Clani

Mr Smith decodes a Morse code message addressed to Clani (SJA: The Man Who Never Was

Clani was the portmanteau of Clyde and Rani. The word was invented by Luke at Oxford University, and was, for an indefinite period of time, shared privately between the three. Sarah Jane first became aware of the word on Luke's initial meeting with Sky around the time of the introduction of the SerfBoard.

Rani wrote off the term as a lame attempt at humour, but also asked Luke, "don't call us that." (SJA: The Man Who Never Was)

There have been many hints throughout the show that the two do share romantic feelings towards each other but they keep it to themselves.

Some main hints are:

• In 'The Day Of The Clown', Clyde is blown away when he first sees Rani. He was about to shout at her but stopped instantly.
• They always shown concern for each other when in danger.
• Rani always treats Clyde like a baby when mocking him, a sign of attraction.
• They normally have scenes in episodes with the two on their own investigations.
• In 'The Temptation Of Sarah Jane Smith' Rani kisses Clyde on the cheek for being brave, and Clyde remarks to himself he "Should be brave more often", which implies he may want more kisses from Rani.
• In the nice future at the end of 'The Mad Woman In The Attic' an elderly Rani discusses with her son her travels to see Maria with Luke. Clyde's name isn't said but the only other character mentioned is her son's dad, who could be Clyde...
• In 'The Wedding Of Sarah Jane Smith' Rani smiles at Clyde as she walks down the aisle behind Sarah Jane, and Clyde winks at her.
• In 'The Gift' when the Rakweed begins rampaging in the school, Clyde tells Rani to stay behind him, showing he wants to protect her.
• Rani always seems to laugh at Clyde and his humour.
• When they did fight, they both felt really bad until they made up.
• In 'The Vault Of Secrets' Clyde tells Rani he believes in fate and if something will happen it will. As he says this Clyde and Rani are revealed to have been holding hands as they walked down the corridor, implying that they will get together one day.
• Their biggest story together is 'The Empty Planet'. Clyde talks about how they might be Adam and Eve, and Rani agrees at first until she realises what that would mean for their relationship. When they split up after running from the robots, Clyde apologises to Rani for whenever he let her down, and kissing her on the cheek, similar to the scenario mentioned previously. Rani has a surprised but happy look on her face after.
• When she is confronted by the robot in the same episode, she thinks it is about to kill her. She then whispers "Clyde...you've never let me down." This means her last thought would've willingly been Clyde and that was all she thought about. She hoped he didn't feel bad and wanted to reassure him that he is a good person.
• Also in the story, when Clyde and Rani reunite firstly just after everyone disappeared, Clyde firmly states he called Rani first, not Luke or Sarah Jane, saying "I called you first. Of course I called you first."
• In 'Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith' as Clyde lay dying, he records a message to each of his friends, he saved Rani till last and if he hadn't have passed out he may have shared his feelings for her then.
• In the same story, when Rani saved Clyde from certain death and he is teleported back home, the first thing a weakened Clyde does is get a gun and protect Rani from Ruby. He then collapses and Rani lovingly comforts him.
• In 'The Curse Of Clyde Langer' Rani gets upset after she dismisses Clyde from her life and she doesn't know why. She says she knows she's lost something 'really special' but unknown to her she is talking about Clyde, meaning he is special to her.
• In the final ever story, 'The Man Who Never Was', it is heavily implied they are dating, which may have happened in an earlier story that wasn't filmed before the death of Elisabeth Sladen. Clyde apologises to Rani about the 'Ellie Thing', the girl he kissed in the previous story which may show she didn't approve when/if she found out.
• In the same story the name 'Clani' is actually used in the show. This is what Luke uses to call the pair, also implying their romantic relationship. In the same story they also play a husband and wife to sneak into the SurfBoard launch and Clyde calls Rani "His Mrs".
• If the show had continued as was planned, Clyde and Rani were to get together, it was revealed. Also there were rumours of an appearance by Martha Jones from the mother show Doctor Who. She was meant to appear in 'Enemy Of The Bane' in series 2, but Freema Agyeman (who plays her) had commitments to another show so Russell T Davies wrote her part out and replaced it with the Brigadier.

Behind the scenes

Clani is a term that originated in fandom, and was in particular use amongst people who wrote fan fiction. It described a kind of story that focused on the relationship between Clyde and Rani, often stressing its romantic possibilities.

External links

• Clani category at fanfiction.net