
Below are the show’s TV ratings, typically the best way to tell if the series will be cancelled or renewed. In this case, the show’s UK ratings may have a greater impact on the series’ future. These figures will be updated as the weeks progress.
Note: If you’re not seeing the updated chart, please try reloading the page or view it here.
Cable ratings are typically released within a day or so of the show’s airing, except for in the case of weekends and holidays. They are sometimes harder to come by, so there may be occasional delays or gaps.
What do you think? How do you like the Class TV series? Do you think it should be cancelled or renewed for a second season?
9/11 update: The Class TV show is cancelled on BBC America, BBC 3, and BB1. Details here.
It should be Renewed and the season should have been at least 10 episodes. I work 7 days a week 365 days a year and the only thing that I look forward to is Saturday night this time of year because of Doctor Who mostly, but I really love Class, just as I did Torchwood, it has tons of potential to be your next hit series it just needs time for people to hear about it and watch it, and I have been a huge fan from day 1 of Doctor Who. I even watched the Sarah Jane Chronicles and… Read more »
Patrick Ness says he isn’t writing any more, so it’s probably done on TV as it’s unlikely they’ll pass it on to someone else. Your best bet is to hope he writes a novel to finish the story – it’s been argued Class would have been better off as a novel to begin with anyway – or that Big Finish Productions, which has started to branch out into adults-only audio dramas with its Torchwood, Graceless and Dorian Gray series, picks up the rights and finishes off the story. If I was a betting man I would put my money on… Read more »
I am a 62 year old female in the US, I really enjoyed Class and tonight’s season finale was quite awesome and I hope it comes back for season 2. I think the show was written for a mature and open minded audience and the big mistake was marketing as a teens show. As for the comments about the accents, umm I could understand them just fine here in Boston MA lol. There isn’t much good new sci fi on TV, and this one had suspense , and a great deal of heart . TV is for fun , this… Read more »
Still waiting for official word from the BBC, but Patrick Ness went on Twitter this morning (June 4) and said he was done with writing Class, so unless they plan to take it away from him and give it to somebody else, that I think makes it a fait accompli. Despite my stated dislike for the show I hate to see any Doctor Who-related project fail. There are many reasons why it failed, and it’s sad that it did because I was really looking forward to seeing it.
Hello, Mr Luke! I was ‘so tempted’ to “pick a fight” with you [due to you spreading so much negativity] but then realised you’re not that wrong after all. 2 horrible episodes in a “Series” which constitutes 25% of the total episode count is simply not avoidable, and add to that one of the episodes in question unfortunately had the “Finale” status makes it utterly unforgivable. Someone commented very true on a sci-fi news portal that it would have been ideal if Mr Ness had penned all of his “brilliant stories,” (Story/Written By) but left the job of adapting them… Read more »
It wasn’t great like Doctor Who or Torchwood. But it was decent enough. I’m just pissed that I won’t find out what happens to Quill or April!!! I mean what the hell??? I hate when tv shows end like that! Just like The Witches of East End!! UGHHHHHH!!!!
On this I will agree. I didn’t like Class, a LOT of people didn’t like Class, and I’m not sorry to see it go. BUT, I hate to see anything left up in the air. Ness’ forte is novels more than TV, so maybe he’ll write a novel (the three tie-in books that were published last fall were well received even by people who didn’t like the show). Also, Big Finish Productions could do audio dramas continuing the series as well, just as they’ve been continuing Torchwood for the last couple of years and are doing new David Tennant stories… Read more »
I think it’s a great show! I was disappointed to hear that we were already at the season finale. Now even more so hear that it may be canceled.
Trying to watch it is tough. Many actors have heavy british accent, and speak too quickly for Americans to easily follow. The writing is mediocre, as Dr. Who has been for years. I would rather watch a new Torchwood series. Sorry to see Orphan Black ending. A much better series than Class.
We get so few sci fi shows. Wish Class was better.
I must assume you don’t watch any British TV at all including Doctor Who or anything on PBS then. Thea accent is irrelevant. The writing on Doctor Who has been brilliant since Moffat took over; I don’t know what show you’re watching. Torchwood on the other hand had only one good season out of the 4 (Children of Earth). Orphan Black is terribly overrated and really is only good because of Maslany’s acting (which is worthy of every award). All that said I agree with you that the writing on Class is mediocre. It is the only Doctor Who-related series… Read more »
Luke you have been spot-on with all your comments here about Class. It simply just wasn’t good enough.
I disagree. I think the the writing is directed at the wrong audience considering the mature content of the show. The show is supposedly targeted to a younger audience, according to the creator, but is also supposed to be dark. That would be fine if they went in the vein of old shows like Buffy and Angel. But class took on too many mature political themes, with a script that did not suit those themes. I think it should be brought back for season two, but direct it toward the 18-30 crowd; keep the political themes and address the social… Read more »
Turn on subtitles to overcome accent difficulty.
