The Sarah Jane Adventures

Did You Know?

• For the tenth anniversary, an event was held on 29 July 2017 at Cardiff University Students' Union, raising £6643.35 for Ty Hafan Hospice for Children.
• On 19 July 2022, Big Finish Productions announced an audio spin-off featuring Rani Chandra, set 15 years after the series, releasing in April 2023.
• A sequel boxset titled The Revenge of Wormwood, with Samantha Bond reprising her role, was announced for January 2024.

Background and development

In 2006, Children's BBC expressed interest in producing a Doctor Who spin-off, initially proposing a drama about a young Doctor. Russell T Davies vetoed this idea, stating that a fourteen-year-old Doctor inventing sonic screwdrivers would diminish the character's mystery. He suggested instead a series based on the Doctor's former companion Sarah Jane Smith. A pilot for an earlier spin-off, K-9 and Company, was made in 1981 but not picked up as a full series. Sarah Jane and K9 returned to Doctor Who in various media, including the 20th anniversary special "The Five Doctors" (1983) and 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 fans and the public. The series was first confirmed in development by the BBC's in-house newsletter Ariel in early August 2006, with the working title Sarah Jane Investigates. K9's appearances in the first two series were limited to a cameo in the special and an appearance in the last episode of the first series, due to the concurrent development of the independently produced children's series K9. K9 appeared with the cast in a 2009 Comic Relief sketch, then in six episodes of the third series and two of the fourth, but not in series 5. Production on the full series began in April 2007. Two of the five two-part stories were scripted by Gareth Roberts; Phil Ford wrote two stories; Phil Gladwin wrote one. Russell T Davies was to write one story but dropped out due to other work commitments.

Cast and crew

The first series stars Yasmin Paige as Maria Jackson, Sarah Jane's 13-year-old neighbour in Ealing, and Tommy Knight as Luke Smith, a boy adopted by Sarah Jane at the conclusion of the introductory story. Daniel Anthony plays Clyde Langer, introduced in the first episode of the full series. Porsha Lawrence Mavour briefly played Maria's friend Kelsey Hooper in the 2007 New Year's Day special. Maria and her family are written out in the first story of the second series, but Maria and her father return briefly in "The Mark of the Berserker". In the second story of that series, "The Day of the Clown", new regulars are introduced: Rani Chandra and her parents Haresh and Gita, played by Anjli Mohindra, Ace Bhatti, and Mina Anwar. Joseph Millson appears throughout the first series as Maria's father Alan, with Juliet Cowan as her mother Chrissie. Alexander Armstrong provides the voice of Mr Smith, an extraterrestrial computer in Sarah Jane's attic. The 2007 special featured Samantha Bond as Mrs Wormwood and Jamie Davis as her PR agent Davey. Guest cast in the first series includes Jane Asher as Andrea Yates, Floella Benjamin as Professor Rivers, and Phyllida Law as Bea Nelson-Stanley. The second series guest stars Bradley Walsh as an evil alien clown and Russ Abbot as a sinister astrologer. Gary Beadle and Jocelyn Jee Esien portray Clyde's parents Paul and Carla; Esien reprised her role in series 4 and more prominently in series 5. Samantha Bond returned as Wormwood in "Enemy of the Bane".

Episodes

The Sarah Jane Adventures first aired as a 60-minute New Year's Day special in 2007 titled "Invasion of the Bane", co-written by Russell T Davies and Gareth Roberts. Davies noted the series was commissioned before the script was written, calling the special the "first episode". The story focused on Sarah Jane's investigation of a popular soft drink called Bubble Shock! Series one aired in September 2007, consisting of five two-part half-hour episodes, broadcast weekly on BBC One and a week ahead on CBBC. The second series started in September 2008 with six two-part stories, ending in December. The third series aired from 15 October to 20 November 2009, twice weekly on BBC One. The fourth series aired from 11 October 2010, with each first part of a story accompanied by an episode of Sarah Jane's Alien Files. Due to Elisabeth Sladen's illness and death on 19 April 2011, filming for the second half of the fifth series was postponed and later cancelled. Three stories of the fifth series had been filmed and post-production completed. The final series aired from 3 to 18 October 2011 on CBBC, ending with a tribute montage and the text "And the story goes on... forever." The script of the unfilmed episode "The Thirteenth Floor" was rewritten and broadcast as an episode of Wizards vs Aliens.

Merchandising

Character Options held the licence to make The Sarah Jane Adventures toys, including play sets, action figures, and a Sonic Lipstick. Four two-figure packs came out: Sarah Jane paired with Star Poet, General Kudlak, Child Slitheen, and Graske. The Sonic Lipstick also appeared alongside a Watch Scanner and Alien Communicator. The whole line was dropped after customers showed little interest. A set of ten limited-edition trading cards, plus a cover card, came shrink-wrapped with issue 62 of Doctor Who: Battles in Time magazine. Ten audiobooks were issued on CD. Elisabeth Sladen read the first eight in character as Sarah Jane. The last two, released in November 2011 after her death, were read by Daniel Anthony and Anjli Mohindra, but not in character. A 20-minute mini-episode called "The Monster Hunt," split into two parts, was written by Trevor Baxendale and read by Anjli Mohindra for the Monster Hunt game on the show’s website. Two more comics, "Return of the Krulius" and "Defending Bannerman Road," were made available as PDFs and free MP3 downloads from the official site. In total, five comics were posted there. Four of those came with audio narration by Anjli Mohindra. An online version of "The Silver Bullet" presented a comic written and drawn by Clyde, which was briefly shown in the episode "The Curse of Clyde Langer."