The Coach with the Dragon Tattoo (TV story)

 was the second episode of Class. It was written by Patrick Ness, directed by Ed Bazalgette and featured Greg Austin as Charlie Smith, Fady Elsayed as Ram Singh, Sophie Hopkins as April MacLean, Vivian Oparah as Tanya Adeola and Katherine Kelly as Miss Quill.

It was released at the same time as For Tonight We Might Die, on BBC Three.

It saw the death of Coal Hill Academy head teacher Mr Armitage, who began as a recurring character in Doctor Who's Into the Dalek two years prior.

The story focused heavily on Ram, and how he dealt with the events that unfolded in the previous story.

A subplot involving a robot inspector emerged in this episode. It was later revealed that the robot had been sent by a mysterious organisation, who seemed to be interested in the activities of Miss Quill.

This is the only episode where Matteusz is not present during the alien incursion, apparently being "grounded".

Synopsis
Ram Singh has seen too much. His girlfriend's dead, he lost his leg, and now he sees a gruesome corpse in the locker room. Meanwhile, he has trouble adapting to his new prosthetic leg, screwing up in football. Someone else dies. Is it all in his head, or is this the work of a skin-peeling dragon?

Plot
Ram is in the middle of a football game, but fails to perform well due to new alien leg, disappointing his trainer Coach Dawson, and his father Varun.

In the changing rooms, Coal Hill's assistant coach Caroll is brutally mauled and skinned alive by a dragon like creature. It leaves through a space-time tear, just before Ram enters the room and discovers Carroll's skinned body. Horrified, and remembering Rachel's death, he locks himself inside a toilet cubicle. When he emerges, he finds all traces of the murder gone. Dawson appears, ready to go for a shower. Still angry at Ram, Dawson mocks him and tells him to go home. When Ram leaves, he is shown to have a large dragon tattoo covering most of his back. He finds a drop of blood on the shower floor, and wipes it away with his foot, as the dragon tattoo on his back blinks.

The next day at lunch, Charlie, April and Tanya sit on the staircase, musing about how the rest of the students seem to have forgotten about the Shadow Kin attack at the prom. They come to the conclusion that the other students are simply pretending that the events didn't happen, as it is easier for them to not acknowledge what happened. Ram passes back and Tanya questions the possibility about speaking to him, as he has refused to do so thus far.

At the entrance of Coal Hill, Miss Quill is informed by Mr Armitage that the school is going to be inspected today and that this inspection will include Quill's class. This information annoys her, but Armitage is confident that she will do fine.

Charlie tries to speak to Ram, but Ram pointedly insists that he isn't Charlie's friend and knocks Charlie's books to the ground before walking off.
 * to be continued

Cast

 * Miss Quill - Katherine Kelly
 * Charlie - Greg Austin
 * Ram - Fady Elsayed
 * April - Sophie Hopkins
 * Tanya - Vivian Oparah
 * Coach Dawson - Ben Peel
 * Assistant Coach Carroll - David McGranaghan
 * Varun - Aaron Neil
 * Mr Armitage - Nigel Betts
 * The Inspector - Jami Reid-Quarrell
 * Cleaner - Cally Lawrence

Uncredited cast

 * Voice of the Leaf Dragon - Derek Ritchie

Coal Hill School

 * Miss Quill and Mr Armitage walk by a sign that says "the Barbara Wright Building", named after Barbara Wright, companion of the First Doctor and teacher at Coal Hill in the 1960s.
 * Coach Dawson's office is Room G15, Sport Science Office.
 * Coal Hill has a 1st Team and a 2nd Team.
 * Coal Hill Academy offers physics booster classes.
 * Tanya says maths is ridiculously easy this year.

