Class Dismissed.

TV Ish. Sort of. Patrick Ness posted this a couple of hours ago:

I decided awhile back that, with unbelievable regret, I won't be writing any more Class, even if a season 2 moves ahead.

— Patrick Ness (@Patrick_Ness) June 4, 2017

Essentially he's saying that if the show was going forward it would be in production now, but it's not happening and he's not waiting.  He says that BBC America like the show but blames BBC One's scheduling despite its "critical acclaim".  So it's effectively cancelled barring some last minute resurrection.

A few things to unpack here.

The iPlayer treatment of the show was a headscratcher.  The publicity for the show was relatively minimal given the pedigree and it seems they expected it to work as a viral phenomina in the style of Fleabag or Thirteen.  That didn't happen and even people who like Doctor Who didn't know it existed despite Capaldi being in the first episode.

Given that but still with the need to have it broadcast on network television, the BBC bunged it out on BBC One late at night as they do with a lot of BBC Three shows.  At least it didn't get shoved out in the middle of the night as happened with the last series of Orphan Black the BBC had the rights to.

If Class had been loved online, there was always the possibility it could have found an earlier timeslot but its forty-five minute format isn't a natural fit in prime time now on BBC UK when most shows are either thirty or sixty minutes outside of early evening Saturday night. But if it had been good enough, they would have found a way.

But it just simply wasn't that great, not Being Human great or Misfits great or Buffy great despite its attempts at such.  After a decent first episode, the storytelling became increasingly muddled and the overall premise and promise of the show didn't follow through.  See my old reviews for a longer version of that opinion.

Yet it is a show which has ended on a cliffhanger.  There could be a comic book conclusion perhaps, or Ness wiill write a novel, or Big Finish will pick it up in a few years ala Torchwood (although I don't know the extent to which Miracle Day is going to be resolved).  In the Doctor Who universe, nothing is ever final.