The Sarah Jane Adventures - The Story So Far
All You Need to Know About the BBC's Doctor Who Spin-off for Kids
Oct 11, 2009
The Sarah Jane Adventures, a Doctor Who spin-off targeted at even younger children than the established family entertainment show, is about to return for a third run of twelve episodes. After two successful series, it has effectively become the heavily promoted flagship of BBC children’s’ programming, as well as gaining acceptance from young and old viewers alike for its fundamentally entertaining nature, never patronising the viewers.
The stories centre around Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen), originally one of the Doctor's myriad companions in the 1970s and 1980s. She appeared in Doctor Who alongside both Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker, during their spells in the lead role, before making a comeback in 2006, with David Tennant as the Doctor. Her return was so successful that a spin-off soon went into development with the working title Sarah Jane Investigates, later finalised as The Sarah Jane Adventures,
Young Sidekicks and Bannerman Road
The premise of the series features Sarah Jane Smith living in the suburbs of Bannerman Road, still having adventures and meeting aliens, under the guise of an “investigative journalist”. She is initially only assisted by Mister Smith, an alien supercomputer in her attic, but soon acquires several young assistants who become involved in her secret life.
Although Sarah Jane is the lead character, the bulk of the action in the show often centres around a group of children, as is common in programming aimed at younger audiences. Sarah Jane’s neighbour, Maria Jackson (Yasmin Paige), stumbles upon her involvement with aliens, and soon involves her classmate Clyde Langer (Daniel Anthony) as well. Maria moves away in the early episodes of the second series, and is replaced in the cast by Rani Chandra (Anjli Mohindra), whose family move into Maria’s old house.
Aside from these hangers-on, Sarah Jane also adopts a ‘son’ in the very first episode of the series, ‘Invasion Of The Bane’. Originally introduced as ‘the Archetype’, he was created by an alien for testing purposes, but rescued, and subsequently adopted, by Sarah Jane. He is then named Luke Smith (and played by Tommy Knight throughout). The robot dog K9, a veteran of Sarah Jane’s original Doctor Who appearances, has also made sporadic appearances, with a bigger role promised in the new series.
The Story Thus Far
All of the stories in The Sarah Jane Adventures are two episodes long, each episode being half an hour, with a cliffhanger between them. They have featured a range of aliens appearing and menacing the children, in some cases threatening the whole planet, before being repelled by Sarah Jane and her young assistants. Like the Doctor, Sarah Jane is shown to favour non-violent solutions, and tries to instil the same values in the children.
Several aliens which have appeared in Doctor Who have subsequently met Sarah Jane, including the Slithereen, one of the Sontarans and, in the upcoming series, the rhinoceros-themed alien police force, the Judoon. The Trickster, a character who originated in The Sarah Jane Adventures, has also been mentioned several times in the parent show, although never seen.
The new episodes promise to feature the same combination of Doctor Who-esque science fiction and youthful energy as before, with the added attraction of an extended appearance by The Doctor himself in one story, played by David Tennant. This will be one of Tennant’s final appearances as the character before he leaves the role later in the year, and his phenomenal popularity guarantees a raised profile for those episodes, and perhaps additional success for an already impressive show.
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