Sarah Jane and friends

So what links The Sarah Jane Adventures to The One Show? Answer below.

As Dave Golder’s already reported on the SFX website, last night saw the press launch for series three of the excellent Doctor Who spin-off, The Sarah Jane Adventures.

The opener, ‘Prisoner of the Judoon’, is most notable for Elisabeth Sladen’s truly brilliant, and slightly bonkers, performance as an evil Sarah Jane. It’s a two-parter packed with thrills and gags, although, as Dave points out in his piece, the Chandra parents do come across as superfluous to the action… but they are nicely played.

The Judoon are never better, portrayed as bureaucratic, blustering plods, with no regard for humanity. Watch out as one commandeers a police car, and pulls up an anti-social motorist.

Introducing the screening, producer Nikki Wilson said: “This series it’s even bigger, bolder, funnier and deliciously scary. We also filmed in HD, so it’s really vibrant and really comes to life.”

In the Q&A season following the screening – slightly delayed while Lis popped to the loo (“It’s just too exciting!”), children took centre stage with the questioning. One asked if Russell T Davies still has an involvement in the show. “I had a text from Russell today,” revealed Lis, “saying,  ‘I’m sitting in LA, watching Sarah Jane defeat the Mona Lisa. It doesn’t get better’.”

We also learned Daniel Anthony (Clyde) was genuinely scared filming in a ‘haunted’ house; shooting in the attic is incredibly hot (Lis: “The worst place is in the back, where all the books are… if you survive the scene you get a Mivvi”); writer Phil Ford’s highlight this series is the aforementioned haunted house story (“It’s one that I’ve been talking about doing for ages”); and they got their money’s worth from David Tennant in his upcoming two-parter  (Lis, again: “Once we knew we had him, we worked him so hard. I think he was a bit sorry he came!”).

And the link between Bannerman Road and Ade ‘n’ Chris? Incredibly, it’s the same press officer working (very hard, it has to be said) across both shows.

The Doctor to appear in CBBC’s drama The Sarah Jane Adventures

Doctor Who fans are in for a treat this Autumn as David Tennant makes a special appearance as The Doctor in CBBC’s hit drama series The Sarah Jane Adventures, with a starring role across two episodes.

Investigative journalist Sarah Jane Smith, one-time companion to that strange wanderer in time and space known as The Doctor, is reunited with her old friend as ‘The Sarah Jane Adventures’ is back for a third series of alien-busting adventures on CBBC this September.

Elisabeth Sladen, who plays Sarah Jane, says:

“When I heard the news that David was going to be joining us I was absolutely over the moon. Not only has it made my day but it will also make the viewers day. It’s fantastic news that Sarah Jane is going to spend some time working with The Doctor again and is testament to just how successful this CBBC series is.”

Russell T Davies, Executive Producer of The Sarah Jane Adventures, adds:

“Viewers thought they may have to wait until November for the next full episode of Doctor Who, but this is an extra special treat. And it’s not just a cameo from David – this is a full on appearance for The Doctor as he and Sarah Jane face their biggest threat ever.”

The series includes 12 weeks of brand new adventures featuring a new alien race, the reptilian Veil and their enemies the Judoon, alongside an extraterrestrial girl that can make people play games against their will.

There will also be a living painting, the inhabitants of a supposedly haunted house, monsters who want to infect Earth with a strangely aggressive weed and a chance for Sarah Jane to find personal happiness with someone who could be the perfect person to complete her family.

Alongside adopted son Luke, Sarah Jane’s team is made up of Luke’s streetwise pal Clyde Langer, their schoolmate Rani, who lives opposite and has aspirations to become a journalist like Sarah Jane, and Mr Smith, their Xylok supercomputer up in the attic, plus Sarah Jane’s robot dog, K-9.

So this is good news, right? SJA‘s production pattern has been altered for series three, making the show more cost-effective with directors shooting across episodes. Clearly, times are tough, but landing David Tennant as a guest star is surely a massive boost for the series. A proof that canny planning and imagination can keep something like this buoyant while the rest of children’s telly is sinking fast…

Yowser. As a piece of expositional dialogue, that’s a pretty lumpy way to get the show back on the road. But it didn’t really matter. The TV schedules are that bit more effervescent thanks to the return of this, the best of all Doctor Who spin-offs.

