| Sarah Jane Smith | |
|---|---|
| Doctor Who character | |
 Sarah Jane Smith in "School Reunion", her return episode ofDoctor Who (2006) | |
| First appearance | The Time Warrior (1973) |
| Last appearance | The Man Who Never Was (2011) |
| Portrayed by | Elisabeth Sladen |
| Voiced by |
|
| Shared universe appearances |
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| Duration | 1973–1976, 1981, 1983, 1993, 1995, 2006–2011 |
| In-universe information | |
| Full name | Sarah Jane Smith |
| Occupation | Journalist |
| Affiliation | Third Doctor Fourth Doctor Tenth Doctor Eleventh Doctor K9 UNIT |
| Family | Eddie Smith (father) Barbara Smith (mother) |
| Children | Luke Smith (adoptive son) Sky Smith (adoptive daughter) |
| Relatives | Lavinia Smith (aunt) |
| Origin | Foxgrove,Herefordshire, England |
| Home era | 20th and 21st centuries |
Sarah Jane Smith is a fictional character played byElisabeth Sladen in the long-runningBBC Televisionscience fiction seriesDoctor Who and two ofits spin-offs. Sarah Jane is a dogged investigative journalist who first encounters alientime travellerthe Doctor while trying to break a story on a top secret research facility, and subsequently becomes histravelling companion on a series of adventures spanning the breadth of space and time. After travelling with The Doctor in four seasons of the show they suddenly part ways, and after this she continues to investigate strange goings-on back on Earth. Over time, Sarah Jane establishes herself as a committed defender of Earth fromalien invasions and other threats, occasionally reuniting with The Doctor in the course of her own adventures, all the while continuing to work as a freelance investigative journalist.
Sarah Jane is one of the Doctor's longest-serving companions, co-starring in 18 stories (80 episodes) with thethird andfourth incarnations of the Doctor, on the programme from 1973 to 1976 (seasons 11 – 14). She and robotic dogK9 appear in the 1981 television pilotK-9 and Company. She returned in the 20th-anniversaryFifth Doctor story "The Five Doctors" (1983) and the 30th-anniversary storyDimensions in Time (1993), then co-starred in two BBC radio serials with the Third Doctor (The Paradise of Death andThe Ghosts of N-Space), and starred in a series of spin-off audio dramas entitledSarah Jane Smith for independent production company Big Finish. After the television revival ofDoctor Who in 2005, she appears in several episodes with theTenth Doctor, and as the central character of her own seriesThe Sarah Jane Adventures from 2007 to 2011, which included appearances by both the Tenth andEleventh Doctors.
In April 2020, formerDoctor Who showrunnerRussell T Davies released an epilogue to Sarah Jane's story on the anniversary of Sladen's death, detailing various characters attending Sarah's funeral.[1]
Doctor Who producerBarry Letts offered the part of Sarah Jane to actressApril Walker, who accepted the role and was duly contracted by the BBC. During rehearsals forThe Time Warrior, it became clear toJon Pertwee and Letts that the two leads had little rapport and were physically mis-matched (it has been claimed that Pertwee demanded the part be recast, because Walker was too tall for the role[2]). Letts therefore released Walker from her contract (though she was still paid in full for season 11). Although committed to not talking about the issue in her release agreement, Walker began to discuss the circumstances surrounding her casting decades later. After giving some written interviews to fanzines, in May 2020 Walker gave an on screen interview to 'Time Space Visualiser' giving much further detail about the circumstances, including revealing later work alongside Pertwee. Walker admitted that although she understood Pertwee's thinking, she told him she would never forgive him for what he had done.[3] Letts began a second batch of auditions and saw Elisabeth Sladen after a recommendation from fellow BBC producer Bill Slater, who had twice cast the actress recently in separate episodes ofZ-Cars. Sladen performed her audition alongside actorStephen Thorne and after impressing Letts, he arranged for her to meet Pertwee before any decisions were made. Pertwee stood behind Sladen and gave a 'thumbs-up' to Letts who then offered her the role.[4][5]
