The Sarah Jane Adventures

The Sarah Jane Adventures is a spin-off series, 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. The series debuted on BBC One with a 60-minute special on 1st January 2007.1 A full series of ten 30-minute episodes followed later in the year. 2

Premise

The series is set in present-day West London and features the adventures of Sarah Jane, her next-door neighbor Maria Jackson and adopted son Luke and other young friends, assisted by the super Computer Mr Smith (which is a Xylok) as well some times with K-9 in a safe blocking up a black hole.

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, K-9 and Company, made in 1981, featured Sarah Jane and the robot dog K-9; however, the option to make a series was not picked up. Sarah Jane and K-9 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 the 2006 episode School Reunion -- both of which acknowledged the existence of K-9 and Company within the canon of the Whoniverse by showing Sarah Jane in possession of K-9 as established in the 1981 pilot episode. Reports of a spin-off series first appeared around the time of "School Reunion"'s original airing, with the series having the working title of Sarah Jane Investigates.

K-9 -- now K-9 Mark IV, appeared only twice in the first season: 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 K-9 was due to the concurrent development of the television series K-9, which is not associated with the BBC and will not feature any Doctor Who connections beyond K-9 himself.

List of stories

Special

• Invasion of the Bane

Series 1

Main article: The Sarah Jane Adventures (Series 1)

Series 2

Main article: The Sarah Jane Adventures (Series 2)

A second series is currently broadcasting. It will have six stories, two episodes each, for a total of twelve episodes. Nicholas Courtney, playing Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart will return in at least one story. The Sontarans returned in the first episode and are the first classic series Doctor Who monsters to appear in The Sarah Jane Adventures. David Tennant (the Tenth Doctor) is also said to have filmed a scene. Other reports have indicated that Bradly Walsh and comedian Russ Abbot. Clyde's parents, Carla and Paul Langer will be introduced; portrayed by Jocelyn Jee Esien and Gary Beadle, respectively. A new family, the Chandras, moved into Bannerman Road, Including Rani Chandra —who joins Sarah Jane, Luke, Clyde and Maria in their adventures— is played by Anjli Mohindra. Her parents, Gita and Haresh Chandra will be played by Mina Anwar and Ace Bhatti, respectively.

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 The Five Doctors, Dimensions in Time, and School Reunion (the latter leading to this spin-off series). She also appeared in A Girl's Best Friend, the pilot episode for a aborted 1980s spin-off, K-9 and Company.
• K-9 also has a long history with Doctor Who, although strictly speaking the model seen in this series was only introduced in School Reunion.
• The family Slitheen (from DW: Aliens of London et al), a Star Poet similar to Mary from the Torchwood episode "Greeks Bearing Gifts", Slabs (from DW:Smith and Jones) and a Graske (from DW:Attack of the Graske) appeared.
• Sarah Jane's Sonic lipstick is a similar device to the Doctor's Sonic screwdriver.
• The Sontarans are referenced in Eye of the Gorgon.
• K-9 Mark IV makes cameo appearances in Invasion of the Bane and The Lost Boy.
• UNIT are referenced a lot, including when Sarah Jane is on the phone, she says "love to the Brig" Also, a picture of Brig 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 and the Sontarans will be featured in the current series.
• 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. K-9 also appears in Journey's End.
• Luke Smith also made an appearance in The Stolen Earth and Journey's End.
• The Tenth Doctor appears in flashback footage in Secrets of the Stars

Novelisations

Although the BBC has so far (as of 2008) refrained from commissioning novelisations based upon episodes of the revived Doctor Who or Torchwood, All but two of the serials from the first series of The Sarah Jane Adventures have been adapted as novels by Penguin Character Books, including volumes written by stalwarts Terrance Dicks and Gary Russell, which were published in late 2007. The remaining two stories from the first season will be released as novelisations in late 2008, marking the most intense period of episode novelisations since the end of the Target Books era in the early 1990s. It has not yet been announced whether further novelisations based upon Season 2 episodes will be commissioned, or if any original novels are planned.

Audio Dramas

Two audio stories were released by BBC Audiobooks in November 2007 The Glittering Storm by Stephen Cole and The Thirteenth Stone by Justin Richards, with both stories read by Elisabeth Sladen. Excerpts from both stories are included in the Series 1 DVD release. Two new audio stories are slated for release in November 2008.

DVD release

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) release is scheduled for 10 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.

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