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PUBLISHED: 01:03, 23 October 2016 | UPDATED: 01:03, 23 October 2016
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Sophie Hopkins
Who? Sci-fi lover Sophie is starring in the Doctor Who offshoot Class – hotly tipped as ‘the British Buffy the Vampire Slayer’.
Big break? The 25-year-old has starred in a host of short films – the hauntingly beautiful Since We Last was recently selected for Kinofilm, an international film festival in Manchester – but is relatively new to TV. Not that she lacks training. Sophie studied performing arts and musical theatre at York College, near where she grew up on the Yorkshire Wolds, before joining London theatre company Fourth Monkey in 2010.
What’s the idea?Class follows a group of sixth-form students at Coal Hill School, where the Doctor’s companion Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman) once taught. Sophie’s character April grapples with teenage stresses such as parents, relationships and homework – as well as her worst fears and supernatural attack (as you do).
Doctor Who? Current Time Lord Peter Capaldi is confirmed to make an appearance in the first episode. Sophie couldn’t possibly say any more, but she did meet Peter while they were filming.
‘We were in the studio next to his in Roath Lock, Cardiff,’ she says. ‘One day, the fire alarm went off, so we ended up in the car park with him. It was surreal. We were like fan girls, but he was as chatty as ever.’
What’s next? Playing the lead in film Brackenmore, a horror-thriller set in rural Ireland.
Get a first look at the kids of Coal Hill School in the new BBC3 drama from Patrick Ness
By Radio Times staff
Katherine Kelly will be reunited with her young Mr Selfridge co-star Greg Austin for Doctor Who spin-off Class, BBC3's drama about Coal Hill School from Young Adult author Patrick Ness...
Kelly will play a teacher at the school, which has been the centre of a number of Doctor Who episodes down the years, while (l-r) Vivian Oparah, Greg Austin, Sophie Hopkins and Fady Elsayed will play the four sixth-form pupils who make up the central cast.
Kelly's character is described rather enigmatically as a "powerful new presence at the school", while we're told of the teenagers that "like all sixth formers, 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 was where the Doctor's granddaughter Susan was a pupil in the very first adventure An Unearthly Child, and where his fellow traveling companions Barbara Wright and Ian Chesterton taught. The Seventh Doctor battled the Daleks there, recently departed companion Clara Oswald and her boyfriend Danny Pink were also teachers and in series eight the Twelfth Doctor turned up to take on the deadly Skovox Blitzer.
But apparently all that time travelling action has taken its toll on Coal Hill and "has caused the very walls of space and time to become thin".
Not good, presumably?
"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."
Nope. Not good at all.
Patrick Ness said of the new cast: “We searched far and wide for this amazing cast, fantastic actors who understand what we’re aiming for with this show. And how lucky we are to get Katherine Kelly! She’s been stunning in Happy Valley, The Night Manager and Mr Selfridge, just wait until you see her here.”
Steven Moffat, Doctor Who and Class exec producer, said: “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.”
Filming has begun on the new series, which is set in Coal Hill School, setting for a number of Doctor Who episodes over the years. Find out more about the cast here.
Katherine Kelly
Coronation Street and Happy Valley star Katherine Kelly is well-known to TV drama viewers, having recently featured in BBC1's The Night Manager.
Drama graduate Greg Austin is best known for playing the young Gordon Selfridge in ITV's Mr Selfridge. He also runs his own gaming channel on YouTube.
Austin will, along with the three other young actors, play a sixth-former at Coal Hill School. The BBC explain that all four pupils "are facing their own worst fears, navigating a life of friends, parents, school work, sex, sorrow - and possibly the end of existence."
Sophie Hopkins
Yorkshire actress Sophie Hopkins has starred in a series of short films, including Since We Last, which you can watch below via Vimeo. Director Ben Grady raised the money for the film via Kickstarter.
Vivian Oparah
Newcomer Vivan Oparah was a member of the National Youth Theatre, the young theatre company that has been a springboard for the likes of Hugh Bonneville, Daniel Craig, Zawe Ashton and Felicity Jones.
Fady Elsayed
Fady Elsayed starred in award-winning 2013 British independent film My Brother the Devil. He's also set to appear in Brotherhood, the final part of Noel Clarke's coming-of-age trilogy that began with Kidulthood in 2006.
See all the actors together with young adult author and Class creator Patrick Ness in the video below.