Sarah Jane first appears in theThird Doctor serialThe Time Warrior (1973–74), where she has managed to infiltrate a top secret research facility by posing as her aunt, Lavinia Smith, a famousvirologist. Introduced as an ardentfeminist, Sarah Jane sneaks aboard theTARDIS and becomes embroiled in a battle against a militaristic alienSontaran in the Middle Ages who is kidnapping scientists from the present day. Subsequently, she accompaniesThe Doctor (Jon Pertwee) on several journeys in the TARDIS, and she also assists theUnited Nations Intelligence Taskforce led byBrigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney) on a number of occasions. After Pertwee's departure, Sladen remains following Season 11 finalePlanet of the Spiders (1974), in which The Doctorregenerates into theFourth Doctor (Tom Baker). In season 12's consecutive 1975 serialsThe Sontaran Experiment,Genesis of the Daleks andRevenge of the Cybermen, Sarah and male companionHarry Sullivan (Ian Marter) face the series' three iconic recurring creatures, the Sontarans, theDaleks and theCybermen. InGenesis Sarah is present at the creation of the Daleks and meets their creator,Davros (Michael Wisher). Sarah Jane departs in the Season 14 serialThe Hand of Fear (1976) after The Doctor receives a summons to his home planet,Gallifrey. Sladen has described Sarah as "a bit of a cardboard cut-out. Each week it used to be, 'Yes Doctor, no Doctor'..."[6]
Sladen declined an offer to return as Sarah Jane for Baker's final story,Logopolis (1981), andthe following season.[7] However, she agreed to reprise the role in a pilot episode for an Earth-based spin-off series,K-9 and Company, later in 1981. In the pilot episode, titled "A Girl's Best Friend", Sarah Jane receives the robot dogK9 Mark III (John Leeson) as a Christmas present from The Doctor. The pilot did not lead to a series, but the character reappeared inDoctor Who for the 1983 twentieth anniversary story "The Five Doctors", in which she is transported to Gallifrey byLord President Borusa (Philip Latham) to take part in the Game of Rassilon in The Death Zone devised by Time Lord founderRassilon (Richard Mathews). Here, Sarah is reunited with the Third Doctor, and also meets theFirst,Second andFifth. "The Five Doctors" shows that Sarah Jane still owns and is working with K9. The character made an appearance in the 1993Children in Need special (acrossover with long-running British soapEastEnders),Dimensions in Time, wherein various Doctors and companions are teleported toAlbert Square as part of a plot bythe Rani (Kate O'Mara). Though Sladen would not make any more officialDoctor Who television appearances until 2006, in the interval the actress reprised her role as Sarah Jane twice on BBC radio with Jon Pertwee, and in a series ofBig Finish audio dramas, and in the unofficialdirect-to-video spin-off filmDowntime (1995) alongside the Brigadier, Second Doctor companionVictoria Waterfield (Deborah Watling) and Leeson in a rare on-screen role.
FollowingRussell T Davies'2005Doctor Who revival, Sladen returned to the show in theSeries 2 episode "School Reunion" (2006). "School Reunion" revisits Sarah Jane, still working alongside K9 since "The Five Doctors", when she encounters theTenth Doctor (David Tennant) while they both investigate mysterious goings on at a school run byHeadmaster Finch (Anthony Head).Exposition in the episode reveals that, having waited years for The Doctor to return to her, Sarah Jane assumed he had died, though later came to suspect his involvement when witnessing the alien spaceship above London inDoctor WhoChristmas special "The Christmas Invasion". On meeting Sarah Jane, current companionRose Tyler (Billie Piper) reflects on her future after The Doctor. Though K9 Mark III still assists Sarah Jane, he has fallen into disrepair; after K9 Mark III sacrifices himself to save Sarah Jane and The Doctor, The Doctor leaves Sarah Jane a new K9 model, K9 Mark IV, and takes her advice by inviting Rose's boyfriendMickey Smith (Noel Clarke) aboard theTARDIS as his second companion. The success of "School Reunion" led to the development ofThe Sarah Jane Adventures, starring Sladen as Sarah Jane, produced byBBC Wales forCBBC.
