Miracle on Bannerman Road (unproduced TV story)

Miracle on Bannerman Road
Illustration of this story from DWMSE 32
Main character(s):	Sarah Jane, Rani, Clyde, Mr Smith
Featuring:	Sky, the Guide, Lavinia, Eleventh Doctor
Main enemy:	Dark Legion
Main setting:	Christmas, 2010
Release details
Format:	Unproduced TV story
Unproduced SJA series 4 stories
← Previous	Servant of the Spiders

Miracle on Bannerman Road was an unproduced 2010 Christmas special of The Sarah Jane Adventures. The story was based on A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and would have seen Sarah Jane Smith being shown the past, present, and future of her life by a mysterious traveller. Fourth Doctor actor Tom Baker was briefly considered for this role, preceding his reappearance as the Curator in The Day of the Doctor ^[+]Loading...["The Day of the Doctor (TV story)"] by three years.

The story would have also functioned as an alternative introduction to the character of Sky Smith, along with a different backstory for the character, with the Eleventh Doctor dropping off the baby Sky immediately before she transformed into a 14-year-old. The Eleventh Doctor's appearance in the story was written prior to the series 4 story Death of the Doctor ^[+]Loading...["Death of the Doctor (TV story)"], and would have depicted his and Sarah Jane's first meeting instead. The story was cancelled for various reasons, and the entrance of Sky into the Smith household was covered instead in one of the only stories completed for series 5, Sky ^[+]Loading...["Sky (TV story)"].

Plot outline

The Bannerman Road gang are about to head over to a Christmas party at the Chandras' when the doorbell rings. A strange alien pod has been left at the doorstep of 13 Bannerman Road. The pod has a powerful protective field that Mr Smith is unable to penetrate. As Clyde, Luke and Rani go to see Gita turning on Christmas lights, Sarah Jane stays in the attic and begins to feel drowsy.

The Guide appears before Sarah Jane, reaching for her hand and telling her that she "must come with [him]" for he must learn about her. Sarah Jane tries to reach for her sonic lipstick, but her hand passes through it. The Guide begins to take her away as Sarah Jane turns to see herself asleep on the sofa.

The Guide has taken Sarah Jane back in time to Christmas 1967. They are in the backseat of a car as they watch Aunt Lavinia taking a sixteen-year-old Sarah Jane to a coach "magical mystery tour" organised by her friends. They are running late and stop off at a village shop. The young Sarah Jane is concerned by the old woman in the shop, noticing that she is acting strangely. She wants to investigate, but Lavinia warns her that she will miss the coach. The Guide asks the present Sarah Jane about her thinking. The young Sarah Jane enters the shop and witnesses a burglary as the old woman and her husband are held at gunpoint.

The young Sarah Jane tells Lavinia to call the police. She then makes a noise to alert the burglar in order to lure him to a tarpaulin-covered hole. The Guide wants to see more, as the present Sarah Jane is shocked by her younger self's gall. Taken to Christmas in the present day, the Guide and Sarah Jane are now at the Chandras' party. Sarah Jane is overwhelmed when she sees the Chandras, Luke and Clyde talking about how their experiences with her have made them better people. However, she then notices sparks coming from a set of overloaded plugs, and is unable to warn anybody. The Guide takes her on one more journey.

Christmas Future. Taken to a grey rocky landscape beneath a dark starry sky, the Guide tells her that they are on the Moon. Sarah Jane is horrified when she looks at Earth, and instead sees nothing but chunks of rocks where it should be. The Guide begins to fade away, telling her that the Dark Legion are coming and that she has been chosen.

Sarah Jane jumps awake in the attic, a mere five minutes after she fell asleep. Mr Smith alerts her that a Dark Legion fleet are heading to Earth, carrying the robot warriors of the genocidal Kastron race. Sarah Jane, however, has little time to save her friends first. She rushes across the street and uses her sonic lipstick on the electrical mains. In a black-out, Sarah Jane unplugs the dangerous appliances and grabs Luke, Clyde and Rani. She tells Gita that they are needed for a Christmas surprise, but Gita becomes convinced that the surprise is for her. When Haresh manages to get the electricity back up and working, he and his wife notice they are now under mistletoe.

In the attic, the Dark Legion are on screen. They demand the alien pod and have declared that they will destroy Earth for stealing it. With just ten minutes to save the Earth, K9 suggests adapting a defence programme Luke has developed. Mr Smith boosts the signal. As three of the Legion arrive to the attic, they see huge, robotic versions of the Bannerman Road gang. In actuality, the programme Luke developed is merely making the Legion see them as exaggerated versions of themselves. Sarah Jane threatens that if anybody is harmed, their world of origin will be attacked. The Legion withdraw at the stroke of midnight. The Guide reappears, declaring Sarah Jane to be the "chosen guardian".

Suddenly, the pod slides open, revealing a baby girl. A mysterious man enters the attic, and explains that he rescued the pod from the Legion and had to drop it off here before deflecting the fleet. He tells Sarah that "she might not recognise" him, and that he is the Doctor. He reveals that the Guide was actually a psychic programme built into the pod which accesses the suitability of a guardian. The Guide had rejected the Doctor, but found Sarah Jane. Despite their questions, the Doctor says he cannot explain anymore for both Sarah Jane's and the baby's safety. The Doctor then runs off to save an unnamed friend.

The gang discuss the situation, with Clyde, Luke and Rani telling Sarah Jane that they can help raise the girl. They stop as they look back at the infant, only to see a "haughty-looking" fourteen-year-old, wrapped in the wrecked pod, standing in the baby's place. The girl asks them "what are you all staring at!?"

Characters

• Sarah Jane Smith
• Clyde Langer
• Rani Chandra
• Sky Smith
• Mr Smith
• K9
• Gita Chandra
• Haresh Chandra
• The Guide
• Lavinia Smith
• Dark Legion
• Eleventh Doctor

Notes

• This story, if produced, would have featured Lavinia Smith in her first televised appearance since the 1981 K9 and Company story A Girl's Best Friend ^[+]Loading...["A Girl's Best Friend (TV story)"].
• Incidentally, that year's Doctor Who Christmas Special was also based on A Christmas Carol.
• Sky Smith is described as a fourteen-year-old, which would have made her the same age Luke, Clyde and Maria were in series 1. In Sky ^[+]Loading...["Sky (TV story)"], this would be changed to her being a twelve-year-old.
• The concepts of the Dark Legion and the defence programme were later reused in the series 4 story Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith ^[+]Loading...["Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)"]. In that story, the name was changed to Dark Horde, and a device is used to convince them that they are faced by a stronger version of themselves.