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Class: The Audio Adventures #3
Class: Volume 3
Three new adventures for the students of Coal Hill Academy, based on the television series created by Patrick Ness.
3.1 The Soers' Ditch by Carl Rowens
After a disastrous double date night, Charlie, April, Ram and Matteusz find themselves transported to another level of reality. Can they survive the Soers' ritualistic traditions? And more importantly, can they save their friendships?
3.2 Catfish by Kate Thorman
When a new student transfers to Coal Hill Academy, everyone goes out of their way to make him feel welcome, and Tanya is especially surprised by how much they have in common. Will she sacrifice best friends for her very first boyfriend?
3.3 Sweet Nothings by Michael Dennis
Living on Earth isn't easy when you're used to life as an alien freedom fighter. For Quill, it's a lonely existence – until she meets a Man outside Coal Hill Academy: the Man who can offer her everything she misses from her past... and more.
3.1 The Soers' Ditch by Carl Rowens
After a disastrous double date night, Charlie, April, Ram and Matteusz find themselves transported to another level of reality. Can they survive the Soers' ritualistic traditions? And more importantly, can they save their friendships?
3.2 Catfish by Kate Thorman
When a new student transfers to Coal Hill Academy, everyone goes out of their way to make him feel welcome, and Tanya is especially surprised by how much they have in common. Will she sacrifice best friends for her very first boyfriend?
3.3 Sweet Nothings by Michael Dennis
Living on Earth isn't easy when you're used to life as an alien freedom fighter. For Quill, it's a lonely existence – until she meets a Man outside Coal Hill Academy: the Man who can offer her everything she misses from her past... and more.
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First published April 1, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 8, 2025
(3.1) The Soers' Ditch - In some ways, this initial story for volume 3, was a bit disappointing. Wait what? Yeah, yeah, see there were moments that this felt like the writer had this great idea that had nothing to do with Class but it was shoehorned into this corner of the Whoniverse. That seemed disappointing. But then something happens (no spoilers), and the story just suddenly erupted into a full blown Class adventure and a completely authentic episode. Wonderful performances and all the deep beautiful soundscapes that one expects from Big Finish. Brilliant. It’s also a bonus that this one includes April, Charlie, Matteusz & Ram. Only Tanya and Quill are not present. (4/5)
(3.2) Catfish - I really enjoyed this one, up to a point. The problem is I felt like this has been done before. It all felt like a rehashing of previous aspects of other episodes, particularly with the similarities to Everybody Loves Regan in Class: Volume 2. I did enjoy that the whole cast is present, but as it was reaching the wrap up, even this didn’t offset the seeming unoriginality of the plot and themes. Hopefully the next story will work for me better. (3/5)
(3.3) Sweet Nothings - On some levels, I was a little disappointed with this one as well. Still enjoyable and I loved the interaction between Charlie and Matteusz (as always) but the volatile sparring between Charlie and Quill can get tedious if not handled just right. And here it wasn’t quite right. Update: on my second time through, I enjoyed this one a lot more that the first time. There’s the interesting and unexpected twist at the end, but the overall texture of the narrative is very subversive in some really subtle ways. So I’m bumping it up to (4/5).
Nothing really wrong with these three “episodes.” The first was brilliant, the second was fine, just nothing special, and the third was good, but again nothing outstanding. Actually, the latter two could have been really good had they just taking the stories in slightly different directions. Catfish could have brilliant had Paul been left to become a reoccurring character (maybe he still could) and had Quill’s new friend in Sweet Nothings turned out to be genuine, again with a reoccurring character, things could have been a lot more interesting. Instead these last two just felt like “bottle” episodes, nothing wrong with that, just not the best. These episodes also give the impression that they are not presented in chronological order. For the most part, these follow the events of Nightvisiting, the third episode of the series, and before the events of the fourth episode, Co-Owner of a Lonely Heart, but they may not all occur in that “gap.”
(3.2) Catfish - I really enjoyed this one, up to a point. The problem is I felt like this has been done before. It all felt like a rehashing of previous aspects of other episodes, particularly with the similarities to Everybody Loves Regan in Class: Volume 2. I did enjoy that the whole cast is present, but as it was reaching the wrap up, even this didn’t offset the seeming unoriginality of the plot and themes. Hopefully the next story will work for me better. (3/5)
(3.3) Sweet Nothings - On some levels, I was a little disappointed with this one as well. Still enjoyable and I loved the interaction between Charlie and Matteusz (as always) but the volatile sparring between Charlie and Quill can get tedious if not handled just right. And here it wasn’t quite right. Update: on my second time through, I enjoyed this one a lot more that the first time. There’s the interesting and unexpected twist at the end, but the overall texture of the narrative is very subversive in some really subtle ways. So I’m bumping it up to (4/5).