InThe Sarah Jane Adventures, Sarah Jane investigates alien activity covertly from her manor house in Bannerman Road inEaling, driving an emerald greenNissan Figaro[8] and with the help of her sentient supercomputerMr Smith (voice of comedianAlexander Armstrong), as well as an alien activity scanner andsonic lipstick device. In the special premiere episode "Invasion of the Bane" (2007), Sarah Jane adopts a son:Bane creation, genetic archetype and boy geniusLuke Smith (Tommy Knight), and befriends her neighbourMaria Jackson (Yasmin Paige) during her investigation of Bane leaderMrs Wormwood (Samantha Bond). Sarah Jane remarks that since meeting them she is no longer content to live alone; she discloses she never married after parting from theFourth Doctor, to whom no one could ever compare. Sometime between "School Reunion" and "Invasion of the Bane", K9 has left Sarah Jane to close off ablack hole, occasionally passing close enough to contact her; due to the concurrent development of theK-9 television series, to which creatorBob Baker owns the rights, K9 only appears in two episodes of the first series.[9][10][11][12] In the first series, Sarah Jane learns how to be a mother to Luke, the while strengthening her friendship with teenage neighbour Maria, the person Sarah Jane "trusts the most". Along with Luke and his friendClyde Langer (Daniel Anthony) they defeat and repel various threats to the contemporary Earth. Among these threats, series one introducesThe Trickster (Paul Marc Davis), a cosmic being who makes alterations to the timeline to cause chaos and destruction; he becomes a recurring adversary for Sarah Jane. Sarah Jane finds a new enemy in theSlitheen, a family of criminal aliens originally seen inDoctor Who, and an ally in alien research scientist Professor Rivers (Floella Benjamin). Time travel scenes also depict 13-year-old Sarah Jane (Jessica Ashworth), for whom the death of her best friendAndrea Yates (Jane Asher) gave Sarah Jane her resolve to fight against loss of life.
Sarah Jane then reappears inDoctor Who in the two-partfourth series finale episodes "The Stolen Earth" and "Journey's End" (2008), whichcrosses over fromTorchwood andThe Sarah Jane Adventures. When Daleks invade Earth, Sarah Jane is summoned along withUNIT officerMartha Jones (Freema Agyeman) andTorchwood leaderCaptain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) byformer PMHarriet Jones (Penelope Wilton) to help The Doctor save the universe. On the Dalek ship Davros (Julian Bleach) recognises Sarah Jane from their encounter in the classic series' episodeGenesis of the Daleks. InThe Sarah Jane Adventures second series (2008), Maria moves away to America inThe Last Sontaran, and Sarah Jane befriends new neighbourRani Chandra (Anjli Mohindra) inThe Day of the Clown; the same episode featuresflashbacks to Sarah Jane's (Jessica Mogridge) childhood in her Aunt Lavinia's home. InThe Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith, Sarah Jane saves the lives of her parents, Eddie (Christopher Pizzey) and Barbara (Rosanna Lavelle) in 1951; by doing so she plays into The Trickster's hands, creating apost-apocalypticalternative universe in the present day. Learning of this however, her parents choose to die, becoming heroes to restore the timeline. In series two finaleEnemy of the Bane, Sarah Jane's old friend Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney) from UNIT assists her against united adversaries Mrs Wormwood andSontaranCommander Kaagh (Anthony O'Donnell). Sarah Jane feels threatened on a personal level by Mrs Wormwood's claim to be Luke's mother as his creator. Sladen has relatively scarce screen-time in "Sarah Jane-lite" serialThe Mark of the Berserker due to back-to-back filming. Though K9 makes no appearances in series two, he appears to assist Sarah Jane against Ambassador Ranius (Ronnie Corbett) in amini-episode forComic Relief (2009).
