In reaction to the tragic shooting in Orlando late Saturday night, Patrick Ness, the showrunner of the upcoming ‘Doctor Who’ spinoff ‘Class’ took to Twitter to both show his support for Orlando and the surviving families and loved ones of the 49 people killed in LGBTQ nightclub Pulse and to reveal an aspect of the show that he had previously planned to keep secret until it aired.
Been asked if Class will have LGBT representation in it. Will a lead character with a boyfriend who he kisses & sleeps with & loves do?
— Patrick Ness (@Patrick_Ness) June 13, 2016
He followed that tweet up with the following:
We were keeping that secret, but today that secret doesn’t seem very important. #lovewins
— Patrick Ness (@Patrick_Ness) June 13, 2016
This obviously won’t be the first LGBTQ character in the Whoniverse. There is, of course, Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman), a former Companion who went on to headline his own spinoff ‘Torchwood‘ on which he shared same sex relationships with his own namesake, the original Captain Jack and fan favorite Ianto Jones (Garreth David-Lloyd), not to mention other random dalliances. Though they share a same sex relationship, both are bisexual and have also had relationships with women.
More recently, ‘Who’ saw the introduction of Silurian Madame Vastra (Neve McIntosh) and human Jenny Flint (Catrin Stewart), two Victorian sleuths (and as teased, possibly the inspiration for the Sherlock Holmes stories), who are a married lesbian couple, who have frequently aided the Doctor, along with their butler Strax.
‘Class’ is currently filming and will premiere on BBC Three later this year. The first series consists of eight 45-minute episodes, starring Greg Austin, Fady Elsayed, Sophie Hopkins and Vivian Oparah as the four teens (only Austin’s character has a name so far, Charlie). They will be joined by Katherine Kelly, Nigel Betts and Paul Marc Davis. ‘Class’ is set at the Coal Hill School, which has been a fixture of ‘Doctor Who’ since the series began and was recently shown to be the place of employment for Companion Clara Oswald. Current Doctor, Peter Capaldi is expected to appear.
Are you looking forward to this new series? Will ‘Class’ quench your thirst for new ‘Who’ material while the main show takes the year off?
Source: Den of Geek