People

 * Mr Armitage says that the education secretary thinks all teachers are monkeys.
 * Ram smokes.
 * Ram's father, Varun, continues to come to his football practices. He first taught Ram to play, and encourages him to practice with his new prosthetic leg until he gets it right.
 * Miss Quill asks Ram whether he was watching porn while doing his homework. Ram sarcastically answers that he was masturbating and that he had to do homework one-handed.
 * Ram thinks he may be suffering from PTSD.
 * When trying to find the Inspector online, Quill at first found a Paul Smith who was not him.
 * The Inspector poses as being from Ofsted.
 * Mr Armitage asks Miss Quill not to misbehave in front of The Inspector as the Coal Hill governors would not like it.
 * April plays the violin, mostly folk music.
 * Tanya has two brothers: Jarvis and Damon, with whom she plays Xbox.
 * April's dad calls her, but she doesn't pick up.
 * While inspecting the robot parts that was the Inspector, Miss Quill discovers them to be property of the Governors, and wonders who they might be.

Technology

 * Tanya's computer uses Windows Vista.
 * Tanya is trying to hack into UNIT's database.
 * Ram and Tanya use Chat to video call again, as do April and Charlie later on.
 * Miss Quill remarks, of the internet, "Have you seen what this species puts about themselves online? So much genitalia."
 * At home, Charlie has an iMac computer.
 * Tanya downloaded the UNIT hack attempt off Reddit.
 * April has an iPhone and a keyboard.

Foods and beverages

 * Tanya eats an apple.
 * Ram tries to hit a water bottle with a football. With his father's support, he succeeds in knocking it over.

Story notes

 * A working title for this episode was Skinned.
 * The title is a play on the novel.
 * During the scene when the sixth formers go to find Coach Dawson, "Y.A.L.A." by M.I.A. can be heard.
 * During the scene where April declines her Dad's phonecall, she is playing Amerikanische Wald Idyllen by Edward MacDowell on her violin.
 * The morris dancing clip that Charlie finds when searching it up is audio of a morris dancing sequence from The Dæmons.
 * The music under the scene where Mr. Armitage is killed by the Leaf Dragon is a deliberate pastiche of Bernard Herrman's score for Psycho.

Ratings

 * BBC Three ratings: 0.39 million
 * BBC One overnight: to be announced
 * BBC America overnight: 0.305 million

Filming locations

 * Pinewood Studios Wales - filming for the gym hall, social/staircase area and Charlie's bedroom.
 * Haydn Ellis Building, Cardiff University - exterior and some interior filming for Coal Hill Academy
 * Roath Lock Studios

Production errors
to be added

Continuity

 * The Prom is mentioned. (TV: For Tonight We Might Die)
 * Rachel is believed to be missing. Ram is reminded that he watched her die and was drenched in her blood. (TV: For Tonight We Might Die)
 * Ram is still coping with his prosthetic leg. (TV: For Tonight We Might Die)
 * Ram doesn't want to be part of the world-saving team. (TV: For Tonight We Might Die)
 * Tanya mentions Ram saving April from the Shadow Kin. (TV: For Tonight We Might Die)
 * Charlie mentions that everyone that he ever knew died. April mentions sharing her heart with Corakinus. (TV: For Tonight We Might Die)
 * The Twelfth Doctor making Miss Quill Charlie's protector is mentioned. (TV: For Tonight We Might Die)
 * Barbara Wright is mentioned on a poster (TV: An Unearthly Child - The Chase) as having a building named after her.
 * The head teacher, Mr Armitage, (TV: Into the Dalek, et al.) is killed.
 * Charlie mentions that the Twelfth Doctor said Miss Quill was supposed to help him. (TV: For Tonight We Might Die)
 * Charlie makes note of a "fascinating power" of humanity to forget such things as the Shadow Kin attack. The Seventh Doctor previously noted humanity's "capacity for self-deception". (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks) The Twelfth Doctor also described forgetting as a "human superpower". (TV: In the Forest of the Night)

DVD releases

 * The Coach with the Dragon Tattoo was featured in the series one DVD boxset, which was released in the UK (Region 2) on 16th January 2017, followed by a Region 1 release on 11th July. The Region 1 release contained an additional blooper reel and various deleted scenes that were not present on the Region 2 release.

Blu-ray releases
to be added