In series three (2009), Sarah Jane makes a new enemy in thebody-stealing alien Androvax (Mark Goldthorp) as well as a lukewarm ally in the form of the interplanetary police force, theJudoon (fromDoctor Who). In thesecond two-parter, Sarah Jane is able to recover K9 full-time (reflecting a real-world deal struck with the creators of the children's seriesK-9). In a crossover with the parent show, Sarah Jane reveals her intention to marry her secret fiancé, barrister Peter Dalton, inThe Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith. However, Dalton's involvement in Sarah Jane's life proves to be a scheme of The Trickster. The Doctorgatecrashes the wedding to foil The Trickster's plot to make Sarah Jane give up on alien hunting, and explains to Sarah Jane that The Trickster is a powerful member of the extra-dimensional so-called Pantheon of Discord. The serial clarifies that Sarah Jane owes her independent wealth to her Aunt Lavina's will. In 'Sarah-lite' two-parterMona Lisa's Revenge, Sarah Jane and Luke have their first argument as he progresses into histeenage years; they argue about the cleanliness of Luke's room. In series finaleThe Gift, though she is reluctant to use weapons or cause harm, when Luke falls deathly ill for the first time ever due to the machinations of the Blathereen-Slitheen, Sarah Jane takes up arms to confront them. In the episode's conclusion, regretfully she is forced to kill them using Mr Smith.
Sarah Jane next appears in the Tenth Doctor two-partDoctor Who finale, "The End of Time", in 2010. When The Doctor is slowly dying fromradiation poisoning, he makes timely visits to his close friends and companions; The Doctor saves Luke's life from an oncoming car on Bannerman Road (an inside joke by Russell T Davies commenting on actors' failure to look for cars before crossing the street because traffic is always stopped for them, something that he believes is especially important in a children's show) and bids a silent farewell to Luke and to Sarah Jane.
In the fourth season (2010) ofThe Sarah Jane Adventures, Sarah Jane sees Luke off to university in thefirst two-parter of the series, but continues her adventures alongside Rani and Clyde. The trio encounter theEleventh Doctor (Matt Smith), as well as Sarah Jane's immediate predecessor as The Doctor's companion,Jo Grant (Katy Manning), inDeath of the Doctor; aliens known as theShansheeth fake The Doctor's death as part of a plot to gain access to the TARDIS using Jo and Sarah Jane's memories.[13]The Empty Planet is this series' 'Sarah-lite' serial; with the rest of the population, Sarah Jane mysteriously vanishes, leaving Rani and Clyde to investigate without her. InLost in Time, Sarah Jane is sent back in time on a mission from the mysterious Shopkeeper (Cyril Nri). Sarah Jane is convinced to retire by an alien plot in theseries finale, earning a new nemesis and doppelgänger in Ruby White (Julie Graham); she is saved from Ruby when Luke drives down from university to her rescue.
Sladen's death ended the show in the middle of its fifth series, which aired in 2011. In itspremiere story, Sarah Jane adopts a new child in the form ofSky Smith (Sinead Michael), a genetically-engineered alien girl with abilities relating to electromagnetism; the Shopkeeper arranged for their encounter, but declines to explain his motives to Sarah Jane. Sarah Jane's final broadcast appearance comes in series five finaleThe Man Who Never Was. The final story ends with a short montage of archive footage and audio recordings celebrating Sarah Jane's journey from lone investigator to mother of two surrounded by friends. The series ends with the final caption: "And the story goes on... forever."