Nothing really wrong with these three “episodes.” The first was brilliant, the second was fine, just nothing special, and the third was good, but again nothing outstanding. Actually, the latter two could have been really good had they just taking the stories in slightly different directions. Catfish could have brilliant had Paul been left to become a reoccurring character (maybe he still could) and had Quill’s new friend in Sweet Nothings turned out to be genuine, again with a reoccurring character, things could have been a lot more interesting. Instead these last two just felt like “bottle” episodes, nothing wrong with that, just not the best. These episodes also give the impression that they are not presented in chronological order. For the most part, these follow the events of Nightvisiting, the third episode of the series, and before the events of the fourth episode, Co-Owner of a Lonely Heart, but they may not all occur in that “gap.”
September 21, 2021
The Soers Ditch: This was a decent opener for the third volume. It's a little slow to begin with, but the story is interesting, and it's nice to hear the Class gang bonding over a game of bowling.
I find the prospect of green aliens secretly living in Shoreditch and pitting humans against one another quite an interesting one too. It has Hunger Games vibes to it, but that works well for Doctor Who.
This one's a bit of a mixed bag. The story feels a little too similar to 'Everybody Loves Reagan' from the first Big Finish volume, but it does improve in the third act when it becomes more of an 'alien doppelgänger' story.
This is the first audio to feature Katherine Kelly and Vivian Oparah's replacements, and they're decent soundalikes. Joanna McGibbon does a great job in the role of Tanya, and although we don't get much of Dervla Kirwan as Miss Quill here, she does seem to capture the spirit of Quill well in the brief stuff we hear.
Sweet Nothings: The highlight of Class's third volume for me. Miss Quill's sassy put-downs are always hilarious to listen to, and we get a ton of them here. But we also get a nice subversion later into the narrative too, when Quill's good mood due to her new boyfriend sees her act a little kinder around Charlie.
'The Man' makes for an intriguingly enigmatic presence as Quill's boyfriend, and the final reveal is a truly great twist. It doesn't paint Charlie in a particularly good light though.
I find the prospect of green aliens secretly living in Shoreditch and pitting humans against one another quite an interesting one too. It has Hunger Games vibes to it, but that works well for Doctor Who.
This one's a bit of a mixed bag. The story feels a little too similar to 'Everybody Loves Reagan' from the first Big Finish volume, but it does improve in the third act when it becomes more of an 'alien doppelgänger' story.
This is the first audio to feature Katherine Kelly and Vivian Oparah's replacements, and they're decent soundalikes. Joanna McGibbon does a great job in the role of Tanya, and although we don't get much of Dervla Kirwan as Miss Quill here, she does seem to capture the spirit of Quill well in the brief stuff we hear.
Sweet Nothings: The highlight of Class's third volume for me. Miss Quill's sassy put-downs are always hilarious to listen to, and we get a ton of them here. But we also get a nice subversion later into the narrative too, when Quill's good mood due to her new boyfriend sees her act a little kinder around Charlie.
'The Man' makes for an intriguingly enigmatic presence as Quill's boyfriend, and the final reveal is a truly great twist. It doesn't paint Charlie in a particularly good light though.
February 26, 2026
The Soers’ Ditch -
My main gripe with this story is that it feels like it goes on for absolutely forever. The premise is fine, and works well but the story just drags which really detracts from the enjoyment. The character drama between the gang is split as the two couples are separated in the ditch, and while there is some beautiful and heartfelt pieces of dialogue between Charlie and Mateusz, April and Ram just sort of walk around not saying anything other than describing what’s around. The aliens are no real threat which is partly intentional given the comedic element is that they are incompetent and panic when they find out they have an alien playing their game. Not so great though as it just leads to endless scenes and about four confrontations before the story finally and abruptly ends; with both couples having learned lessons and got closer because of what they’ve been through. I loved what is considered point A and point B, but what it took to get between the two was just meandering and really lacked anything interesting happening.
There are some wolves in the background but do practically nothing for the plot, and it’s only that the cast give some great performances that save this story from being just about bearable. The game that they’re playing is really rather silly considering they just have to retrieve the flag from the ditch but nothing interesting is done with the idea; it’s hardly worth it to use it to have characters who have already had about twenty stories in which to grow closer already, to do so. It’s also really worth noting that in the end the bad guys chicken out and run away, and it really furthered the trend (that I hate of bad guys who are either incompetent or not evil. The story could’ve been interesting with an intense villain with lots of great imagery, instead they are conveniently in human form and every line they have is observational comedy. The music and sound design was convincing, and I did like that as it did create a believable environment, even if that environment was a bit redundant in the end. I didn’t hate the story at all but it really did leave any impression on me, and is about as forgettable as half of the other Big Finish Class stories so far.
