Class

[matthewsee]

1.1 For Tonight We Might Die:
Series opener.
Thrilling teaser and initially I thought it was a flashforward only to be proven otherwise.
Interesting Charlie and Miss Quill are both aliens from the same planet. Interestingly enough the actors who played Charlie and Miss Quill respectively Greg Austin and Katherine Kelly were both regulars on Mr Selfridge prior to Class.
It is a prom that April certainly would not forget.
What a tragedy about Ram’s date.
Pretty good cameo by Peter Capaldi as the Doctor as it is explained that he got Charlie and Miss Quill to Earth and him making their arrangements at Coal Hill.
Even though the cameo was late and brief, the Doctor sure provided a good launch for Class which is off to a very good start with this opening episode.

[matthewsee]

1.6 Detained:
Antepenultimate episode of the series/season.
The kids are placed in detention by Miss Quill.
This is essentially a bottle episode in which most of it takes place in detention.
Fascinating episode in which meteor crashed into detention which results in them telling hard truths.
Compelling stuff.

[matthewsee]

1.7 The Metaphysical Engine or What Quill Did:
Penultimate episode of the series/season.
I was surprised that this episode took place during the previous episode Detained as it showed what Quill was doing whilst the kids was in detention and that she appeared at the end of that previous episode very different to the beginning of it especially with her scarred eye.
Neat that Ballon was stated as a Zygon only for it to be revealed that he is from another shape—shifting species and was pretending to be a Zygon.
Fascinating that most of this episode took place in the metaphysical reality.
Terrifying seeing the Arn taken out of Quill’s head.
Quite a revelation with Quill after she got back to Coal Hill.
This is essentially Quill’s Heaven Sent. In fact this episode came on November 26 2016 just two days shy of the first anniversary of that Doctor Who episode on November 28 2015.
In fact due to the time difference and the delay in me seeing this episode I actually got to see this episode on November 28 2016.

[matthewsee]

Behind The Scenes on Class [Final Day of Series 1]:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGeTaamRNX8

[matthewsee]

Patrick Ness has announced that he will not be writing for Class anymore even if it comes back for a second season.

[matthewsee]

In the end there was no second season.

Gifted:
Gifted is the first episode of Class: The Audio Adventures Volume One from Big Finish.
Starring Sophie Hopkins as April and Fady Elsayed as Ram reprising their characters from the TV series.
Written by Roy Gill.
In this episode we meet a being called Mab whilst at the same time Coal Hill gets a new student Thomas "Tom" Laneford who befriends April.
It would turn out that Mab and Tom are connected and key event comes in a fancy house.
This truly explores when it means to be gifted as per the title in particular what it means to Ram.
Enthralling way to start off Class' adventures on Big Finish.

The accompanying interviews with the cast were interesting to hear including Hopkins and Elsayed saying that the two had discussed when these Big Finish adventures took place in the course of the TV series as well as being glad to be back playing their characters.
Also Deirdre Mullins (Mab) saying the method she took in playing Mab.

[matthewsee]

Catfish:
Catfish is the middle episode of Class: The Audio Adventures Volume Three from Big Finish.

Written by Kate Thorman.

This marked the debut by Joanna McGibbon as Tanya and Dervla Kirwan as Miss Quill taking over from Vivian Oparah and Katherine Kelly respectively as both proved unavailable to reprise their characters here.

Kirwan only makes a brief appearance as Quill at the end and I thought she sounded like Kelly.

On hearing McGibbon as Tanya I really could not tell her apart from her predecessor Oparah.

A new student comes to Coal Hill and formed a certain attachment to Tanya.

Soon Paul gains attention with Tanya's friends more than Tanya herself and therefore she becomes jealous.

Eventually there is something not right about Paul would emerge and what happened when Tanya changed her mind about not coming to school that Paul's true nature is revealed.

Not bad how this is all unravelled culminating with Paul learning a certain life lesson but not in the right way.

Quite an interesting way for McGibbon making her entrance as Tanya especially since this is about her as Tanya and her relationship with her friends.



Frankly on reflection I was surprised given the episode name that this literally wasn't about a catfish.





Afterwards listened to the interviews with Oparah and Jacob Daniels (Paul) with Oparah having to stepped in an already established character in Tanya and how doing Class brings flashbacks of her real experience at school.



Certainly an understandable sentiment as we all remember from time to time of what school was like and how different we would become since then.

[matthewsee]

The Creeper:
The Creeper is the middle episode of Class: The Audio Adventures Volume 4.
Written by Lizzie Hopley who also appears here as Miss Steel, the said Creeper.
This is set at Halloween when Charlie, April, Matteusz and Quill encounter the said Creeper.
A very spooky story that delivers well on its Halloween theme and quite impressive that Hopley as writer and actor playing the Creeper did very well in both capacities and quite daring how she concluded this episode by what happened to Quill because of the Creeper.
Also surprised learning that playing the DJ is Blair Mowat, the composer of Class!

Listened to the interviews with Greg Austin (Charlie), Sophie Hopkins (April), Jordan Renzo (Matteusz) and Hopley.
The interviews were conducted by producer/director Scott Handcock and it was amusing that since this is audio it was easy to forget that Charlie and April were in Halloween costumes during this episode.
Charlie was Dracula and April was a zombie. It would have been a sight to see to see them in their said costumes while dealing the situation at hand!