The writing is superb. The stories address deep, mature, and heavy themes.
I really liked it this show, but unfortunately I just read the season finale will also be the series finale because of disappointing ratings both in the U.K. and in the U.S. (see below), which sucks. But it’s supposed to be a REALLY good finale and after checking out the previews on Youtube (see hint below), I cannot wait. I wish they’d done more to build up anticipation and get people interested in the premise and characters on BBC America, instead of assuming people would watch just because it was a Doctor Who spin off, airing right after Doctor Who,… Read more »
The Mirror started that rumor back in February. They offered no proof of the cancellation and noted that BBC said that a decision hadn’t been reached. Several sites picked up the cancellation part of the story. In April, the showrunner said that it hasn’t been cancelled. To my knowledge, no credible source has reported that the show’s been cancelled or renewed yet.
You are correct, however what has been confirmed are the abysmal streaming numbers on home network BBC Three, the fact BBC One buried it in a burn-off timeslot late at night, and the fact the creator of the show has said on Twitter that the only way the show would survive is if it was a hit on BBC America. 200,000 viewers on BBC America and a 0.06 18-49 rating is not a hit. The BBC doesn’t “cancel” shows the same way the US networks do; they simply don’t commission another season. Class is done.
I love the new show it gives a new point of doctor who without him being there!
I really liked this show. Maybe it’s not the best show ever, but I liked all the characters and their emotions ! By that I mean that they seems to have real feelings and it’s not always all beautiful and happy in the end. Moreover, I’m a big fan of Doctor who, and this spin-off well represant this universe. (And Oh my god, I absolutly need to know gonna happen after this final !)
(Sorry if my english isn’t so good :/)
Oh my gosh, I absolutely adore class. Its a good mix of science fiction and coming of age genres. I found the first season a little off the rails at the end. Not super into the “hey everythings fine. Oh wait no its not. Oh wait this person is gonna die? Okay. Oh hey…everyone gets saved…wait no they didnt.” I feel that it tried to play with our emotions but instead of feeling a connection or being upset along with the characters, it just got annoying. Maybe focusing more on a doctor who type format and better character development besides… Read more »
I like the show and hope they will make a 2nd season. This coming up year of tv I don’t think there will be a lot of syfy, so they need to make it
I think it’s great
I agree
I liked it well enough, and was surprised that its ratings were so abysmal. It has a similar feel to Doctor Who which is my favorite BBC program.
This show is a sad imitation of Teenwolf and Buffy The Vampire Slayer. It’s not very well written, the plots of each episode are very similar to past episodes of Doctor Who but without the TARDIS. The characters are one-dimensional (if I hear that girl without a heart call herself “nice” again, I swear…). The acting is good (mostly), but the actors can’t save a poor script,
Given its disappointing ratings in the UK earlier, and the fact it underperformed in its original streaming platform on BBC Three last fall to boot, I can’t possibly see Class getting commissioned for a second series. It had been stated a few times by people involved with the show that BBC America’s ratings would tell the tale. Well, the tale has been told, I’m afraid. Maybe if it had been a spinoff that fans had actually been asking for, and had remembered that it was supposed to be a spin-off of Doctor Who it might have done OK.
If it had stronger marketing maybe people would be on board.
It had plenty of marketing. Lots of it in the UK, and in the US it received equal promotion to Doctor Who Series 10 at New York Comic Con last fall. Problem is it strayed too far from what people expected from Doctor Who, it was derivative of too many other shows, and it was too sexual and too violent. Torchwood got away with it because it was promoted as “Adults only” from the moment it was announced. Class was promoted as a “teen series” which people assumed meant family friendly, not blood, gore and sex scenes. So a lot… Read more »
It didn’t have a lot of buildup on BBC America, so unless you attended Comic Con in NY last fall, you might not have known about it, or gotten interested. Even if you had, new series need a sustained buildup over several weeks, creating anticipation, not promotion at one event six months before the premiere, people have short memories and a few ads right before for those who didn’t attend Comic Con. I think they were depending on the assumption that Doctor Who fans would watch simply because it was a spin-off and came on following Doctor Who, without drumming… Read more »
One major issue was the fact BBC America decided not to air the show at the same time as both BBC Three and Space in Canada, instead sitting on it for half a year and airing it after-the-fact following Doctor Who. Even if the show had been a massive hit in the UK everyone who was interested in seeing it would have viewed it through other methods (I won’t spell those out, but this is 2017, so do the math). If they’d aired the show the same time as in the UK, they could have coordinated the promotion a bit… Read more »