Catfish -
This story was odd, considering its premise I didn’t expect that it would be almost a carbon copy of a previous Class story ‘Everybody Loves Reagan’. The only difference here is that the ending is terrible. Tanya meets a boy who rapidly becomes her boyfriend and then she quickly grows to resent her friends who seem to like him more than her. This leads to her taking a day off to find her boyfriend shape-shifted into her. Almost an interesting idea except this was all because IT WAS LONELY. I swear it’s ridiculous how many of the Class stories are just lazy endings with misunderstood aliens, and the fact they just let it go free shows how pointless the story was. No real stakes, no actual threat, just lots of scenes of Tanya sulking and her friends trying to reach out to her. I did like the exploration of the idea of feeling isolated and alone, something very relatable and mature, although that was really forced.
Every other line Tanya has is a not very subtle statement or probing question about feeling like her friends don’t care or she doesn’t fit in. The alien is obviously a metaphor to that idea but considering he is no threat and doesn’t actually have any powers (bar shapeshifting) it does make this message fairly boring. A compliment here is that is seriously uncanny how much Joanna McGibbon sounds like Vivienne Oprah. I did not question for a second that it was Tanya, and it really felt less like an impression and more like it was the same person. It’s a shame that they really did waste her in a story like that as overcoming the scheduling conflicts that beset Class volume 3 & 4 is worth showcasing in impressive ways. There are some good moments in this one but honestly nothing makes up for the awful narrative, and poorly executed message.
Sweet Nothings -
I was initially concerned the recast of Quill would hamper my enjoyment of the story, but thankfully Dervla Kirwan is a dead ringer for Katherine Kelly. A story focused on Quill’s life and how she feels so isolated on earth, with Charlie and Matteusz as background characters to highlight what makes her so resentful of being trapped with them. Her adventures with ‘the man’ show a side of her we’ve never seen as she opens up emotionally and feels happiness for the first time yet. The comedy of the story which is essentially Quill bullying Charlie at school and Matteusz being adorable is great fun, and fits perfectly with the plot as once she begins to open up she starts being nicer to the boys and others. Admittedly this story has no villain of any kind, and it turns out that it was an act of kindness that triggered events, which aren’t exactly resolved; they just end. This would normally annoy me but I feel it was executed in a perfect way, being character drama with the three best characters from Class. There is a poignant ending, and everything that comes before it is a nice mix of silly humour and really going into our ‘protagonists’ mind.
This story is rooted deeply in the character drama and exploring the conflict between Charlie and Quill, and the ways they’ve taken to their new life on earth. What really made this story lovely was an incredible twist which was so sad but brilliant. It makes for an ending that returns to the status quo but also gives some context and background to the daily lives and the feelings of these characters. The settings didn’t matter, and it was the classroom where Quill routinely humiliates Charlie and these alien planets that take prevalence. Of course they still can’t do anything with the series as these sets were commissioned before series 2 of the show was cancelled so they had no power to, but I think this small aside really was doing things differently for once. The music in this one is so charming, the lighter melodic tones really reflect the feeling of release that Quill is experiencing as she gets to be her old self and having that score in the backdrop really furthered it. I also loved the closing theme which was slightly different, not massively, but still something fresh to surprise you and make you smile.
My main gripe with this story is that it feels like it goes on for absolutely forever. The premise is fine, and works well but the story just drags which really detracts from the enjoyment. The character drama between the gang is split as the two couples are separated in the ditch, and while there is some beautiful and heartfelt pieces of dialogue between Charlie and Mateusz, April and Ram just sort of walk around not saying anything other than describing what’s around. The aliens are no real threat which is partly intentional given the comedic element is that they are incompetent and panic when they find out they have an alien playing their game. Not so great though as it just leads to endless scenes and about four confrontations before the story finally and abruptly ends; with both couples having learned lessons and got closer because of what they’ve been through. I loved what is considered point A and point B, but what it took to get between the two was just meandering and really lacked anything interesting happening.
There are some wolves in the background but do practically nothing for the plot, and it’s only that the cast give some great performances that save this story from being just about bearable. The game that they’re playing is really rather silly considering they just have to retrieve the flag from the ditch but nothing interesting is done with the idea; it’s hardly worth it to use it to have characters who have already had about twenty stories in which to grow closer already, to do so. It’s also really worth noting that in the end the bad guys chicken out and run away, and it really furthered the trend (that I hate of bad guys who are either incompetent or not evil. The story could’ve been interesting with an intense villain with lots of great imagery, instead they are conveniently in human form and every line they have is observational comedy. The music and sound design was convincing, and I did like that as it did create a believable environment, even if that environment was a bit redundant in the end. I didn’t hate the story at all but it really did leave any impression on me, and is about as forgettable as half of the other Big Finish Class stories so far.