The cast and writers ofThe Sarah Jane Adventures produced a special 2020webcast epilogue for the show with a mix of narrated and acted elements entitled "Farewell, Sarah Jane". In the story, Sarah Jane's friends and many past companions of the Doctor return to London to attend her funeral. At the end of the webcast, Rani and Mr Smith speculate whether Sarah Jane actually did not die and instead went to travel the universe with the Doctor once more.[14][15]
In the60th Anniversary special, "The Giggle", it is confirmed that Sarah Jane has died. In the episode, the newlybi-generatedFifteenth Doctor reminisces with theFourteenth Doctor about all the loss that they have suffered up to that point in their lives. Among the names and events mentioned, the Fifteenth Doctor mentions that Sarah Jane is gone and both Doctors express their love for her.
In theTales of the TARDIS spin-off episode "Pyramids of Mars", theFifteenth Doctor tells his companionRuby Sunday (Millie Gibson) about Sarah Jane and that they were best friends and told her that she travelled with him during his first encounter with Sutekh. It is later revealed that the conversation took place during the events of "Empire of Death".
Sarah Jane appears in severalDoctor Who novels and short stories, notably in theEighth Doctor Adventures novelsInterference: Book One andInterference: Book Two byLawrence Miles; and thePast Doctor Adventures novelBullet Time byDavid A. McIntee, all taking place after she stops travelling with The Doctor. She appears in Ian Marter'sHarry Sullivan's War published by Target Books; Marter played companion Harry Sullivan in seven television serials. Different accounts of Sarah Jane's life have been given in theDoctor Who literature.Interference and theVirgin New Adventures novelChristmas on a Rational Planet, also by Miles, suggest that Sarah Jane married someone named Paul Morley sometime between 1996 and 1998 and took his name. In the short story "Lily" by Jackie Marshall, in Big Finish'sShort Trips: A Christmas Treasury, theFifth Doctor pays a visit to an older Sarah Jane, who has a daughter, Lauren, and anautistic granddaughter, Lily; Lauren's father is named Will. In the Past Doctor AdventureBullet Time, Sarah Jane is apparently killed—although the story is ambiguous about whether she actually dies—in 1997 when she sacrifices herself so that she cannot be used as a hostage to stop theSeventh Doctor from taking action to aid an escaping alien ship, contradicting her other spin-off appearances. However, the novel takes place during a story arc where enemies of The Doctor were attempting to eliminate his companions from the Timeline (revealed in the later novelSometime Never...), and Sarah Jane's death may have been reversed when those enemies are defeated. In any case, other stories have shown her alive after 1997. Sarah Jane was mentioned in the prologue of theVirgin Publishing novelisation ofThe Power of the Daleks by John Peel. It revealed that Sarah Jane was working asUNIT's official chronicler and that in "1996" she covered the aftermath of theCybermen's failed attempt to drain Earth of its energy and the technology left behind in their wake (The Tenth Planet, which was actually set in 1986).
Stories written as in-universe articles inDoctor Who Magazine Winter Special 1991 (subtitled "UNIT Exposed"), made statements about Sarah Jane's life after leaving the Fourth Doctor. She wrote a history of UNIT,Fighting for Humankind ("heavily vetted and evidently subjected to considerable censorship"), as well as a series of science fiction novels. These featured an extraterrestrial called The Doctor and his companion Nicola Jones, who frequently encountered WIN (World Investigative Network), commanded by General Lutwidge-Douglas. Titles includedDay of the Dinosaurs,Sutekh the Destroyer andThe North Sea Monster.[16]
Another in-universe article was written by Kevin W. Parker, Roving Reporter,[17] which was a biography of Sarah Jane from her childhood to the early 1990s. She grew up with her aunt Lavinia after her parents died in a car crash. She went to Caterham School For Girls and the University of Nottingham. She was engaged to Andrew Lofts, an aspiring television journalist; it didn't last. She ended up working with UNIT; her exact duties were never described. In the spring of 1981, she left UNIT after being hospitalised from an accident in a quarry. Afterwards she developed a romantic relationship withHarry Sullivan; they parted amicably and were still very fond of each other, and were still close friends, even to the time of the article. She wrote science fiction novelsWorld War Skaro andThe Monster at the End of Space which made it onto theTimes andNew York Times bestseller lists.
