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