Class: The Audio Adventures - Trailers and Cover Art

Class: The Audio Adventures - Trailers and Cover Art

By Jamie H. C.

In exciting news for us Class fans (Coal Hill students? Classmates? Governors?), Big Finish has recently revealed the cover art and trailers for their upcoming Class audioplay boxsets, set during the events of Series One. The trailer for Volume One had been previously broadcast as an early tease as part of one of the Big Finish podcasts but has now been officially released.

Though the cover art - superbly done by longtime graphic designer Stuart Manning - uses the very familiar publicity photos of the Class gang that we all know, it is far removed from the usual Big Finish cover art style in a refreshing way that fits with the feel of Class as a whole. And as a nice bonus, on the physical CD release (limited to 500 copies), the two covers will line up together to form one complete picture that is sure to look fabulous on display in anyone's collection.

The Coverart for Class Volume 1

The stories in Class Volume 1 and their synopsises are as follows:

1.1 Gifted by Roy Gill

When a talent scout arrives in Shoreditch, Ram sees an opportunity to further his goals, whilst April strikes up a friendship with new boy, Thomas Laneford. Their choices draw all three to Carterhaugh House – but who is the mysterious Mab that waits for them there…

1.2 Life Experience by Jenny T Colgan

After signing up for work experience at Sevelin Laboratories, Tanya and Ram find themselves thrust into the world of medical research. But dark secrets lie at the heart of Sevelin Industries – and not everyone can make it out alive…

1.3 Tell Me You Love Me by Scott Handcock

The school day has ended. Charlie and Matteusz find themselves alone – though not quite as alone as they first believed. Three little words could mean the difference between life and death… and Quill is the only person they can turn to.

Sounds like a particularly interesting set of stories to start off Class' life with Big Finish - since the initial announcement, I have incredibly curious as to how they will fit into Series 1 and how the characters develop in that time. And the first stories sound both reassuring and exciting. As well as pairing up Apram together for an adventure, Tanya and Ram's friendship will also be getting some attention. 

And yet, there's some intriguing twists already evident. A new boy, Thomas Langford - will he meet some terrible fate in events or, more importantly, is he the terrible fate waiting for someone? Seems like some detective work as a duo might be in the cards for April and Ram - which would be a nice change from what was quite a rollercoaster ride of action for the two with little chance from them to have peaceful moments together (aside from the obvious, ahem, "Ram and the Shadowkin" moment).

Work experience in Life Experience sounds like an equally welcome change - allowing us to pull away from Coal Hill Academy as a main setting. Nightvisiting was the only episode in Series One to do so, and in my personal opinion, a notable strength of the tie-in novels was their ability to tell the gang's lives and adventures beyond the confines of the everyday school life in a more definite way.

But, by far, the most fascinating part of the first boxset is Tell Me You Love Me. Scott Handcock has hinted that there was a great level of technical challenge in putting this story together and the trailer seems to indicate that Matteusz will, for some reason, be unable to stop speaking about his immense love for Charlie. If nothing else, the moment in the trailer certainly creates an nice parallel with the scene in Detained when Charlie has a panic attack and Matteusz tries to calm him down. 

You can listen to the trailer for Volume One of Class: The Audio Adventures below.

The Coverart for Class Volume 2

The stories in Class Volume 2 and their synopsises are as follows:

2.1 Everyone Loves Reagan by Tim Foley

When Reagan Harper joins Coal Hill Academy, everybody instantly loves her – everybody except for April. Is there really more to Reagan than meets the eye? Or are there other forces at work in Coal Hill?

2.2 Now You Know… by Tim Leng

Following a series of freak attacks on staff and pupils, Tanya and Matteusz find themselves investigating a mystery that dates back to the 1960s. Together, they hope to solve it – even if that means turning on one another to do so…

2.3 In Remembrance by Guy Adams

When an alarm is triggered at Coal Hill Academy, Quill and Charlie encounter a mysterious intruder prowling around school premises. Worse, they also encounter a Dalek. Their only hope of survival lies with the stranger: a woman who calls herself ‘Ace’…

It's hard for me to form any kind of speculative opinion on Everyone Loves Reagan, due to both the cryptic nature of the synopsis and the supposed (I'm almost certainly wrong about this but for the moment, it's what I think) likeness to Gifted - new kid shows up, something's not right, April tries to get to the bottom of it.

Now You Know... and In Remembrance, on the other hand, I am massively excited. Immensely excited. Monumentally excited. Having wanted more development for both Matteusz and Tanya, and for them to actually have to work together and get to know each other to some degree - presuming they didn't already know each other before Charlie and Quill showed up, of course - it's great that one of the stories will be focusing on them. And it's "a mystery that dates back to the 1960s."! More of an emphasis being placed on time in this boxset (I've always seen it as a missed opportunity, in my opinion, that Series One didn't have any time-centric episodes) which leads us onto... Ace.

Of course, this is the big one. The connections and parallels between Class and Remembrance of the Daleks meant that a team-up between Ace and the Class gang was bound to happen, and from what we know, oh what a crazy story it will be! More details regarding this story will be discussed in an upcoming post though so I'll leave it there...

You can listen to the trailer for Volume Two of Class: The Audio Adventures below.

The two volumes of Class: The Audio Adventures are available for pre-order now at £20 each on CD or £15 each on download from the Big Finish website (They can also be purchased as a bundle together at the price of £38 on CD and £28 on download.) and will remain at this price until the boxsets are released in August - when they will be available for £25 each on CD or £20 each on download.