Sure, The Sarah Jane Adventures doesn’t quite have the swaggering joie de vive of its parent series – I’m sure its core viewers are always secretly pining for the Doc – but it comes really close. When Clyde (after SJ herself, the best thing in the programme) snorts: “An alien computer debunking flying saucers – now I’ve heard everything!”, you  can almost see the squared brackets in the script: “[Wink to mum and dad, watching alongside Junior]“.

Sarah Jane meets her oldest enemy...

...a Sontaran!

Granted, at times it doesn’t feel like there’s a truly original thought in this afternoon’s opener – “Strange lights in the sky, a creepy sounding village and a radio telescope” – but it’s having a whale of time with the tenets of children’s drama. You’ve got a gang of kids sharing in the biggest secret on Earth. A world of grown-ups (bar the obvious exceptions) ignorant to what’s going on. A baddy about to be undone by his failure to recognise the credibility of his opponents (“Half forms, what trouble can they cause?”). And the odd bit of homework set for the viewers (how many will go on to check out that reference to the Marie Celeste?).

It’s wholesome, fun stuff – the sort of thing children’s TV should be doing – and given the occasional twist by allusions to the likes of Predator and the Cold War.

At the heart of it all, of course, is Elisabeth Sladen, who never fails to impress with her breathless, slightly vulnerable characterisation. When Maria tells her she’s off to America,  Sarah Jane turns surprisingly spiky. “Nothing stays the same forever,” she spits. “People always move on”. It’s a brave interpretation, at times alienating the show’s central character from the juvenile cast. But, let’s face it, we’re always ready to forgive Sarah… Even during an interminable scene of chat with her Sontaran tormentor, which goes on and on and on.

And what about that Sontaran? Complete with a rather affecting facial scar, he’s a perfect bogeyman. A little bit buffoonish, the source for a dozen baked potato-related jokes, but able to turn on the terror when required. The implication he’s going to keep Clyde alive to run “tests” on him is maybe one of the most terrifying concepts to air in this time slot.

So, come the Bane, the Slitheen, the Gorgon and the Trickster. Come one and all. Sarah Jane and her Scooby Doo gang are back and, as she says, “there’s still so much to discover”.

Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith

This afternoon, CBBC premiered series two of The Sarah Jane Adventures to the press. And, a very upbeat gathering it was too, filing into the Rex Cinema on Rupert Street in the middle of London.

We were shown episodes three and four, “The Day of the Clown”, written by Phil Ford and directed by old skool Who talent Michael Kerrigan. The reason? Because this is the first appearance of Anjli Mohindra and co as Rani Chandra and her family, and that’s who they were ostensibly launching to the media. if you want my opinion, Mohindra’s a great addition to the cast, playing a character who -  for a children’s show – seems realistically ballsy. She’ll go far.

The two episodes, in fact, were great, supremely creepy, and with guest star Bradley Walsh unrecognisable for much of its running time as a creepy clown.  Oh, and in the second episode, watch out for a bold visual reference to the 1966 Doctor Who story “The Celestial Toymaker” (which caused a smattering of sniggers across the audience). I’m advised this originally dropped into the story by mistake – but was kept in the final edit as an in-joke for the hardcore. You’ll know it when you see it…

Afterwards, Russell T Davies and cast (Lis Sladen wearing her daughter’s t-shirt) took questions from the assembled, and I’ll post more about that anon… But one thing worth noting here, he categorically confirmed there’d be no cameo from the Doctor in this series.

- The Sarah Jane Adventures returns to BBC1 from Monday 29 September

Just finished watching the first two episodes of The Sarah Jane Adventures (now confirmed for Monday 24 September at 5pm on BBC1), and I feel a little bit exhilarated. With 25 minute episodes this does indeed feel rather like old schoolWho. Not a huge deal of plot, but lots of exciting moments and archetypical flourishes (unseen baddies monitoring our heroes via CCTV and cackling evilly). And it moves like the clappers. 

It’s no surprise to say the Slitheen are back (the thing’s called “Revenge of the Slitheen”) and they fit in very well – fart gags and fatties playing nicely before Neighbours. 

Performances all round are generally great, with Ms Sladen zestfully bouncing between shouty and vulnerable moments to ace effect. New character Clyde is lots of fun, but the real kudos has to go to the corpulent cast members – all operatic rolling eyes and flab.

Bits for the Who hardcore roll along in episode two, including a glimpse of a Jagaroth spaceship design on SJ’s wall (for some reason), “Love to the Brig” and – if I’m not mistaken – a Crackerjack reference (Maria’s mum referring to our heroine as “Sally Ann”). 

