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'''''The Sarah Jane Adventures''''' is a British science fiction television programme that was produced by BBC Cymru Wales for CBBC, created by Russell T Davies, and starring Elisabeth Sladen. The programme is a spin-off of the long-running BBC science fiction programme ''Doctor Who'' and is aimed at a younger audience than ''Doctor Who''. It focuses on the adventures of Sarah Jane Smith, an investigative journalist who, as a young woman, had numerous adventures across time and space with the Doctor. Following Sladen's sudden death from cancer, the BBC confirmed that the show would not return for a sixth series.
''The Sarah Jane Adventures'' is a British science fiction television programme that was produced by BBC Cymru Wales for CBBC, created by Russell T Davies, and starring Elisabeth Sladen. The programme is a spin-off of the long-running BBC science fiction programme ''Doctor Who'' and is aimed at a younger audience than ''Doctor Who''. It focuses on the adventures of Sarah Jane Smith, an investigative journalist who, as a young woman, had numerous adventures across time and space with the Doctor. Following Sladen's sudden death from cancer, the BBC confirmed that the show would not return for a sixth series.


The series debuted on BBC One with a 60-minute special, "Invasion of the Bane", on 1 January 2007, and broadcast until Sladen’s death in 2011. It was nominated for a British Academy Children's Award in 2008 in the Drama category, and for a BAFTA Cymru in 2009 in the Children's Drama category. The programme won a Royal Television Society 2010 award for Best Children's Drama.
The series debuted on BBC One with a 60-minute special, "Invasion of the Bane", on 1 January 2007, and broadcast until Sladen’s death in 2011. It was nominated for a British Academy Children's Award in 2008 in the Drama category, and for a BAFTA Cymru in 2009 in the Children's Drama category. The programme won a Royal Television Society 2010 award for Best Children's Drama.
== Series ==
A full series of ten 25-minute episodes began on 24 September 2007. The first series consisted of five two-part stories, and a second series, comprising six two-part stories, began airing on 29 September 2008. A third series, once again comprising six two-part stories to make a total of twelve episodes, with Russell T Davies serving as executive producer, aired from 15 October 2009 to 20 November 2009.
The fourth series was aired from 11 October 2010. An episode of another spin-off series, ''Sarah Jane's Alien Files'', was shown immediately after each of the first episodes of the stories. Filming for three of six two-part serials planned for the fifth series was completed prior to Elisabeth Sladen's death on 19 April 2011. The BBC stated that no further episodes would be filmed. The fifth series was broadcast starting 3 October 2011 on Mondays and Tuesdays. It finished just two weeks later on 18 October 2011.
== Background and development ==
In 2006, Children's BBC expressed an interest in producing a ''Doctor Who'' spin-off. Their initial idea was "a drama based on the idea of a young ''Doctor Who''", but Russell T Davies vetoed this. "Somehow, the idea of a fourteen year old Doctor, on Gallifrey inventing sonic screwdrivers, takes away from the mystery and intrigue of who he is and where he came from," said Davies. He suggested instead a series based on the Doctor's former companion Sarah Jane Smith.
The character of Sarah Jane Smith, played by Sladen, appeared in ''Doctor Who'' from 1973 to 1976, alongside both Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor and Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor. A pilot episode for another ''Doctor Who'' spin-off series, ''K-9 and Company'', made in 1981, featured Sarah Jane and the robot dog K9; however, a full series was never commissioned. Sarah Jane and K9 returned to ''Doctor Who'' in various media many times over the years, most notably in the 20th anniversary special ''The Five Doctors'' (1983), and in episodes "School Reunion" (2006), "The Stolen Earth" / "Journey's End" (2008) and "The End of Time" (2010).
Sarah Jane is frequently voted the most popular ''Doctor Who'' companion by both ''Doctor Who'' fans and members of the general public. That a Sarah Jane series was being developed was first confirmed in the BBC's in-house newsletter, ''Ariel'', in early August 2006. These early rumours were associated with the working title ''Sarah Jane Investigates''.
K9's only appearances in the show's first two series were a cameo in the special and an appearance in the last episode of the first series. This was due to the concurrent development of the independently produced children's series, ''K-9'', which features a remodelled version of K9 with only indirect nods to ''Doctor Who''. However, in 2009, K9 appeared with ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'' cast in a sketch for ''Comic Relief'', and K9 appeared in six episodes of the third series, followed by two more appearances in the fourth series. He did not appear at all in Series 5.
=== Production ===
Production on the full series began in April 2007. Two of the five two-part stories were scripted by the special's co-writer Gareth Roberts. ''Bad Girls'' and ''New Captain Scarlet'' writer Phil Ford wrote two stories and Phil Gladwin wrote one. Creator and executive producer Russell T Davies was going to write one story but was forced to drop out due to other work commitments.
== Tenth anniversary ==
For the tenth anniversary of the show, an event was held 29 July 2017 at Cardiff University Students' Union, with proceeds going to Ty Hafan Hospice for Children. A total of £6643.35 was raised by the sale of tickets to the event and merchandise. Members of the cast and crew that took part in the event were Tommy Knight, Anjli Mohindra, Yasmin Paige, Sinead Michael, Mina Anwar, Katy Manning, Paul Marc Davis, Phil Ford, Gary Russell, Joe Lidster, Sam Watts, Richard Wisker, Cheryl Rowlands, Scott Handcock, Brian Miller, John Leeson, Mat Irvine and Chris Johnson. The event was recorded and was released onto DVD and Blu-ray and could be bought exclusively through the event's website.
== Cast and crew ==
Main cast of series 1 (left to right) Maria, Luke, Sarah Jane and Clyde
In addition to Sladen, the first series of the programme stars Yasmin Paige as Maria Jackson, Sarah Jane's 13-year-old neighbour in Ealing, west London, and Tommy Knight as a boy named Luke, who is adopted by Sarah Jane at the conclusion of the introductory story. The third member of Sarah Jane's young entourage is 14-year-old called Clyde Langer, played by Daniel Anthony, who is introduced in the first episode of the proper series. Actress Porsha Lawrence Mavour briefly played Maria's friend, Kelsey Harper, in the 2007 New Year's Day special ''Invasion of the Bane'' which was created before the start of the series. Maria and her family are written out of the series in the first story of the second series, ''The Last Sontaran'', but Maria and her father return briefly in the second part of ''The Mark of the Berserker''. In the second story of that series, ''The Day of the Clown'', several new regular cast members are introduced: Rani Chandra and her parents, Haresh, and Gita (played by Anjli Mohindra, Ace Bhatti, and Mina Anwar, respectively).
Main cast of series 2–5 (left to right) Rani, Luke, Sarah Jane, Clyde and Sky (Series 5 only)
Joseph Millson appears throughout the first series as Maria's recently separated father, Alan, with Chrissie Jackson, Maria's mother, played by Juliet Cowan. One other regular is Alexander Armstrong of comedy duo Armstrong and Miller, who provides the voice of Mr Smith, an extraterrestrial computer in Sarah Jane's attic. The 2007 special featured Samantha Bond as the scheming villain Mrs Wormwood and Jamie Davis as her PR agent Davey. The first series included among its guest cast Jane Asher as Sarah Jane's childhood friend Andrea Yates, Floella Benjamin as Professor Rivers, who returned in Series 2, Series 3 and Series 5, and Phyllida Law as Bea Nelson-Stanley. The second series guest starred Bradley Walsh as an evil alien clown in the story ''The Day of the Clown'' and Russ Abbot as a sinister astrologer in ''Secrets of the Stars''. Also appearing in the second series were Gary Beadle and Jocelyn Jee Esien, who portrayed Clyde's parents Paul and Carla in ''The Mark of the Berserker''; Esien reprised her role briefly in Series 4 and more prominently in series 5. Nicholas Courtney guest starred in ''Enemy of the Bane'' as classic ''Doctor Who'' character Sir Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart, and Samantha Bond also returned as Wormwood for the episode.