Though there are as yet no originalSarah Jane Adventures novels, many of the television episodes have been novelised.
Betweenseasons 13 and14, Sladen appeared as Sarah Jane, with Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor, in the audio playThe Pescatons, released on LP by The Decca Record Company Limited in 1976.[18] She also appeared with Baker in "The Time Machine", episode three of the BBC Radio 4 seriesExploration Earth broadcast on 4 October 1976. Also in 1976 she appeared as Sarah Jane alongside Tom Baker's Doctor in the first ever BBC Enterprises audio spin-off fromDoctor Who: a cassette and LP release of an abridged version ofGenesis of the Daleks, narrated by Baker. Sarah Jane (played by Sladen) appeared in two BBC Radio plays starring Jon Pertwee as The Doctor in the 1990s:The Paradise of Death andThe Ghosts of N-Space.
She also appears, voiced by Sladen, in her own range ofBig Finish audio dramas, consisting of nine stories released between 2002 and 2006.[19] This series came to an unexpected end when the character was given her own television series,The Sarah Jane Adventures, detailed above. There are loose allusions to the audio series in the television series, including Sarah Jane's ownership of a Volkswagen.
Sarah Jane appears in two audio stories based onThe Sarah Jane Adventures, released in November 2007 on CD:The Glittering Storm byStephen Cole andThe Thirteenth Stone byJustin Richards, with both stories read by series starElisabeth Sladen. This is the first time that BBC Audiobooks have commissioned new content for exclusive release on audio.[20] Further pairs of audio stories were released every year until 2010, again all read by Sladen.[20] In 2011, two audio stories were read by Daniel Anthony and Anjii Mohindra.
Sladen's daughterSadie Miller took over the role of Sarah Jane Smith for Big Finish audio dramas in 2021, first inReturn of the Cybermen in March, a reworking of Gerry Davis' 1974 original script which was eventually filmed asRevenge of the Cybermen, with Tom Baker as the fourth Doctor;[21] and then inThe Third Doctor Adventures in May, with Tim Treloar as the third Doctor.[22]
The canonicity of Sarah Jane's appearances in the audio dramas is, like allDoctor Whospin-off media, unclear, and they may not even take place in the same continuity as one another. For example, the novels' mention of Sarah Jane as having been married is contradicted by the laterSarah Jane Smith audio playDreamland, and theSarah Jane Adventures episode "Invasion of the Bane".
Sarah Jane Smith was consistently voted the most popularDoctor Who companion until the advent of the new series in 2005. Even in more recent times the character has continued to vie in popularity withRose Tyler,Donna Noble, andAce.[23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][excessive citations] Sladen felt that part of her popularity was working alongsidePertwee andBaker, who were popular Doctors.[31] Daniel Martin ofThe Guardian named her the best companion in 2007, writing that her "jolly-hockey-sticks good nature" made her so beloved.[32]The Daily Telegraph's Gavin Fuller also ranked Sarah Jane number one, praising Sladen's portrayal and saying that she displayed "great determination and bravery".[33]
In 2012,Toby Whithouse, who wrote Sarah Jane's return to the series in "School Reunion", said she was his favourite companion from the classic series.[34] Concerning the impact of the character, he said:
"Because she was a comic companion; and I think that she, more than any other before her, redefined the role of the companion. And there are elements of Sarah Jane Smith that you can see in every companion afterward down toAmy. She changed the companion from being a rather helpless hysteric to being a feisty, opinionated, strong equal to The Doctor. And, at the time, you know that was quite an extraordinary thing to do. That was not the role the companion, or women, were meant to be playing. They were meant to be playing the victim, they were meant to be decoration. I think what Lis Sladen did with that character is quite extraordinary. We forget how revolutionary she was at the time."[34]
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