Plus, the trailer for episode three looks absolutely fantastic – some business with “the Gorgon” …

Thankfully, the only people who didn’t seem unduly het up were Sarah Jane Smith and her new friends. And that’s how it should be, because whatever else it was, The Sarah Jane Adventures was definitely pretty nifty kids’ television. Boasting a spritely script by Russell T Davies and Gareth Roberts, the whole production seemed to sidestep the weight of expectation placed upon it by thirtysomethings like me, and just got on with the business of providing entertaining adventure.

For 1970s kids, it’s still hard to adjust to the weirdest things about present day Doctor Who and its increasing flotilla of spin-offs – and that’s it’s a current, ongoing concern. Who is no more the museum piece, it’s alive; a vibrant, reactive affair that’s addressing modern day audiences. The last time Sarah tried out for her own series, she was accompanied by a plumy-voiced Blyton-esque schoolboy boffin “honking” over K9′s electronics. Now, her young neighbour drools over over “muffins” and moans continually about being “shamed”. For some of us, it’s all a bit shocking, and perhaps the main reason Torchwood has failed to truly win hearts and minds, with its “fuck tricks” and all. We kind of like our Who old fashioned.

But, actually, there were plenty of old fashioned licks and thrills here, and once you’d readjusted to all this – well – modern stuff, it was easy to let go. A big, evil corporation. An arch, power-suited boss talking in staccato (“Sarah. Jane. Smith!” spat Samantha Bond deliciously). And a big glutinous monster behind it all. More than all that, this was a very traditional children’s story in that all the workaday adults remained insulated from the truth. It was the kids who ruled the roost here. Well, the kids and their new top-secret best friend.

What child wouldn’t be delighted with the notion that in the world of suburbia the crazy woman across the road could provide a portal into high adventure? Fittingly, then, Sarah Jane was initially presented as a distant, otherly figure. Where once she’d been the audience’s representative onscreen, her experiences in the TARDIS had changed her forever. And as a surrogate Doctor – with “sonic lipstick” to boot – Elisabeth Sladen proved a credible match for the real thing. Maintaining her character’s trademark vulnerability, she still managed to bring us a winningly fallible hero – someone who you feel could inspire anyone to bravery.

Broken homes, smart-talking kids, and K9 (well, in cameo at least). Whether or not younger viewers actually need their own version of Doctor Who is open to question, but that aside, this new addition to the family brings with it all the charms of youth. You watch The Sarah Jane Adventures and you smile. In fact, you might even dance. That’s what it feels like the show is doing, as it leaves its own, tiny footprints in the Doctor Who world.

“When the programme-makers first contacted me,” said Elisabeth Sladen in interview recently, “I thought they were calling me about Torchwood. ‘Ooh,’ I said, ‘I’m going to be in the 9pm slot for once! I’m going to be grown up!’.”

But, from the excerpt I’ve seen, this is absolutely, deafeningly a kids’ show, with a lot of the action told from the point of view of the juvenile lead, Maria. Sarah is very much portrayed as “the other”, a fantastic, mysterious person who chats to aliens (one of whom has, fittingly, dropped in from Torchwood) on her back lawn. The baddy – Samantha Bond – is just this side of a cartoon, and that’s how it should be.

Word of mouth about this show is already good. Unsurprisingly, I’m excited.

She was lovely, but seemed a teeny bit … I dunno … fragile?

So, here are my two favourite bits.

On when she embraced the fact she’d never be free of her association with Doctor Who:

“It was after I’d been to America. I wouldn’t do conventions here because someone else was playing the assistant on screen, so I did totally walk away. But in America they would show episodes scene-by-scene and you would be quizzed. Then, all of sudden, the videos were out over here.

“Then Jon [Pertwee] and I, at the beginning of the 1990s, did the radio shows together and he said, ‘You idiot, Lizzy, you’ve got to get out and promote these!’. That’s when I just started to think, ‘Well, yes. It’s not going to make any difference now’. So that was the turnaround.”

On Stepping Stones:

“Oh it was great fun, I loved doing it. I went up to Yorkshire to do that. We had to wear our own clothes, they had no budget. So I got a bed jacket, a second-hand Oxfam thing, and I thought, ‘They’ll have to buy me stuff now, it looks so awful’. They made me wear it [Laughs]. I had to wear it! ‘Oh, that looks nice!’. It was awful, green, pink and blue.

“I did that on and off for three years, and then it went into My World. “