The original executive producers for ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'' were Phil Collinson, Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner. Susie Liggat produced the pilot, but Matthew Bouch worked as producer of the series. Co-writer Gareth Roberts, writing in ''Doctor Who Magazine'', said, "We're all determined that this will be a big, full-blooded drama; that nobody should ever think of it as 'just' a children's programme." Sue Nott was the executive producer of the second series for CBBC.
In December 2007, the BBC released a statement that Julie Gardner would be replaced by Piers Wenger as executive producer for ''Doctor Who'' in January 2009, but that she would continue to executive-produce ''Torchwood'' and ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'' through 2008.
The fourth series in 2010 was executive produced by Russell T Davies and Nikki Wilson, and the producers were Brian Minchin and frequent writer Phil Ford. During this series, Cyril Nri was introduced as a new recurring character called The Shopkeeper. The production team remained in place for the completed episodes of Series 5, which were shot concurrently with Series 4. The show's abbreviated fifth and final series introduced a new main character named Sky, played by Sinead Michael. The episode that introduced Sky also featured a return appearance by the Shopkeeper, but the fact that the second half of the series was never produced left his story arc, as well as other ongoing plot points, unresolved. A special edition of ''Doctor Who Magazine'', ''The Sarah Jane Companion Volume 3'', published in August 2012, detailed the plotlines of the three unfilmed stories.
=== Cast ===
{| class="fandom-table"
! rowspan="2" |Actor
! rowspan="2" |Character
! colspan="6" |Series
|-
!1
!2
!3
!4
!5
|-
|Elisabeth Sladen
|Sarah Jane Smith
| colspan="5" |Main
|-
|Yasmin Paige
|Maria Jackson
| colspan="1" |Main
| colspan="1" |Featured
| colspan="3" |
|-
|Tommy Knight
|Luke Smith
| colspan="3" |Main
| colspan="2" |Featured
|-
|Alexander Armstrong
|Mr Smith (voice)
| colspan="6" |Main
|-
|John Leeson
|K9 (voice)
| colspan="1" |Guest
| colspan="1" |
| colspan="1" |Main
| colspan="1" |Recurring
| colspan="1" |
|-
|Joseph Millson
|Alan Jackson
| colspan="2" |Recurring
| colspan="3" |
|-
|Juliet Cowan
|Chrissie Jackson
| colspan="1" |Recurring
| colspan="1" |Guest
| colspan="3" |
|-
|Daniel Anthony
|Clyde Langer
| colspan="5" |Main
|-
|Anjli Mohindra
|Rani Chandra
| colspan="1" |
| colspan="4" |Main
|-
|Mina Anwar
|Gita Chandra
| colspan="1" |
| colspan="3" |Recurring
| colspan="1" |Guest
|-
|Ace Bhatti
|Haresh Chandra
| colspan="1" |
| colspan="4" |Recurring
|-
|Sinead Michael
|Sky Smith
| colspan="4" |
|Main
|}
=== ''Doctor Who'' characters ===
Including K9 and Sarah Jane, some characters from the past or current run of ''Doctor Who'' have appeared in ''The Sarah Jane Adventures''.
{| class="sortable fandom-table"
!Actor
!Character
!Duration
!Episodes
|-
|Lachele Carl
|Trinity Wells
|2007–2008
|''Revenge of the Slitheen'' and ''Secrets of the Stars''
|-
|Jason Mohammad
|Newsreader
|2007, 2011
|''Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?'', ''The Lost Boy'' and The Man Who Never Was
|-
|Anthony Debaeck
|French newsreader
|2008
|''Secrets of the Stars''
|-
|Nicholas Courtney
|Brigadier Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart
|2008
|''Enemy of the Bane''
|-
|Nicholas Briggs
|The Judoon (voice)
|2009
|''Prisoner of the Judoon''
|-
|David Tennant
|The Tenth Doctor
|2009
|''The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith''
|-
|Katy Manning
|Jo Jones (née Grant)
|2010
|''Death of the Doctor''
|-
|Matt Smith
|The Eleventh Doctor
|2010
|''Death of the Doctor''
|}
Numerous others have been referenced in dialogue. Several former companions of the Doctor are referenced in the story ''Death of the Doctor'', and the episode also includes brief on-screen flashbacks showing the Third, Fourth and Tenth Doctors. Companion Harry Sullivan is referenced separately in dialogue on several occasions and a photograph of the character is visible in one episode. In an issue of ''Doctor Who Magazine'', Sophie Aldred was read an email from Russell T. Davies, in which he declared his plans to bring Ace into a story had the show continued, and she was alluded to at the end of ''The Death of the Doctor'' when the fates of Harry Sullivan, Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright, Ben Jackson, Polly, Tegan Jovanka, and Ace are revealed. The episode ''Sky'' was originally to have featured the Eleventh Doctor, but Matt Smith was not available.
== Episodes ==
Main article: List of The Sarah Jane Adventures serials
''The Sarah Jane Adventures'' was first seen by its original British audience in the form of a 60-minute New Year's Day special in 2007, titled "Invasion of the Bane", which was co-written by Russell T Davies and Gareth Roberts. "Invasion of the Bane" was not a pilot, although the story does contains many conventional introductory elements common to pilots. Creator Russell T Davies has commented upon the exceptional broadcast situation, saying "''Sarah Jane Adventures'' is slightly unusual in that it was commissioned before we'd written the script. If we'd written a load of rubbish, they'd still have had to make it." He refers to "Invasion of the Bane" simply as the "first episode". The story focused on Sarah Jane's investigation of a popular and addictive soft drink called ''Bubble Shock!''.
Series one of the show aired in September of that year, consisting of five two-part half-hour stories. Individual half-hour episodes aired once a week on BBC One, with episodes airing a week ahead on children's digital channel CBBC. The final part aired in November 2007. The second series started in September 2008 using the same format, with six stories instead of five, ending the series in December. The third series started 15 October 2009, twice weekly (Thursdays and Fridays) on BBC One from 15 October to 20 November. The fourth series aired from 11 October 2010. The first of each story pair was accompanied by an episode of ''Sarah Jane's Alien Files'', a set of 25-minute episodes in which a member of the cast updates Mr. Smith's database about certain aliens. It accompanied series 4 of the programme.
Due to the illness of Elisabeth Sladen, and her death on 19 April 2011, filming for the second half of the fifth series, which was due to air in the autumn of 2011, was postponed and later cancelled. Filming for three stories of the fifth series had been finished, and thus post-production on these stories was completed. The final series was aired from 3 to 18 October 2011 on CBBC and ended with a tribute to Elisabeth Sladen in the form of a video montage of scenes from the series and a couple of episodes of ''Doctor Who'' and the ending text "And the story goes on... forever."
The script of the unfilmed ''Sarah Jane Adventures'' episode ''The Thirteenth Floor'' was rewritten and broadcast as an episode of ''Wizards vs Aliens''.
=== ''Farewell, Sarah Jane'' ===
On 19 April 2020 a special 13-minute webcast mini episode entitled ''Farewell, Sarah Jane'' aired on ''Doctor Who''<nowiki/>'s social media channels as a tribute to Elisabeth Sladen. During this story, it was implied that Sarah Jane had been killed while preventing an alien invasion. As such, a memorial service was held, attended by Luke, Clyde, Rani, Sky and Maria, accompanied by their friends and families (among them several of the Doctor's former companions). Apart from an interruption from, and final confrontation with, the Trickster, the memorial went smoothly, and the group prepare to leave 13 Bannerman Road once more. Rani, however, stays behind, and, in her final conversation with Mr. Smith, expresses her hopes that Sarah Jane is travelling with the Doctor (who was absent, since her death would have broken both his (or her) hearts, according to Jo Grant) once again. It was written by Russell T Davies.
The story acted as an epilogue to the series narrated by Jacob Dudman and featured Tommy Knight, Daniel Anthony, Anjli Mohindra, Katy Manning, Mina Anwar all in their respective roles from the series and also included Sophie Aldred, who portrayed Ace, a companion to the Seventh Doctor. The episode's credits thanked Sacha Dhawan, Scott Handcock and Stuart Humphryes.
== Critical response ==
''The Sarah Jane Adventures'' has been generally well received by critics and the viewing public. At the end of the first series, Abi Grant of ''The Daily Telegraph'' wrote: "With the debate about the future of children's TV still rumbling on, this is what the BBC does best, and despite lacking the production values of ''Doctor Who'', it's still top tea-time programming." Daniel Martin of ''The Guardian'' described the show as looking very promising and more convincing than another ''Doctor Who'' spinoff ''Torchwood''. Review website ''DVD Talk'' called the series "wonderful", "thoughtful" and "imaginative children's entertainment" that was highly recommended. The series also received praise for its willingness to tackle "darker themes [such as] Alzheimer's, homelessness and loss."
At Metacritic, the first series received a generally favourable score of 66 out of 100 based on five critics. As the series progressed reviews became slightly more positive with ''DVD Talk'' reviewer David Cornelius saying that the "second series is even better than the first." However Eric Profancik from ''DVD Verdict'' stated that the second series suffered from "poor scripts and horrible acting", criticising it for having "simple plots, too many conveniences and having corny humour." Series three is described by Guy Clapperton of review site ''ScreenJabber.com'' as being slightly braver than its predecessors, while ''Bullz-eye.com'' described it as "a sweet, fun little show, with some neat ideas" with "its heart very much in the right place." Reviews for the final series were sympathetic for the series' end and the unavoidably incomplete nature of the series (following the death of Elisabeth Sladen) and its story arcs. Stephen Kelly from ''The Guardian'' said that it was "a fitting tribute to Elisabeth Sladen" and has occupied a "unique place in the Whoniverse".
== Awards and nominations ==
{| class="fandom-table"
!Year
!Ceremony
!Category
!Outcome
!Notes
|-
| rowspan="2" |2008
|''Royal Television Society''
|Children's Drama
|Nominated
|
|-
|''British Academy Children's Awards''
|Drama
|Nominated
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |2009
|''British Academy Children's Awards''
|Drama
|Nominated
|
|-
|''Royal Television Society''
|Children's Drama
|Nominated
|
|-
| rowspan="3" |2010
|''British Academy Children's Awards''
|Drama, Writer, BAFTA Kid's Vote
|Nominated
|
|-
|''Royal Television Society''
|Children's Drama
|Nominated
|
|-
|''BAFTA Cymru''
|Interactive
|Won
|
|-
| rowspan="3" |2011
|''British Academy Children's Awards''
|Drama, Writer, BAFTA Kid's Vote
|Nominated
|
|-
|''Royal Television Society''
|Children's Drama
|Won
|
|-
|''BAFTA Cymru''
|Children’s Programme
|Won
|
|-
| rowspan="3" |2012
|''British Academy Children's Awards''
|BAFTA Kid's Vote, Writer
|Nominated
|
|-
|''BAFTA Cymru''
|Children’s Programme
|Nominated
|
|-
|''Royal Television Society''
|Children's Drama
|Nominated
|
|}
== International broadcast ==
BBC Worldwide's children's channel in Canada, BBC Kids, began broadcasting ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'' with "Invasion of the Bane" on 13 January 2008, airing the rest of the series back-to-back on Sundays thereafter. The South African channel SABC 2 started airing the series beginning on 9 February 2008. The Hong Kong channel ATV World, which has also aired ''Doctor Who'' and ''Torchwood'', aired this series starting 17 February 2008. The first series began airing on Sci Fi in the USA beginning on 11 April 2008, but this is the only series broadcast on American television as of Summer 2010, though later series have continued to be released on DVD in America without a prior television broadcast. In Australia, ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'' started on 31 October 2008 on Nickelodeon Australia. In Brazil, the show started airing on 19 November 2012 on TV Cultura, right after their broadcast of ''Doctor Who series 6'' ended. It also screens in New Zealand on Nickelodeon New Zealand, and in Belgium on Ketnet. In 2013 the show started airing on JeemTV in Arabic. Various seasons of the series has also been broadcast multiple times on the Swedish children's Channel 'Barnkanalen' in Swedish.
== Merchandising ==
=== Toys ===
Character Options have been awarded a licence to produce ''The Sarah Jane Adventure'' play sets, action figures, and a 'Sonic Lipstick' toy. Four 2-figure sets have been released: Sarah Jane and Star Poet; Sarah Jane and General Kudlak; Sarah Jane and Child Slitheen and Sarah Jane and Graske. Also released are Sarah Jane's Sonic Lipstick with Watch Scanner and Alien Communicator. Character Options have now discontinued the range due to lack of customer interest.
=== Battles in Time Trading Cards Adventurer Set ===
The '''''Adventurer The Sarah Jane Adventures''''' series of ''Doctor Who: Battles in Time'' trading cards was a bonus set of 10 limited edition, additional cards (plus one cover card) released exclusively with Issue 62 and packaged in a clear plastic wrap.
With the ''Doctor Who: Battles in Time'' (magazine) being extended beyond its original number of proposed issues, the ''Adventurer The Sarah Jane Adventures'' cards saw the series expanded once more by the inclusion of this popular spin-off series which frequently crossed-over to the parent series.
The '''Adventurer''' series consisted of 10 individual '''Common''' cards referenced by the prefix SJA, cards also showed their individual series number 01-10
{| class="fandom-table"
|+
!Card No.
!Card Name
|-
|0
|Introductory Card
|-
|1
|Sarah Jane Smith (and Friends)
|-
|2
|Mrs Wormwood
|-
|3
|Commander Kaagh
|-
|4
|The Gorgon
|-
|5
|The Trickster (with the Graske)
|-
|6
|Korst Gogg Thex Lutiven-Day Slitheen
|-
|7
|General Kudlak
|-
|8
|Odd Bob
|-
|9
|Mr Smith
|-
|10
|The Brigadier
|}
=== Audio adventures ===
Ten audiobooks have been released on CD, all but the last two read by the series lead, Elisabeth Sladen, who read them in the first person in character as Sarah Jane. The final two books, released in November 2011 after Sladen's death, were read by Daniel Anthony and Anjli Mohindra, respectively, though not as their characters.
The first two were the first time that BBC Audiobooks had commissioned new content for exclusive release on audio.
A 20-minute mini-episode in two parts called "The Monster Hunt" written by Trevor Baxendale and read by Anjli Mohindra was made especially for the Monster Hunt game on the ''Sarah Jane Adventures'' website. Two more comics were released "Return of the Krulius" and "Defending Bannerman Road". All comics were available as a pdf and a free mp3 download on the official Sarah Jane Adventures website.
{| class="fandom-table"
!Title
!Author
!Release date
!Reader
|-
|''The Glittering Storm''
|Stephen Cole
| rowspan="2" |5 November 2007
| rowspan="8" |Elisabeth Sladen
|-
|''The Thirteenth Stone''
|Justin Richards
|-
|''The Time Capsule''
|Peter Anghelides
| rowspan="2" |13 November 2008
|-
|''The Ghost House''
|Stephen Cole
|-
|''The White Wolf''
|Gary Russell
| rowspan="2" |3 September 2009
|-
|''The Shadow People''
|Scott Handcock
|-
|''Deadly Download''
|Jason Arnopp
| rowspan="2" |7 October 2010
|-
|''Wraith World''
|Cavan Scott & Mark Wright
|-
|''Children of Steel''
|Martin Day
| rowspan="2" |10 November 2011
|Daniel Anthony
|-
|''Judgement Day''
|Scott Gray
|Anjli Mohindra
|-
|''The Sarah Jane Adventures Collection''(Complete Audio Collection)
|Stephen Cole
Justin Richards
Gary Russell
Cavan Scott
Mark Wright
Peter Anghelides
Jason Arnopp
Martin Day
Scott Gray
|24 November 2011
|Elisabeth Sladen
Daniel Anthony
Anjli Mohindra
|}
=== Comics ===
Five ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'' comics were released on the official ''Sarah Jane Adventures'' website. Four of them were comic adventures with audio narration by Anjli Mohindra. A pdf document and a MP3 audio track was available to download of the comics. An online version of ''The Silver Bullet'', presented, in full, a comic written and drawn by Clyde and briefly seen in, the episode ''The Curse of Clyde Langer''.
{| class="fandom-table"
!Title
!Author
!Artist
!Release date
!Read by
!Link
|-
|Monster Hunt: The Beginning
|Trevor Baxendale
|
|2009
|Anjli Mohindra
|Monster Hunt: The Beginning on the BBC website
|-
|Monster Hunt: The Ending
|Trevor Baxendale
|
|2009
|Anjli Mohindra
|
|-
|Return of the Krulius
|Trevor Baxendale
|Neil Roberts
|2009
|Anjli Mohindra
|
|-
|Defending Bannerman Road
|Trevor Baxendale
|
|2010
|Anjli Mohindra
|
|-
|The Silver Bullet
|
|
|2011
|
|The Silver Bullet on the BBC website
|}
=== Novelisations ===
''The Sarah Jane Adventures'' merchandising revived the concept of the novelisation, which had been part of the ''Doctor Who'' franchise from the 1970s to the 1990s (principally under the editorship of author and former ''Who'' script editor Terrance Dicks). The first series and most of the second were adapted in this way, but later series saw only a few releases and a transition from print to e-books.
{| class="fandom-table"
!Title
!Author
!Release date
|-
|''Invasion of the Bane''
|Terrance Dicks
|1 November 2007
|-
|''Revenge of the Slitheen''
|Rupert Laight
|1 November 2007
|-
|''Eye of the Gorgon''
|Phil Ford
|1 November 2007
|-
|''Warriors of Kudlak''
|Gary Russell
|1 November 2007
|-
|''Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?''
|Rupert Laight
|6 November 2008
|-
|''The Lost Boy''
|Gary Russell
|6 November 2008
|-
|''The Last Sontaran''
|Phil Ford
|6 November 2008
|-
|''The Day of the Clown''
|Phil Ford
|6 November 2008
|-
|''The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith''
|Gareth Roberts
|5 November 2009
|-
|''The Nightmare Man'' (e-book only)
|Joseph Lidster
|25 November 2010
|-
|''Death of the Doctor'' (e-book only)
|Gary Russell
|25 November 2010
|}
In September 2010, Pearson Education published four simplified novelisations based on stories from the third series:
{| class="sortable fandom-table"
!Title
!Author
|-
|''Judoon Afternoon'' (''Prisoner of the Judoon'')
|Trevor Baxendale
|-
|''Haunted House'' (''The Eternity Trap'')
|Trevor Baxendale
|-
|''Painting Peril'' (''Mona Lisa's Revenge'')
|Trevor Baxendale
|-
|''Blathereen Dream'' (''The Gift'')
|Trevor Baxendale
|}
=== Magazines and Books ===
Although there has never been a Sarah Jane Adventures magazine there have been three special editions of the Doctor Who Magazine, focused on the Sarah Jane Adventures, as well as regular mentions in the standard editions of Doctor Who Magazine.
{| class="fandom-table"
!Title
!Publisher
!Release date
|-
|''The Sarah Jane Adventures: Quiz Book''
|Penguin Character Books Ltd
|5 November 2009
|-
|''Impossible Worlds, Impossible Things: Cultural Perspectives onDoctor Who, Torchwood and the Sarah Jane Adventures''
|Cambridge Scholars Publishing
|1 May 2010
|}
=== Home media ===
==== DVD= ====
{| class="fandom-table"
!Release name
!Region 2
!Region 4
!Region 1
!Notes/extras
|-
|''Invasion of the Bane''
|29 October 2007
|12 January 2009
<small>Re-released 2 March 2010</small>
|<small>Not released individually</small>
|Elisabeth Sladen interview, Blue Peter Visits The Set, CBBC trailers, interactive Sarah Jane biography with ''Doctor Who'' clips, Character And Alien Profiles, behind the scenes Photo Gallery.
|-
|''The Complete First Series''<small>Also includes "Invasion of the Bane"</small>
|10 November 2008
|4 June 2009
<small>Re-released 5 January 2010</small>
|7 October 2008
|Interviews, Blue Peter Set Visit, CBBC trailers, outtakes (accessed via a quiz), Characters, Tools and Aliens Profiles, behind the scenes Photo Gallery.
|-
|''The Complete Second Series''
|9 November 2009
|3 June 2010
<small>Re-released 2 March 2011</small>
|10 November 2009
|''From Raxacoricofallapatorious with Love'' (accessed via a quiz), ''Me & My Movie'' with Tommy Knight (behind the scenes clips), CBBC trailers, Character, Tools & Alien profiles, Photo galleries.
|-
|''The Complete Third Series''
|1 November 2010
|2 March 2011
<small>Re-released 2 June 2011</small>
|4 January 2011
|No Blu-ray release despite being filmed in HD.
|-
|''The Complete Fourth Series''
|31 October 2011
|1 March 2012
|6 December 2011
|UK release includes ''Pyramids of Mars'' as a bonus feature in tribute to Elisabeth Sladen.
|-
|''The Fifth Series''
|6 February 2012
|5 July 2012
|12 June 2012
|Includes the documentary ''Goodbye Bannerman Road: Remembering Elisabeth Sladen''.
|-
|''The Complete Series 1–5''
|6 February 2012
|Not Released
|Not Released
|Includes all of the features that are included in Series 1,2,3,4 and 5 boxsets.
|-
|''Doctor Who'': ''The Green Death''
(Special Edition)
|5 August 2013
|7 August 2013
|13 August 2013
|The Special Edition release of this ''Doctor Who'' serial contains ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'' story ''Death of the Doctor'' as a bonus feature with commentary by creator Russell T. Davies and actress Katy Manning.
|-
|The Attic: Sarah Jane Adventures 10th Anniversary Reunion
|29 July 2017 <small>Region Free</small>
|Not released
|Not released
|Released for charity as part of the 10th Anniversary to help raise money for Ty Hafan Children's Hospice. The set includes footage from the day, guest panels, interviews, behind the scenes of the event and bonus features.
|}
==== Blu-ray= ====
{| class="fandom-table"
!Release name
!UK release date
(region B)
!Australian release date
(region B)
!North American release date
(region A)
!Notes/extras
|-
|''The Complete Fourth Series''
|31 October 2011
<small>Region Free</small>
|Not released
|Not released
|UK release includes ''Pyramids of Mars'' as a bonus feature in tribute to Elisabeth Sladen (in Standard Definition)
|-
|''The Fifth Series''
|6 February 2012
<small>Region Free</small>
|Not released
|Not released
|Includes the documentary ''Goodbye Bannerman Road: Remembering Elisabeth Sladen''.
|-
|The Attic: Sarah Jane Adventures 10th Anniversary Reunion
|29 July 2017 <small>Region Free</small>
|Not released
|Not released
|Released for charity as part of the 10th Anniversary to help raise money for Ty Hafan Children's Hospice. The set includes footage from the day, guest panels, interviews, behind the scenes of the event and bonus features.
|-
|''Doctor Who: The Collection: Season 10''
|8 July 2019
|13 November 2019
|15 October 2019
|Includes ''Death of the Doctor'' as a bonus feature with commentary by creator Russell T. Davies and actress Katy Manning.
|-
|''Doctor Who: The Complete David Tennant Collection''
|Not released
|Not released
|17 September 2019
|Includes ''The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith'' as a bonus feature.
|-
|''Doctor Who: The Specials'' <small>(steelbook)</small>
|21 October 2019
|Not released
|Not released
|Includes ''The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith'' as a bonus feature.
|}
== Notes ==
# '''^''' Paige is billed as a series regular in the first serial before leaving by its conclusion. She appears once more in ''The Mark of the Berserker''.
# '''^''' Despite Knight's exit as a series regular in the first serial of Series 4, he continues to be billed as such in recurring appearances.
# '''^''' K9 guest stars in the New Year's special as well as the series finale.
# '''^''' K9 leaves in the first serial before returning in the finale.
[[es:The Sarah Jane Adventures]]
[[es:The Sarah Jane Adventures]]
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[[fr:The Sarah Jane Adventures]]

Revision as of 12:09, 10 March 2022


The Sarah Jane Adventures is a British science fiction television programme that was produced by BBC Cymru Wales for CBBC, created by Russell T Davies, and starring Elisabeth Sladen. The programme is a spin-off of the long-running BBC science fiction programme Doctor Who and is aimed at a younger audience than Doctor Who. It focuses on the adventures of Sarah Jane Smith, an investigative journalist who, as a young woman, had numerous adventures across time and space with the Doctor. Following Sladen's sudden death from cancer, the BBC confirmed that the show would not return for a sixth series.

The series debuted on BBC One with a 60-minute special, "Invasion of the Bane", on 1 January 2007, and broadcast until Sladen’s death in 2011. It was nominated for a British Academy Children's Award in 2008 in the Drama category, and for a BAFTA Cymru in 2009 in the Children's Drama category. The programme won a Royal Television Society 2010 award for Best Children's Drama.

Series

A full series of ten 25-minute episodes began on 24 September 2007. The first series consisted of five two-part stories, and a second series, comprising six two-part stories, began airing on 29 September 2008. A third series, once again comprising six two-part stories to make a total of twelve episodes, with Russell T Davies serving as executive producer, aired from 15 October 2009 to 20 November 2009.

The fourth series was aired from 11 October 2010. An episode of another spin-off series, Sarah Jane's Alien Files, was shown immediately after each of the first episodes of the stories. Filming for three of six two-part serials planned for the fifth series was completed prior to Elisabeth Sladen's death on 19 April 2011. The BBC stated that no further episodes would be filmed. The fifth series was broadcast starting 3 October 2011 on Mondays and Tuesdays. It finished just two weeks later on 18 October 2011.

Background and development

In 2006, Children's BBC expressed an interest in producing a Doctor Who spin-off. Their initial idea was "a drama based on the idea of a young Doctor Who", but Russell T Davies vetoed this. "Somehow, the idea of a fourteen year old Doctor, on Gallifrey inventing sonic screwdrivers, takes away from the mystery and intrigue of who he is and where he came from," said Davies. He suggested instead a series based on the Doctor's former companion Sarah Jane Smith.

The character of Sarah Jane Smith, played by Sladen, appeared in Doctor Who from 1973 to 1976, alongside both Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor and Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor. A pilot episode for another Doctor Who spin-off series, K-9 and Company, made in 1981, featured Sarah Jane and the robot dog K9; however, a full series was never commissioned. Sarah Jane and K9 returned to Doctor Who in various media many times over the years, most notably in the 20th anniversary special The Five Doctors (1983), and in episodes "School Reunion" (2006), "The Stolen Earth" / "Journey's End" (2008) and "The End of Time" (2010).

Sarah Jane is frequently voted the most popular Doctor Who companion by both Doctor Who fans and members of the general public. That a Sarah Jane series was being developed was first confirmed in the BBC's in-house newsletter, Ariel, in early August 2006. These early rumours were associated with the working title Sarah Jane Investigates.

K9's only appearances in the show's first two series were a cameo in the special and an appearance in the last episode of the first series. This was due to the concurrent development of the independently produced children's series, K-9, which features a remodelled version of K9 with only indirect nods to Doctor Who. However, in 2009, K9 appeared with The Sarah Jane Adventures cast in a sketch for Comic Relief, and K9 appeared in six episodes of the third series, followed by two more appearances in the fourth series. He did not appear at all in Series 5.

Production

Production on the full series began in April 2007. Two of the five two-part stories were scripted by the special's co-writer Gareth Roberts. Bad Girls and New Captain Scarlet writer Phil Ford wrote two stories and Phil Gladwin wrote one. Creator and executive producer Russell T Davies was going to write one story but was forced to drop out due to other work commitments.

Tenth anniversary

For the tenth anniversary of the show, an event was held 29 July 2017 at Cardiff University Students' Union, with proceeds going to Ty Hafan Hospice for Children. A total of £6643.35 was raised by the sale of tickets to the event and merchandise. Members of the cast and crew that took part in the event were Tommy Knight, Anjli Mohindra, Yasmin Paige, Sinead Michael, Mina Anwar, Katy Manning, Paul Marc Davis, Phil Ford, Gary Russell, Joe Lidster, Sam Watts, Richard Wisker, Cheryl Rowlands, Scott Handcock, Brian Miller, John Leeson, Mat Irvine and Chris Johnson. The event was recorded and was released onto DVD and Blu-ray and could be bought exclusively through the event's website.

Cast and crew

Main cast of series 1 (left to right) Maria, Luke, Sarah Jane and Clyde In addition to Sladen, the first series of the programme stars Yasmin Paige as Maria Jackson, Sarah Jane's 13-year-old neighbour in Ealing, west London, and Tommy Knight as a boy named Luke, who is adopted by Sarah Jane at the conclusion of the introductory story. The third member of Sarah Jane's young entourage is 14-year-old called Clyde Langer, played by Daniel Anthony, who is introduced in the first episode of the proper series. Actress Porsha Lawrence Mavour briefly played Maria's friend, Kelsey Harper, in the 2007 New Year's Day special Invasion of the Bane which was created before the start of the series. Maria and her family are written out of the series in the first story of the second series, The Last Sontaran, but Maria and her father return briefly in the second part of The Mark of the Berserker. In the second story of that series, The Day of the Clown, several new regular cast members are introduced: Rani Chandra and her parents, Haresh, and Gita (played by Anjli Mohindra, Ace Bhatti, and Mina Anwar, respectively). Main cast of series 2–5 (left to right) Rani, Luke, Sarah Jane, Clyde and Sky (Series 5 only) Joseph Millson appears throughout the first series as Maria's recently separated father, Alan, with Chrissie Jackson, Maria's mother, played by Juliet Cowan. One other regular is Alexander Armstrong of comedy duo Armstrong and Miller, who provides the voice of Mr Smith, an extraterrestrial computer in Sarah Jane's attic. The 2007 special featured Samantha Bond as the scheming villain Mrs Wormwood and Jamie Davis as her PR agent Davey. The first series included among its guest cast Jane Asher as Sarah Jane's childhood friend Andrea Yates, Floella Benjamin as Professor Rivers, who returned in Series 2, Series 3 and Series 5, and Phyllida Law as Bea Nelson-Stanley. The second series guest starred Bradley Walsh as an evil alien clown in the story The Day of the Clown and Russ Abbot as a sinister astrologer in Secrets of the Stars. Also appearing in the second series were Gary Beadle and Jocelyn Jee Esien, who portrayed Clyde's parents Paul and Carla in The Mark of the Berserker; Esien reprised her role briefly in Series 4 and more prominently in series 5. Nicholas Courtney guest starred in Enemy of the Bane as classic Doctor Who character Sir Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart, and Samantha Bond also returned as Wormwood for the episode.

The original executive producers for The Sarah Jane Adventures were Phil Collinson, Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner. Susie Liggat produced the pilot, but Matthew Bouch worked as producer of the series. Co-writer Gareth Roberts, writing in Doctor Who Magazine, said, "We're all determined that this will be a big, full-blooded drama; that nobody should ever think of it as 'just' a children's programme." Sue Nott was the executive producer of the second series for CBBC.

In December 2007, the BBC released a statement that Julie Gardner would be replaced by Piers Wenger as executive producer for Doctor Who in January 2009, but that she would continue to executive-produce Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures through 2008.

The fourth series in 2010 was executive produced by Russell T Davies and Nikki Wilson, and the producers were Brian Minchin and frequent writer Phil Ford. During this series, Cyril Nri was introduced as a new recurring character called The Shopkeeper. The production team remained in place for the completed episodes of Series 5, which were shot concurrently with Series 4. The show's abbreviated fifth and final series introduced a new main character named Sky, played by Sinead Michael. The episode that introduced Sky also featured a return appearance by the Shopkeeper, but the fact that the second half of the series was never produced left his story arc, as well as other ongoing plot points, unresolved. A special edition of Doctor Who Magazine, The Sarah Jane Companion Volume 3, published in August 2012, detailed the plotlines of the three unfilmed stories.

Cast

Actor Character Series
1 2 3 4 5
Elisabeth Sladen Sarah Jane Smith Main
Yasmin Paige Maria Jackson Main Featured
Tommy Knight Luke Smith Main Featured
Alexander Armstrong Mr Smith (voice) Main
John Leeson K9 (voice) Guest Main Recurring
Joseph Millson Alan Jackson Recurring
Juliet Cowan Chrissie Jackson Recurring Guest
Daniel Anthony Clyde Langer Main
Anjli Mohindra Rani Chandra Main
Mina Anwar Gita Chandra Recurring Guest
Ace Bhatti Haresh Chandra Recurring
Sinead Michael Sky Smith Main

Doctor Who characters

Including K9 and Sarah Jane, some characters from the past or current run of Doctor Who have appeared in The Sarah Jane Adventures.

Actor Character Duration Episodes
Lachele Carl Trinity Wells 2007–2008 Revenge of the Slitheen and Secrets of the Stars
Jason Mohammad Newsreader 2007, 2011 Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?, The Lost Boy and The Man Who Never Was
Anthony Debaeck French newsreader 2008 Secrets of the Stars
Nicholas Courtney Brigadier Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart 2008 Enemy of the Bane
Nicholas Briggs The Judoon (voice) 2009 Prisoner of the Judoon
David Tennant The Tenth Doctor 2009 The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith
Katy Manning Jo Jones (née Grant) 2010 Death of the Doctor
Matt Smith The Eleventh Doctor 2010 Death of the Doctor

Numerous others have been referenced in dialogue. Several former companions of the Doctor are referenced in the story Death of the Doctor, and the episode also includes brief on-screen flashbacks showing the Third, Fourth and Tenth Doctors. Companion Harry Sullivan is referenced separately in dialogue on several occasions and a photograph of the character is visible in one episode. In an issue of Doctor Who Magazine, Sophie Aldred was read an email from Russell T. Davies, in which he declared his plans to bring Ace into a story had the show continued, and she was alluded to at the end of The Death of the Doctor when the fates of Harry Sullivan, Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright, Ben Jackson, Polly, Tegan Jovanka, and Ace are revealed. The episode Sky was originally to have featured the Eleventh Doctor, but Matt Smith was not available.

Episodes

Main article: List of The Sarah Jane Adventures serials

The Sarah Jane Adventures was first seen by its original British audience in the form of a 60-minute New Year's Day special in 2007, titled "Invasion of the Bane", which was co-written by Russell T Davies and Gareth Roberts. "Invasion of the Bane" was not a pilot, although the story does contains many conventional introductory elements common to pilots. Creator Russell T Davies has commented upon the exceptional broadcast situation, saying "Sarah Jane Adventures is slightly unusual in that it was commissioned before we'd written the script. If we'd written a load of rubbish, they'd still have had to make it." He refers to "Invasion of the Bane" simply as the "first episode". The story focused on Sarah Jane's investigation of a popular and addictive soft drink called Bubble Shock!.

Series one of the show aired in September of that year, consisting of five two-part half-hour stories. Individual half-hour episodes aired once a week on BBC One, with episodes airing a week ahead on children's digital channel CBBC. The final part aired in November 2007. The second series started in September 2008 using the same format, with six stories instead of five, ending the series in December. The third series started 15 October 2009, twice weekly (Thursdays and Fridays) on BBC One from 15 October to 20 November. The fourth series aired from 11 October 2010. The first of each story pair was accompanied by an episode of Sarah Jane's Alien Files, a set of 25-minute episodes in which a member of the cast updates Mr. Smith's database about certain aliens. It accompanied series 4 of the programme.

Due to the illness of Elisabeth Sladen, and her death on 19 April 2011, filming for the second half of the fifth series, which was due to air in the autumn of 2011, was postponed and later cancelled. Filming for three stories of the fifth series had been finished, and thus post-production on these stories was completed. The final series was aired from 3 to 18 October 2011 on CBBC and ended with a tribute to Elisabeth Sladen in the form of a video montage of scenes from the series and a couple of episodes of Doctor Who and the ending text "And the story goes on... forever."

The script of the unfilmed Sarah Jane Adventures episode The Thirteenth Floor was rewritten and broadcast as an episode of Wizards vs Aliens.

Farewell, Sarah Jane

On 19 April 2020 a special 13-minute webcast mini episode entitled Farewell, Sarah Jane aired on Doctor Who's social media channels as a tribute to Elisabeth Sladen. During this story, it was implied that Sarah Jane had been killed while preventing an alien invasion. As such, a memorial service was held, attended by Luke, Clyde, Rani, Sky and Maria, accompanied by their friends and families (among them several of the Doctor's former companions). Apart from an interruption from, and final confrontation with, the Trickster, the memorial went smoothly, and the group prepare to leave 13 Bannerman Road once more. Rani, however, stays behind, and, in her final conversation with Mr. Smith, expresses her hopes that Sarah Jane is travelling with the Doctor (who was absent, since her death would have broken both his (or her) hearts, according to Jo Grant) once again. It was written by Russell T Davies.

The story acted as an epilogue to the series narrated by Jacob Dudman and featured Tommy Knight, Daniel Anthony, Anjli Mohindra, Katy Manning, Mina Anwar all in their respective roles from the series and also included Sophie Aldred, who portrayed Ace, a companion to the Seventh Doctor. The episode's credits thanked Sacha Dhawan, Scott Handcock and Stuart Humphryes.

Critical response

The Sarah Jane Adventures has been generally well received by critics and the viewing public. At the end of the first series, Abi Grant of The Daily Telegraph wrote: "With the debate about the future of children's TV still rumbling on, this is what the BBC does best, and despite lacking the production values of Doctor Who, it's still top tea-time programming." Daniel Martin of The Guardian described the show as looking very promising and more convincing than another Doctor Who spinoff Torchwood. Review website DVD Talk called the series "wonderful", "thoughtful" and "imaginative children's entertainment" that was highly recommended. The series also received praise for its willingness to tackle "darker themes [such as] Alzheimer's, homelessness and loss."

At Metacritic, the first series received a generally favourable score of 66 out of 100 based on five critics. As the series progressed reviews became slightly more positive with DVD Talk reviewer David Cornelius saying that the "second series is even better than the first." However Eric Profancik from DVD Verdict stated that the second series suffered from "poor scripts and horrible acting", criticising it for having "simple plots, too many conveniences and having corny humour." Series three is described by Guy Clapperton of review site ScreenJabber.com as being slightly braver than its predecessors, while Bullz-eye.com described it as "a sweet, fun little show, with some neat ideas" with "its heart very much in the right place." Reviews for the final series were sympathetic for the series' end and the unavoidably incomplete nature of the series (following the death of Elisabeth Sladen) and its story arcs. Stephen Kelly from The Guardian said that it was "a fitting tribute to Elisabeth Sladen" and has occupied a "unique place in the Whoniverse".

Awards and nominations

Year Ceremony Category Outcome Notes
2008 Royal Television Society Children's Drama Nominated
British Academy Children's Awards Drama Nominated
2009 British Academy Children's Awards Drama Nominated
Royal Television Society Children's Drama Nominated
2010 British Academy Children's Awards Drama, Writer, BAFTA Kid's Vote Nominated
Royal Television Society Children's Drama Nominated
BAFTA Cymru Interactive Won
2011 British Academy Children's Awards Drama, Writer, BAFTA Kid's Vote Nominated
Royal Television Society Children's Drama Won
BAFTA Cymru Children’s Programme Won
2012 British Academy Children's Awards BAFTA Kid's Vote, Writer Nominated
BAFTA Cymru Children’s Programme Nominated
Royal Television Society Children's Drama Nominated

International broadcast

BBC Worldwide's children's channel in Canada, BBC Kids, began broadcasting The Sarah Jane Adventures with "Invasion of the Bane" on 13 January 2008, airing the rest of the series back-to-back on Sundays thereafter. The South African channel SABC 2 started airing the series beginning on 9 February 2008. The Hong Kong channel ATV World, which has also aired Doctor Who and Torchwood, aired this series starting 17 February 2008. The first series began airing on Sci Fi in the USA beginning on 11 April 2008, but this is the only series broadcast on American television as of Summer 2010, though later series have continued to be released on DVD in America without a prior television broadcast. In Australia, The Sarah Jane Adventures started on 31 October 2008 on Nickelodeon Australia. In Brazil, the show started airing on 19 November 2012 on TV Cultura, right after their broadcast of Doctor Who series 6 ended. It also screens in New Zealand on Nickelodeon New Zealand, and in Belgium on Ketnet. In 2013 the show started airing on JeemTV in Arabic. Various seasons of the series has also been broadcast multiple times on the Swedish children's Channel 'Barnkanalen' in Swedish.

Merchandising

Toys

Character Options have been awarded a licence to produce The Sarah Jane Adventure play sets, action figures, and a 'Sonic Lipstick' toy. Four 2-figure sets have been released: Sarah Jane and Star Poet; Sarah Jane and General Kudlak; Sarah Jane and Child Slitheen and Sarah Jane and Graske. Also released are Sarah Jane's Sonic Lipstick with Watch Scanner and Alien Communicator. Character Options have now discontinued the range due to lack of customer interest.

Battles in Time Trading Cards Adventurer Set

The Adventurer The Sarah Jane Adventures series of Doctor Who: Battles in Time trading cards was a bonus set of 10 limited edition, additional cards (plus one cover card) released exclusively with Issue 62 and packaged in a clear plastic wrap.

With the Doctor Who: Battles in Time (magazine) being extended beyond its original number of proposed issues, the Adventurer The Sarah Jane Adventures cards saw the series expanded once more by the inclusion of this popular spin-off series which frequently crossed-over to the parent series.

The Adventurer series consisted of 10 individual Common cards referenced by the prefix SJA, cards also showed their individual series number 01-10

Card No. Card Name
0 Introductory Card
1 Sarah Jane Smith (and Friends)
2 Mrs Wormwood
3 Commander Kaagh
4 The Gorgon
5 The Trickster (with the Graske)
6 Korst Gogg Thex Lutiven-Day Slitheen
7 General Kudlak
8 Odd Bob
9 Mr Smith
10 The Brigadier

Audio adventures

Ten audiobooks have been released on CD, all but the last two read by the series lead, Elisabeth Sladen, who read them in the first person in character as Sarah Jane. The final two books, released in November 2011 after Sladen's death, were read by Daniel Anthony and Anjli Mohindra, respectively, though not as their characters.

The first two were the first time that BBC Audiobooks had commissioned new content for exclusive release on audio.

A 20-minute mini-episode in two parts called "The Monster Hunt" written by Trevor Baxendale and read by Anjli Mohindra was made especially for the Monster Hunt game on the Sarah Jane Adventures website. Two more comics were released "Return of the Krulius" and "Defending Bannerman Road". All comics were available as a pdf and a free mp3 download on the official Sarah Jane Adventures website.

Title Author Release date Reader
The Glittering Storm Stephen Cole 5 November 2007 Elisabeth Sladen
The Thirteenth Stone Justin Richards
The Time Capsule Peter Anghelides 13 November 2008
The Ghost House Stephen Cole
The White Wolf Gary Russell 3 September 2009
The Shadow People Scott Handcock
Deadly Download Jason Arnopp 7 October 2010
Wraith World Cavan Scott & Mark Wright
Children of Steel Martin Day 10 November 2011 Daniel Anthony
Judgement Day Scott Gray Anjli Mohindra
The Sarah Jane Adventures Collection(Complete Audio Collection) Stephen Cole

Justin Richards Gary Russell Cavan Scott Mark Wright Peter Anghelides Jason Arnopp Martin Day Scott Gray

24 November 2011 Elisabeth Sladen

Daniel Anthony Anjli Mohindra

Comics

Five The Sarah Jane Adventures comics were released on the official Sarah Jane Adventures website. Four of them were comic adventures with audio narration by Anjli Mohindra. A pdf document and a MP3 audio track was available to download of the comics. An online version of The Silver Bullet, presented, in full, a comic written and drawn by Clyde and briefly seen in, the episode The Curse of Clyde Langer.

Title Author Artist Release date Read by Link
Monster Hunt: The Beginning Trevor Baxendale 2009 Anjli Mohindra Monster Hunt: The Beginning on the BBC website
Monster Hunt: The Ending Trevor Baxendale 2009 Anjli Mohindra
Return of the Krulius Trevor Baxendale Neil Roberts 2009 Anjli Mohindra
Defending Bannerman Road Trevor Baxendale 2010 Anjli Mohindra
The Silver Bullet 2011 The Silver Bullet on the BBC website

Novelisations

The Sarah Jane Adventures merchandising revived the concept of the novelisation, which had been part of the Doctor Who franchise from the 1970s to the 1990s (principally under the editorship of author and former Who script editor Terrance Dicks). The first series and most of the second were adapted in this way, but later series saw only a few releases and a transition from print to e-books.

Title Author Release date
Invasion of the Bane Terrance Dicks 1 November 2007
Revenge of the Slitheen Rupert Laight 1 November 2007
Eye of the Gorgon Phil Ford 1 November 2007
Warriors of Kudlak Gary Russell 1 November 2007
Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? Rupert Laight 6 November 2008
The Lost Boy Gary Russell 6 November 2008
The Last Sontaran Phil Ford 6 November 2008
The Day of the Clown Phil Ford 6 November 2008
The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith Gareth Roberts 5 November 2009
The Nightmare Man (e-book only) Joseph Lidster 25 November 2010
Death of the Doctor (e-book only) Gary Russell 25 November 2010

In September 2010, Pearson Education published four simplified novelisations based on stories from the third series:

Title Author
Judoon Afternoon (Prisoner of the Judoon) Trevor Baxendale
Haunted House (The Eternity Trap) Trevor Baxendale
Painting Peril (Mona Lisa's Revenge) Trevor Baxendale
Blathereen Dream (The Gift) Trevor Baxendale

Magazines and Books

Although there has never been a Sarah Jane Adventures magazine there have been three special editions of the Doctor Who Magazine, focused on the Sarah Jane Adventures, as well as regular mentions in the standard editions of Doctor Who Magazine.

Title Publisher Release date
The Sarah Jane Adventures: Quiz Book Penguin Character Books Ltd 5 November 2009
Impossible Worlds, Impossible Things: Cultural Perspectives onDoctor Who, Torchwood and the Sarah Jane Adventures Cambridge Scholars Publishing 1 May 2010

Home media

DVD=

Release name Region 2 Region 4 Region 1 Notes/extras
Invasion of the Bane 29 October 2007 12 January 2009

Re-released 2 March 2010

Not released individually Elisabeth Sladen interview, Blue Peter Visits The Set, CBBC trailers, interactive Sarah Jane biography with Doctor Who clips, Character And Alien Profiles, behind the scenes Photo Gallery.
The Complete First SeriesAlso includes "Invasion of the Bane" 10 November 2008 4 June 2009

Re-released 5 January 2010

7 October 2008 Interviews, Blue Peter Set Visit, CBBC trailers, outtakes (accessed via a quiz), Characters, Tools and Aliens Profiles, behind the scenes Photo Gallery.
The Complete Second Series 9 November 2009 3 June 2010

Re-released 2 March 2011

10 November 2009 From Raxacoricofallapatorious with Love (accessed via a quiz), Me & My Movie with Tommy Knight (behind the scenes clips), CBBC trailers, Character, Tools & Alien profiles, Photo galleries.
The Complete Third Series 1 November 2010 2 March 2011

Re-released 2 June 2011

4 January 2011 No Blu-ray release despite being filmed in HD.
The Complete Fourth Series 31 October 2011 1 March 2012 6 December 2011 UK release includes Pyramids of Mars as a bonus feature in tribute to Elisabeth Sladen.
The Fifth Series 6 February 2012 5 July 2012 12 June 2012 Includes the documentary Goodbye Bannerman Road: Remembering Elisabeth Sladen.
The Complete Series 1–5 6 February 2012 Not Released Not Released Includes all of the features that are included in Series 1,2,3,4 and 5 boxsets.
Doctor Who: The Green Death

(Special Edition)

5 August 2013 7 August 2013 13 August 2013 The Special Edition release of this Doctor Who serial contains The Sarah Jane Adventures story Death of the Doctor as a bonus feature with commentary by creator Russell T. Davies and actress Katy Manning.
The Attic: Sarah Jane Adventures 10th Anniversary Reunion 29 July 2017 Region Free Not released Not released Released for charity as part of the 10th Anniversary to help raise money for Ty Hafan Children's Hospice. The set includes footage from the day, guest panels, interviews, behind the scenes of the event and bonus features.

Blu-ray=

Release name UK release date

(region B)

Australian release date

(region B)

North American release date

(region A)

Notes/extras
The Complete Fourth Series 31 October 2011

Region Free

Not released Not released UK release includes Pyramids of Mars as a bonus feature in tribute to Elisabeth Sladen (in Standard Definition)
The Fifth Series 6 February 2012

Region Free

Not released Not released Includes the documentary Goodbye Bannerman Road: Remembering Elisabeth Sladen.
The Attic: Sarah Jane Adventures 10th Anniversary Reunion 29 July 2017 Region Free Not released Not released Released for charity as part of the 10th Anniversary to help raise money for Ty Hafan Children's Hospice. The set includes footage from the day, guest panels, interviews, behind the scenes of the event and bonus features.
Doctor Who: The Collection: Season 10 8 July 2019 13 November 2019 15 October 2019 Includes Death of the Doctor as a bonus feature with commentary by creator Russell T. Davies and actress Katy Manning.
Doctor Who: The Complete David Tennant Collection Not released Not released 17 September 2019 Includes The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith as a bonus feature.
Doctor Who: The Specials (steelbook) 21 October 2019 Not released Not released Includes The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith as a bonus feature.

Notes

  1. ^ Paige is billed as a series regular in the first serial before leaving by its conclusion. She appears once more in The Mark of the Berserker.
  2. ^ Despite Knight's exit as a series regular in the first serial of Series 4, he continues to be billed as such in recurring appearances.
  3. ^ K9 guest stars in the New Year's special as well as the series finale.
  4. ^ K9 leaves in the first serial before returning in the finale.