Ram and April become involved with a boy who seems curiously out of time.

I know that for many fans, Class was the spin-off that they didn’t want, an attempt to reach out to a different audience from the parent Doctor Who. (It’s worth noting, as I did at the time, that my then Year 9 daughter and her friends enjoyed it a great deal.) The show ended on a cliffhanger, but that’s not what these first two box sets from Big Finish deal with – they’re adding stories in-between the gaps of the first eight episodes, in much the same way as they have with other Doctor Who releases.

Roy Gill’s first story isn’t an ensemble piece – even if the other characters get a mention in passing – but focuses on Ram and April. Fayed Elsayed and Sophie Hopkins drop back into the roles very easily, and although there seems to be some initial hesitancy in performance, by the time we reach the final act, both are very much in control. Diedre Mullins’ Mab is the sort of foe that works well on audio, and makes up for a slightly weak performance from Rhys Isaac-Jones as Thomas, while Blair Mowat’s music score reinforces the feel that we’re still in that first year of the show.

Verdict: At last, a new term kicks off at Coal Hill Academy. 7/10

Paul Simpson