Doctor Who himself may be down for the count until December or so, but the new YA spinoff Class may keep Whovians satiated for now. Meet the full cast of the new series, and get a first synopsis!

The BBC released its first photo with names of the spinoff’s core cast, including students Greg Austin, Fady Elsayed, Sophie Hopkins and Vivian Oparah, along with Katherine Kelly as a teacher and powerful new presence at Coal Hill School. So reads the full synopsis:

These four Coal Hill School students have hidden secrets and desires. They are facing their own worst fears, navigating a life of friends, parents, school work, sex, sorrow - and possibly the end of existence. 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. 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.

Shooting in Wales and helmed by YA author Patrick Ness, so reads the initial description for Doctor Who spinoff Class:

Class is a YA series set in contemporary London. Incredible dangers are breaking through the walls of time and space, and with darkness coming, London is unprotected. With all the action, heart and adrenalin of the best YA fiction (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Hunger Games), this is Coal Hill School and Doctor Who like you’ve never seen them before.

Moffat himself too invoked a Buffy connection:

There’s nothing more exciting than meeting stars that nobody’s heard of yet. We had the read through of the first few episodes last week, and there was a whole row of them. Coal Hill School has been part of Doctor Who since the very first shoot in 1963, but this new show is anything but history. Class is dark and sexy and right now. I’ve always wondered if there could be a British Buffy - it’s taken the brilliant Patrick Ness to figure out how to make it happen.

In the meantime, we’ll learn plenty more of Doctor Who’s future over the year, but will Class make for an interesting new direction?