The Sarah Jane Adventures

The Sarah Jane Adventures

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The opening title card

The Sarah Jane Adventures — often abbreviated as simply SJA — was a spin-off series of Doctor Who, produced by BBC Wales for CBBC. It ran from 2007 to 2011, over the course of five series. All stories except for the the initial one were presented in a serial format, with each serial being comprised of two, 25-minute episodes. Created by Russell T Davies after a positive experience working with Elisabeth Sladen on the Doctor Who episode School Reunion, it concerned itself with Sarah Jane's life after her initial encounter with the Tenth Doctor. The series featured regular appearances by several teenaged cast members, their parents, a computer named Mr Smith, and K9. Aimed at a younger audience than Doctor Who, it's UK timeslot was typically around 4:30pm on weekdays.

In its fourth year it spawned a one-series, "clip show" spin-off of its own, named Sarah Jane's Alien Files. For 2010 only, there were some days where it was possible to find about an hour's worth of SJA programming on CBBC.

Premise

Put simply, the series was about Sarah Jane Smith and some kids from her neighbourhood fighting off alien incursions with the help of her super-computer, Mr Smith, and her robot dog, K9.

In detail

The series was set largely in and around Bannerman Road, Ealing — the street on which Sarah Jane lived. As shown in the initial, New Year's Day special, Sarah Jane was a wealthy and reclusive eccentric. Her somewhat lavish house, car and lifestyle were paid for by her work as a freelance journalist, and an inheritance from the aunt established in her first Doctor Who appearance and the pilot for the character's first spin-off series.

In the opening narrative, she acquired an adopted son, a highly-evolved human, who had been manufactured by the Bane. Her hitherto lonely life was also invaded by a girl who had just moved into the house across the road. Once the series proper began, and her adopted son, Luke, started attending school with Maria, they picked up a third friend, named Clyde Langer. Initially, then, the format of the series was about the three school-aged kids having alien-fighting adventures with Sarah Jane, whilst trying to keep Maria's divorced dad and mum unaware of their activities. Major subplots included: Maria and Alan Jackson's attempts to have a productive relationship with Chrissie, in the wake of the divorce; Sarah Jane's efforts to be a good mother; Clyde's attempts to help the socially awkward Luke "be cool"; and the gradual uncovering of Mr Smith's true nature.

Early in series 2, however, the format shifted. The Jacksons were dropped from the series, replaced by Rani Chandra, and her parents Gita and Haresh. Unlike the Jacksons, however — at least one of whom was in every episode featuring Maria — the Chandras were much de-emphasised, and often used as comic relief. On a couple of occasions, Clyde's mother appeared, and his father was the central guest star of a single story. However, for the most part, parental involvement dropped significantly after Alan Jackson accepted a job in Washington, D.C. early in series 2.

Over time, even Sarah Jane's new, maternal role was scaled back. Luke Smith's presence was reduced in series 3, such that he was largely absent from several episodes. By series 4, he was said to be in university a year earlier than the two other kids, and was thus reduced to a recurring guest star.

Subplots that occurred during the time that Rani was on the show included: the greater involvement of the Doctor in Sarah's life; Haresh's role as the headmaster of the kids' school; the contentious relationship between Sarah Jane's two computers, Mr Smith and K9; Luke's continued communication with an off-screen Maria; the recurring threat of the Trickster; and a certain level of subtle romantic tension between Clyde and Rani.

Production team

The executive producers for The Sarah Jane Adventures were Davies and Julie Gardner. Susie Liggat produced Invasion of the Bane, but Matthew Bouch produced the first series. Phil Collinson held the title of Series Producer during the first year. Gareth Roberts, writing in Doctor Who Magazine, said of the initial series, "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."

By the fifth series, only RTD remained of the initial main production team. Brian Minchin had become the producer and Phil Ford, Gareth Roberts and RTD were effectively joint head writers. Nikki Wilson had replaced Julie Gardner as the second executive producer with RTD.

RTD was actually not residing in Wales during the production of the final two series, as he (and Gardner) had by then moved to Los Angeles to executive produce Torchwood: Miracle Day.

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, 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 permanently suspended production of the show.

Cast

Main

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

Recurring

• K9 Mark IV - John Leeson (series 1-4)
• Chrissie Jackson - Juliet Cowan (series 1; guest 2)
• Gita Chandra - Mina Anwar (series 2-5)
• Haresh Chandra - Ace Bhatti (series 2-5)

Cast changes

During the life of SJA, three kids were edged out of the production, but no official statements were issues about any of these cast changes.

Kelsey Hooper was apparently the original "third kid" in Invasion of the Bane, but she wqas quietly replaced in series 1 "proper" by Clyde Langer. No reason was ever given by the BBC for this cast change. However, it is possible to believe that Kelsey was never actually intended as a permanent cast member, since Invasion actually wrote her out as unable to handle the "Sarah Jane Smith lifestyle" in its final scenes.

Maria Jackson was the next kid to go. Though she appeared on much of the series 2 publicity material, and technically appeared in two of that year's stories, she was effectively gone by the second story. Though rumours have swirled for years about why this character — and, by necessity, her parents — were written out, the BBC have never offered up an explanation for the actor's apparent dismissal.

Finally, Luke Smith was absent for some episodes of series 3 and most of the rest of the programme's run, though he was still touted as a main cast member in official BBC press packs through the end of the series. Actor Tommy Knight was also clear part of what was essentially the last thing the BBC filmed about the series, the April 2011 Liz Sladen tribute, My Sarah Jane.

Series

SJA 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. Meanwhile, season four went into production in March 2010. At the same time, what was expected to be the first 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.

However, because Elisabeth Sladen died on 19th April 2011, series 5 was truncated to just those three serials that had been completed in 2010. The series therefore ended because Sladen died, and no parties to the production of the series wished to continue without her.

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 US broadcast of anything past series 1 ever occurred, and Canada never saw any episode past the second series. 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, the show started airing in January 2010 on Nickelodeon, though it's unclear just how much of the programme was broadcast.

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