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| [[Image:Elisabeth Sladen.jpg|right|thumb|Elisabeth Sladen in a 1991 agency publicity photo.]]
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| '''Elisabeth Sladen''' (born [[1st February]] [[1948]], [[Liverpool]], [[England]]) played [[Sarah Jane Smith]]. She appeared as a regular on ''[[Doctor Who]]'' with both [[Jon Pertwee]] and [[Tom Baker]], and also appeared in the [[A Girl's Best Friend|pilot]] for the spin-off series, ''[[K-9 and Company]]''. Most recently, she reprised her role as Sarah Jane both on ''Doctor Who'' and in the spin-off series called [[The Sarah Jane Adventures]].
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| ==Profile==
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| ==Early career==
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| An only child, Sladen developed an interest in performing at an early age, beginning dance lessons when she was five and dancing in one production with the Royal Ballet. She eventually turned to acting, and after finishing grammar school, attended drama school for two years.
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| Following this, she began work at the Liverpool Playhouse repertory company as an assistant stage manager. Her first stage appearance was as a corpse. However, she was scolded for giggling on stage, thanks to a young actor, [[Brian Miller]], whispering the words, "Respiration nil, Aston Villa two" in her ear while he was playing the doctor. Sladen was so good as an ASM that she did not get many acting roles, a problem she solved by deliberately making mistakes on several occasions. This got her told off again, but she started to get more on-stage roles.
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| Sladen eventually moved into weekly repertory work, traveling around to various locations in [[England]]. Sladen and Miller, now married, moved to [[Manchester]], spending three years there. She appeared in numerous roles, most notably as Desdemona in ''Othello'', her first appearance as a leading lady. She also got the odd part on Leeds Radio and Granada Television, eventually appearing as a barmaid in six episodes of the long-running soap opera ''[[Coronation Street]]''.
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| In [[1972]], Miller was appearing in a play that moved down to [[London]], and they had to move along with it. Sladen found city life a bit of an adjustment, but eventually adapted. Her first television role in London was as a female terrorist in an episode of ''Doomwatch''. This was followed by guest roles in ''Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em'' and ''Z-Cars''.
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| ==''Doctor Wh''o==
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| In [[1973]], [[Katy Manning]], who was playing the [[Third Doctor]]'s assistant [[Jo Grant]] opposite [[Jon Pertwee]], was leaving the series. Producer [[Barry Letts]] was growing increasingly desperate in his search for a replacement when ''Z-Cars'' producer Ron Craddock gave Sladen an enthusiastic recommendation. Sladen arrived at the audition not knowing it was for the new [[companion]] role and was amazed at Letts's thoroughness. She was introduced to Pertwee, whom she found intimidating at the time. As she chatted with Letts and Pertwee, each time she turned to look at one of them the other would signal a thumbs-up. She was offered and accepted the part of investigative journalist [[Sarah Jane Smith]].
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| Sladen stayed on ''Doctor Who'' from the start of [[Season 11]] to mid-way through [[Season 14]]. She worked with both Pertwee as the Third Doctor and [[Tom Baker]] as the [[Fourth Doctor]]. She received both popular and critical acclaim for her role as Sarah. When she left the series in [[1976]], it made front page news, where previously only a change of Doctors had received such attention.
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| ==Later career==
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| Sladen returned to Liverpool with her husband and did a series of plays. Notable appearances following that include a two-year stint as a presenter for the children's program ''Stepping Stones'', a role as a stand-up comic's spouse in ''Take My Wife'', and a small part in the movie ''Silver Dream Racer'' as a bank secretary in [[1980]], her only motion picture appearance to date. The new decade also marked her first appearance at a ''Doctor Who'' convention, Who 1 in [[March]] [[1980]], along with [[Ian Marter]], who had played companion [[Harry Sullivan]] on the programme. In [[1981]], Letts cast her as the female lead in the BBC Classics production of ''Gulliver in Lilliput''.
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| She continued to appear in various advertisements and in another Letts production, ''Alice in Wonderland]'' (in which she played the Dormouse), and attended ''Doctor Who'' conventions in the [[United States]]. After the birth of her daughter [[Sadie Miller]] in February [[1985]], Sladen went into semi-retirement, placing her family first, but still finding time to appear occasionally on television.
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| ==Reprising Sarah==
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| Until ''[[School Reunion]]'', Sladen's last television appearance as Sarah was in the [[1993]] charity special ''[[Dimensions in Time]]''. New ''Doctor Who'' [[Producer]] [[John Nathan-Turner]] had asked her to return to the series to ease the transition between Tom Baker and new Doctor [[Peter Davison]]. She declined the offer, but accepted his second offer of doing a pilot for a spin-off series called ''[[K-9 and Company]]'', co-starring with [[K-9]], the popular [[robot]] dog from ''Doctor Who''. However, the pilot was not picked up for a series. Sladen would reprise the role of Sarah in [[1983]] for the 20th anniversary special ''[[The Five Doctors]]''. In [[1995]] she played the role once again in the independent non-BBC film ''[[Downtime]]'' which was her last on-screen appearance as the character until [[2006]].
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| Sladen returned to the role of Sarah once again in several [[List of Audio Stories|audio dramas]]. Two of them were produced for [[BBC Radio]], ''[[The Paradise of Death]]'' ([[BBC Radio 5]], [[1993]]), and ''[[The Ghosts of N-Space]]'' ([[BBC Radio 2]], [[1996]]), together with Pertwee as the Doctor and [[Nicholas Courtney]] as [[the Brigadier]]. [[Big Finish Productions]] series ''[[Sarah Jane Smith (audio series)|Sarah Jane Smith]]'', set in the present day.
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| On [[25th July|25]] [[July]], [[2005]], the BBC confirmed that Sladen would indeed be appearing as Sarah Jane Smith in [[Series 2 (Doctor Who)|Series 2]] of the revived ''Doctor Who''. The BBC subsequently announced that [[John Leeson]] would also be returning as the voice of the robot dog [[K-9]]. The episode, ''[[School Reunion]]'', served to finally cement the link between the revival and the original series. The postive response to Sladen's appearance led to the BBC commissioning another attempt at a Sarah Jane spinoff series, this time created by [[Russell T. Davies]]. ''[[Invasion of the Bane]]'' (not technically a pilot, as the BBC had already agreed to a season), a special premiere episode of ''[[The Sarah Jane Adventures]]'' aired on [[1st January]] [[2007]] and was followed by [[Series 1 (The Sarah Jane Adventures)|a ten episode series]] later in the year. [[Series 2 (The Sarah Jane Adventures)|Series 2]] has started to air.
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| In July 2008, Sladen returned to ''Doctor Who'' once more for the two finale episodes ''[[The Stolen Earth]]'' and ''[[Journey's End]]''. Although she expects to stay with ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'', Sladen, in an interview with ''[[Doctor Who Magazine]]'', says she expects her appearance in the two-parter to be her final appearance on the parent program.
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| ==External links==
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| *{{imdb name|id=0805207|name=Elisabeth Sladen}}
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| * [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/4714061.stm BBC confirm return of Sarah Jane Smith]
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| * [http://www.bbc.co.uk/norfolk/content/articles/2006/04/19/film_doctor_who_lis_sladen_interview_feature.shtml BBC Norfolk webTV interview with Elisabeth Sladen]
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| {{Wikipedia|Elisabeth_Sladen}}
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| [[Category:Doctor Who regular cast|Sladen, Elisabeth]]
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| [[Category:The Sarah Jane Adventures cast|Sladen, Elisabeth]]
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| [[Category:Previous Spotlight Articles|Sladen, Elisabeth]]
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