CLASS CANCELLED. The young adult BBC spin-off series from Doctor Who won't see more than the first 8 episodes.

Class, the BBC's science fiction spin-off from Doctor Who has been cancelled - not due to Daleks but a more familiar, earthly foe: low ratings.

Class is available on Naspers' subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) streaming service in South Africa and Africa.

Viewers won't see any more of the students of Coal Hill School than the 8 episodes of the short first season of Patrick Ness' young adult series.

British media has an organisation called a Broadcasting Press Guild representing British journalists covering the media, and when the BBC's BBC Three channel boss, Damian Kavanagh, took questions from them at an event and was asked about Class returning for a second season, he said "no".

"There was nothing wrong with it – I thought Patrick did a great job, he explored an amazing world," reported DigitalSpy UK and other media that attended.

"In honesty, it just didn't really land for us on BBC Three. Things sometimes don't, and I've got to make decisions about what we're going to do from a drama point of view," he said.

"There are always times when you do something and you have to decide that it's not going to come back. Class is just one of those things."

Patrick Ness in a social media message on Twitter wrote that: "I'm not an unopinionated man, but all I'll say regarding the Class news is how proud I am of that show and how lucky I am to have had the opportunity."

"What a great experience to make it. And SUCH a great cast. And thank you for all the love for it, too! Would that things were different..."

BBC creating a young adult Doctor Who spinoff entitled Class written by young adult author Patrick Ness; will film in Wales for broadcast in 2016.

The BBC has commissioned a young adult spin-off of the science fiction show Doctor Who, entitled Class set in contemporary London.

In South Africa and across Africa the iconic British series has been seen on BBC Entertainment (DStv 120) on MultiChoice's DStv and will be seen on BBC First (DStv 119) when that channel launches on 18 October.

BBC Worldwide's so-called "global" Doctor Who tour last year infamously shunned Africa and went to every big inhabited continent except for Africa when neither Johannesburg, Lagos, Cape Town or Nairobi were good, safe or important enough for Peter Capaldi, Jenna Coleman and executive producer Steven Moffatt.

Now Doctor Who is getting a spin-off with Class which is produced by BBC Cymru Wales in association with BBC Worldwide, written by young adult author Patrick Ness.

Class will start filming around Wales and is set for broadcast in 2016 with a first season of eight 45-minute episodes.

Class is the 4th Doctor Who spin-off, following Torchwood which ran for four seasons before getting cancelled, the animated series K-9, and The Sarah Jane Chronicles of five seasons.

"No one has documented the dark and exhilarating world of the teenager like Patrick Ness, and now we're bringing his brilliant story-telling into Doctor Who," says Steven Moffat in a statement. "This is growing up in modern Britain - but with monsters!"

"I'm astounded and thrilled to be entering the Doctor Who universe, which is as vast as time and space itself," says Patrick Ness.