Catfish -
This story was odd, considering its premise I didn’t expect that it would be almost a carbon copy of a previous Class story ‘Everybody Loves Reagan’. The only difference here is that the ending is terrible. Tanya meets a boy who rapidly becomes her boyfriend and then she quickly grows to resent her friends who seem to like him more than her. This leads to her taking a day off to find her boyfriend shape-shifted into her. Almost an interesting idea except this was all because IT WAS LONELY. I swear it’s ridiculous how many of the Class stories are just lazy endings with misunderstood aliens, and the fact they just let it go free shows how pointless the story was. No real stakes, no actual threat, just lots of scenes of Tanya sulking and her friends trying to reach out to her. I did like the exploration of the idea of feeling isolated and alone, something very relatable and mature, although that was really forced.
Every other line Tanya has is a not very subtle statement or probing question about feeling like her friends don’t care or she doesn’t fit in. The alien is obviously a metaphor to that idea but considering he is no threat and doesn’t actually have any powers (bar shapeshifting) it does make this message fairly boring. A compliment here is that is seriously uncanny how much Joanna McGibbon sounds like Vivienne Oprah. I did not question for a second that it was Tanya, and it really felt less like an impression and more like it was the same person. It’s a shame that they really did waste her in a story like that as overcoming the scheduling conflicts that beset Class volume 3 & 4 is worth showcasing in impressive ways. There are some good moments in this one but honestly nothing makes up for the awful narrative, and poorly executed message.
Sweet Nothings -
I was initially concerned the recast of Quill would hamper my enjoyment of the story, but thankfully Dervla Kirwan is a dead ringer for Katherine Kelly. A story focused on Quill’s life and how she feels so isolated on earth, with Charlie and Matteusz as background characters to highlight what makes her so resentful of being trapped with them. Her adventures with ‘the man’ show a side of her we’ve never seen as she opens up emotionally and feels happiness for the first time yet. The comedy of the story which is essentially Quill bullying Charlie at school and Matteusz being adorable is great fun, and fits perfectly with the plot as once she begins to open up she starts being nicer to the boys and others. Admittedly this story has no villain of any kind, and it turns out that it was an act of kindness that triggered events, which aren’t exactly resolved; they just end. This would normally annoy me but I feel it was executed in a perfect way, being character drama with the three best characters from Class. There is a poignant ending, and everything that comes before it is a nice mix of silly humour and really going into our ‘protagonists’ mind.
This story is rooted deeply in the character drama and exploring the conflict between Charlie and Quill, and the ways they’ve taken to their new life on earth. What really made this story lovely was an incredible twist which was so sad but brilliant. It makes for an ending that returns to the status quo but also gives some context and background to the daily lives and the feelings of these characters. The settings didn’t matter, and it was the classroom where Quill routinely humiliates Charlie and these alien planets that take prevalence. Of course they still can’t do anything with the series as these sets were commissioned before series 2 of the show was cancelled so they had no power to, but I think this small aside really was doing things differently for once. The music in this one is so charming, the lighter melodic tones really reflect the feeling of release that Quill is experiencing as she gets to be her old self and having that score in the backdrop really furthered it. I also loved the closing theme which was slightly different, not massively, but still something fresh to surprise you and make you smile.
February 12, 2022
"The Soers' Ditch" is my favorite of these three stories. It's really intense. "Catfish" is one where Tanya questions her place in her group as she gains a questionable boyfriend. The ending wasn't really that surprising. "Sweet Nothings" begins with annoying jokes but later shows a more vulnerable Quill who's become interested in someone. What we find out does not look good on Charlie's part. Overall, a pretty good set, but my least favorite of the three volumes so far.
May 9, 2020
Finally getting another batch of stories for this part of the Whoniverse has been nothing short of amazing.
Each adventure is better than the last. The replacement voice actors taking on the parts of Tanya and Quill have done a fantastic job. I couldn't be more excited to finish volume four.
Each adventure is better than the last. The replacement voice actors taking on the parts of Tanya and Quill have done a fantastic job. I couldn't be more excited to finish volume four.
July 2, 2022
3.1 The Soers' Ditch by Carl Rowens 4*
3.2 Catfish by Kate Thorman 3*
3.3 Sweet Nothings by Michael Dennis 3*
3.2 Catfish by Kate Thorman 3*
3.3 Sweet Nothings by Michael Dennis 3*
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews