The Sarah Jane Adventures

The Sarah Jane Adventures

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The opening title card

The Sarah Jane Adventures is a spin-off series of Doctor Who, produced by BBC Wales for CBBC, starring Elisabeth Sladen and created by Russell T Davies. The programme focuses on the adventures of investigative journalist Sarah Jane Smith and her companions . The series debuted on BBC One with a 60-minute special on 1st January 2007. A full series of ten 30-minute episodes followed later in the year. A second season aired in the autumn of 2008, followed by a third in late 2009. A mini episode for charity also aired in early 2009. In January 2010 the BBC announced it was looking for a new producer for the series. Meanwhile, season four went into production in March 2010; in an unusual move, half of the fifth series was produced as part of the Series 4 recording block, with the second half of the series initially planned for production in early 2011.

Star Elisabeth Sladen died on 19th April 2011., with six episodes of Series 5 completed and awaiting broadcast. The BBC later stated that no new episodes would be filmed. They also went on to say that the six episodes of the fifth series that had been filmed will be broadcast at a later date.

Overview

Premise

The series is set in present-day London and follows the adventures of journalist Sarah Jane Smith (following her reunion with the Tenth Doctor) and her adopted son Luke, with friends Maria Jackson, Clyde Langer, and later Rani Chandra (Maria's replacement). They are assisted by the super-computer Mr Smith as well as K9. Sarah Jane occasionally calls in favours from her old pals in UNIT, particularly the Brigadier, while trying her best to keep alien life a secret from Earth.

Background

Production team

The executive producers for The Sarah Jane Adventures are Davies and Julie Gardner. Susie Liggat produced Invasion of the Bane, but Matthew Bouch produced the series; Phil Collinson held the title of Series Producer. 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."

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, played by Sladen, appeared in Doctor Who from 1973 to 1976, alongside Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor, and later Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor. A pilot for another Doctor Who spin-off series, K9 and Company, made in 1981, featured Sarah Jane and the robot dog K9; however, the option to make a series was not picked up. Sarah Jane and K9 returned to Doctor Who in various media many times over the years, most notably in the 20th anniversary special DW: The Five Doctors (1983) and in the 2006 episode DW: School Reunion -- both of which acknowledged the existence of K9 and Company within the canon of the Whoniverse by showing Sarah Jane in possession of K9 as established in the 1981 pilot episode. Reports of a spin-off series first appeared around the time of DW: School Reunion original airing, with the series having the working title of Sarah Jane Investigates.

K9, replaced by a newer model following its destruction in School Reunion, appeared only twice in the first series: during the pilot episode, and again briefly during the season finale, The Lost Boy (as well as a brief appearance in DW: Journey's End). The decision not to feature K9 was due to the concurrent development of the television series K9, which is not associated with the BBC and will not feature any Doctor Who connections beyond K9 himself. However, despite the competing spin-off scheduled to debut in 2009, K9 appeared in the third season.

In February 2009 the BBC announced that a mini-episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures would air on 13 March 2009 as part of Comic Relief's Red Nose Day appeal. This makes SJA the first of the franchise spin-offs to spawn a mini-episode; as of 2011 there have been five produced for Doctor Who itself.

In a speech to members of BAFTA in March 2009, Davies revealed that production of Series 3 had nearly been cancelled on three occasions due to budget cuts to children's programming at the BBC.[1]

Series 3 debuted on 15 October 2009[2], and aired over a period of six weeks (due to the BBC deciding to air two episodes a week). The series received a major ratings boost with a guest appearance by David Tennant as the Doctor, and maintained its momentum throughout the season, consistently scoring higher-than-average viewership for the time period and also scoring high Appreciation Index numbers.

According to DWM 412, a fourth season was in pre-production as of August 2009. On 4 March 2010, the BBC officially announced that production had been commissioned, with filming expected to begin by the end of March. Russell T. Davies will remain as executive producer, with Brian Minchin joining as producer, and Phil Ford as co-producer. It is confirmed that all previous cast members of the third series are returning, and may also return for a fifth series which is expected to air in 2011.

According to DWM 425, production of the series underwent a scheduling change in 2010, with Series 4 and the first half of Series 5 produced in one production block during the spring-summer of 2010, and filming of the rest of Series 5 to follow at a later date.

On 24 June 2010 BBC News reported that production of Doctor Who and The Sarah Jane Adventures was to relocate to the currently-under-construction BBC Wales "drama village" in Cardiff in 2012, a strong indication that further seasons beyond Series 5 were anticipated. However, the death of Elizabeth Sladen on April 19, 2011 resulted in the show's cancellation.

Cast

File:Sarah Jane's Gang.PNG

The Gang from Series one to three.

Main cast

• Sarah Jane Smith - Elisabeth Sladen
• Luke Smith - Tommy Knight (series 1-3; guest 4-5)
• Maria Jackson - Yasmin Paige (series 1; guest 2)
• Clyde Langer - Daniel Anthony
• Rani Chandra - Anjli Mohindra (series 2-5)
• Mr. Smith - Alexander Armstrong

Secondary cast

• K9 Mark IV - John Leeson (series 3; guest 1-2, 4)
• Alan Jackson - Joseph Millson (series 1; guest 2)
• Chrissie Jackson - Juliet Cowan (series 1; guest 2)
• Gita Chandra - Mina Anwar (series 2-5)
• Haresh Chandra - Ace Bhatti (series 2-5)
• Kelsey Hooper - Porsha Lawrence-Mavour (Invasion of the Bane only)

Television stories

Specials

• Invasion of the Bane Pilot episode - New Year's Day - 2007
• From Raxacoricofallapatorius With Love - Comic Relief Red Nose Day mini-episode - 2009

Series 1 - 2007

Main article: Series 1 (SJA)

Series 2 - 2008

Main article: Series 2 (SJA)

Series 3 - 2009

Main article: Series 3 (SJA)

Series 4 - 2010

Main article: Series 4 (SJA)

Series 5 - 2011

Main article: Series 5 (SJA)

Continuity

Connections with Doctor Who

• As noted above, Sarah Jane Smith has a long history with the parent series, having travelled with the Third Doctor and Fourth Doctor from 1973 to 1976, and having made reunion appearances in DW: The Five Doctors, and DW: School Reunion (this latter lead to the spin-off series). She also appeared in A Girl's Best Friend, the pilot episode for an aborted 1980s spin-off, K9 and Company.
• K9 also has a long history with Doctor Who, although strictly speaking the model seen in this series was only introduced in School Reunion.
• Sarah Jane's sonic lipstick is a similar device to the Doctor's sonic screwdriver and was in fact given to her by him.
• The Sontarans are referenced in Eye of the Gorgon, and appeared in The Last Sontaran and Enemy of the Bane.
• UNIT are referenced a lot, including when Sarah Jane is on the phone, she says "love to the Brig" Also, a picture of him is pinned onto Sarah Jane's attic wall. (Invasion of the Bane) (Revenge of the Slitheen), a book called UNIT in Sarah Jane's attic (Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?) and a police officer says "you have some very powerful friends" to Sarah Jane when she is in custody. (The Lost Boy)
• The Brigadier appeared in Series Two in 2008.
• Sarah Jane Smith made an appearance with Rose Tyler, Mickey Smith, Donna Noble, Captain Jack Harkness, Martha Jones, Jackie Tyler, the Doctor and the Meta-Crisis Tenth Doctor in Doctor Who Series 4 The Stolen Earth and Journey's End. K9 also appears in Journey's End. Sarah Jane also makes a brief appearance in The End of Time.
• Luke Smith also made an appearance in The Stolen Earth/Journey's End and The End of Time.
• The Tenth Doctor appears in flashback footage in Secrets of the Stars, and in a flash-forward in The Mad Woman in the Attic.
• Bio dampers appeared numerous times, they debuted in DW: The Runaway Bride.
• The Brigadier mentions fighting Daleks, Cybermen, Autons, and Zygons in Enemy of the Bane.
• UNIT makes their first on-screen apperance in the spin-off in Enemy of the Bane.
• David Tennant guest starred as the Doctor in The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith.
• Tom Baker and Jon Pertwee appeared in flashbacks during The Mad Woman in the Attic. They also appear in flashbacks in Death of the Doctor alongside David Tennant, Patrick Troughton and William Hartnell.
• Matt Smith guest starred as the Doctor and Katy Manning reprised her role as Jo Grant in Death of the Doctor.

Connections with Torchwood

• Rhys Williams' name can be seen on a role in Revenge of the Slitheen
• Arcateenians previously appeared in Greeks Bearing Gifts
• The Pharos Institute is mentioned in Children of Earth

Crossover monsters

Doctor Who

From Doctor Who

• Raxacoricofallapatorian (Aliens of London/World War Three, Boom Town and The End of Time)
• Graske (Attack of the Graske, Music of the Spheres and The End of Time)
• Sontaran (The Time Warrior, The Sontaran Experiment, The Invasion of Time, The Two Doctors, The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky, The End of Time, The Pandorica Opens and A Good Man Goes to War)
• Judoon (Smith and Jones, The Stolen Earth, The End of Time, The Pandorica Opens and A Good Man Goes to War)

To Doctor Who

• Uvodni (The Pandorica Opens)

Torchwood

From Torchwood

• Arcateenian (Greeks Bearing Gifts)

Prose

Series 1

• Revenge of the Slitheen
• Eye of the Gorgon
• Warriors of Kudlak
• Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?
• The Lost Boy

Series 2

• The Last Sontaran
• The Day of the Clown

Notes

• Only two of the six television stories were turned into novels

Series 3

• The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith

Notes

• Only one of the six television stories was turned into a novel

Series 4

In August 2010 it was announced that two novelisations based upon the upcoming episodes The Nightmare Man and Death of the Doctor were to be published on 4th November 2010. However, on 18th September 2010, Penguin Character Books suddenly cancelled their release. No reason was given. At one point it was reported that the two books would be issued as e-books instead, but this did not occur.

Audiobooks

2007

• The Glittering Storm by Stephen Cole
• The Thirteenth Stone by Justin Richards

2008

• The Time Capsule by Peter Anghelides
• The Ghost House by Stephen Cole

2009

• The Shadow People by Scott Handcock
• The White Wolf by Gary Russell

2010

• Deadly Download by Jason Arnopp
• Wraith World by Cavan Scott and Mark Wright

Notes

• All stories are read by Elisabeth Sladen in character as Sarah Jane.

DVD release

Series 1

Unusually, the first series of Sarah Jane Adventures saw release to DVD in Region 1 (North America) a full month prior to the announced release in the UK. The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Complete First Season was released in Region 1 on 7 October 2008; Region 2 (UK) was released on the 10th November 2008.
Special features in the four-disc set include:

• Outtakes (accessible after completing a quiz)
• Audio clips from The Glittering Storm and The Thirteenth Stone
• Behind the scenes photo gallery
• A 30-minute retrospective of Sarah Jane's life and career, featuring clips dating back to DW: The Time Warrior in 1973.
• Character, alien and gadget files.
• Interviews
• Blue Peter set visits.

Series 2

BBC Video released Series 2 to DVD in the UK on 9th November 2009, followed by a Region 1/North American release on 10th November. Extra features include:

• Cast and crew interviews
• Season synopses
• Investigating Tools – a gadget glossary
• Another quiz with a "special footage prize
• Character and alien profiles
• Photo gallery
• Audio clips
• UK TV spots
• Trailers

The North American DVD release of Series 2 occurred without it having first been broadcast in either Canada or the US; this is the first time a complete season of a Doctor Who-franchise programme has been made available on DVD without prior broadcast.

Series 3

DVD release in the UK occurred in October 2010, with release in North America a few months later. The single-disc release contains no extra features other than an audio extract from SJAA: The White Wolf.

Series 4

DVD release of Series 4 has yet to occur as of April 2011, but in keeping with precedent, it is expected in the fall of 2011. It is not yet clear what impact the death of Elisabeth Sladen and the fact Series 5 is incomplete might have on the release schedule or contents of this set.

International broadcasts

Series 1 aired on the Sci Fi Channel in the US and BBC Kids in Canada in 2007. In January 2010, Series 2 began airing on BBC Kids. No American broadcast of Series 2 has yet occurred, and there has been no announcement regarding broadcast of Series 3 in North America. Invasion of the Bane was broadcast in Australia on ABC1, but the series never played due to severe criticism of the pilot. In New Zealand started airing in January 2010 on Nickelodeon.

See also

• Doctor Who
• Torchwood
• K9 and Company
• K9 (TV series)

External links

• Watch Elisabeth Sladen interview - October 2006
• The Sarah Jane Adventures Official BBC site Videos available UK users only.
• A Brief History of Time (Travel): The Sarah Jane Adventures - News and information page concerning the new series
• sarahjane.tv: The Sarah Jane Adventures - blog focusing on the new Sarah Jane Smith series