| The Sarah Jane Adventures |
Once upon a time, a young reporter named Sarah Jane Smith met a time
traveller called the Doctor. In the TARDIS, Sarah witnessed wonders and
horrors beyond her imagination, from the dreaded Daleks to the evil god Sutekh. But all good things must
end, and eventually the Doctor was forced to return Sarah to Earth.
Twenty years later, Sarah Jane -- ever the intrepid reporter -- met the Doctor again. She
was reminded that life on Earth can be as much of an adventure as a life
spent travelling through time and space.
The Sarah Jane Adventures, a Doctor Who spin-off which ran
from January 2007 to October 2011, chronicled the remainder of her
story.
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Special (2007): Welcome To Bannerman
Road
First appearances of Maria, Luke, Kelsey, Mr Smith, Alan, Chrissie, Mrs
Wormwood and the Bane.
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Season One: New Beginnings
First appearances of Clyde, the Trickster and Professor Rivers.
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Season Two: Family Matters
First appearances of Rani, Haresh and Gita.
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Special (2009): The Two Ranis
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Season Three: All Our
Yesterdays
First appearance of Androvax the Veil.
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Season Four: The Circle Game
First appearance of the Shopkeeper.
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Season Five: A Life Of Adventure
First appearance of Sky.
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| Special (2007): Welcome To Bannerman
Road |
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Having been inspired to defend the Earth during her travels with the
Doctor, investigative journalist Sarah Jane
Smith continued to seek out new adventures from her home at 13
Bannerman Road in London.
Having previously played Sarah Jane in Doctor Who, Elisabeth Sladen (bio) made her first The Sarah
Jane Adventures appearance in Invasion Of The Bane (January
2007) and her last in The Man Who
Never Was (October 2011).
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Maria Jackson was Sarah's neighbour across the
road, who uncovered the truth about 13 Bannerman Road during the Bane's
attempt to invade the Earth.
Yasmin Paige (bio) made her first appearance as
Maria in Invasion Of The Bane
(January 2007) and her last in The
Mark Of The Berserker (November 2008).
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Luke Smith was a genetically engineered genius
created by the alien Bane, who was adopted by Sarah Jane and raised as
her son.
Tommy Knight (bio) made his first appearance as Luke
in Invasion Of The Bane
(January 2007) and his last in The
Man Who Never Was (October 2011).
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Kelsey Hooper was a friend of Maria's, who
assisted Sarah Jane's defeat of Mrs Wormwood and the Bane.
Porsha Lawrence-Mavour (bio) played Kelsey in Invasion Of The Bane (January
2007).
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Mr Smith was an alien Xylok who operated as
Sarah Jane's supercomputer, hidden within her attic chimney.
The voice of Mr Smith was provided by Alexander
Armstrong (bio) from Invasion Of The Bane (January
2007) to The Man Who Never
Was (October 2011).
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Although he was separated from Sarah Jane for a time, dedicating his
resources to closing a black hole which threatened Earth, the robot dog
K·9 was finally able to rejoin his mistress
and take his place at her side during her adventures.
Having previously provided the voice of K·9 in Doctor Who,
John Leeson (bio) did so in The Sarah Jane
Adventures from Invasion Of The
Bane (January 2007) to The
Nightmare Man (October 2010).
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Alan Jackson was Maria's father. Although
initially unaware of his daughter's adventures, he eventually became
another of Sarah Jane's valued allies.
Joseph Millson (bio) made his first appearance as
Alan in Invasion Of The Bane
(January 2007) and his last in The
Mark Of The Berserker (November 2008).
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Chrissie Jackson was Maria's mother and Alan's
ex-wife.
Juliet Cowan (bio) made her first appearance as
Chrissie in Invasion Of The
Bane (January 2007) and her last in The Last Sontaran (September
2008).
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The Sarah Jane Adventures completed the trio of Doctor Who
programmes to be steered by Russell T Davies
(bio), alongside
the parent show and Torchwood.
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Invasion Of The Bane by Russell T
Davies and Gareth Roberts, directed by Colin Teague
Maria Jackson has just moved onto Bannerman Road with her
recently-divorced father, Alan, when she becomes aware of strange
goings-on involving her reclusive neighbour, journalist Sarah Jane
Smith. Then things get even weirder when Maria's new friend, Kelsey,
invites her on a tour of a factory run by the supercilious Mrs
Wormwood, at which the addictive energy drink Bubbleshock is produced.
There Maria rescues a strange boy, and finds that she has nowhere to
turn for help but to Sarah Jane. Together, they must discover the
connection between Bubbleshock, the boy, and an alien plan to conquer
the Earth.
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In the wake of its return to television in 2005, Doctor Who had
endeared itself to a whole new generation of younger viewers. As a
result, Children's BBC asked executive producer Russell T Davies to
create a spin-off series which would appeal specifically to that
audience. The result was The Sarah Jane Adventures, which debuted
with a one-hour special, Invasion Of
The Bane, on New Year's Day 2007.
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| Season One: New Beginnings |
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Artist and class clown Clyde Langer became
Luke's best friend and a member of Sarah Jane's trusted gang after
helping to defeat the Slitheen scheme at Park Vale Comprehensive.
Daniel Anthony (bio) made his first appearance as
Clyde in Revenge Of The
Slitheen (September 2007) and his last in The Man Who Never Was (October
2011).
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Revenge Of The Slitheen by
Gareth Roberts, directed by Alice Troughton
It's Maria and Luke's first day at Park Vale Comprehensive, and they
soon befriend charming troublemaker Clyde Langer. But not everything
seems right: the food in the cafeteria has gone off, there's a
mysterious new technology wing, and some of the teachers have developed
an issue with flatulence. When a sudden power cut in the area impacts
even non-electrical energy sources, Sarah Jane becomes determined to
investigate. With the aid of her young friends, she discovers that
schools all over the world have been infiltrated by the Slitheen, who
intend to wreak their vengeance on the entire planet.
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Clyde joins Maria and Luke in helping Sarah Jane with her
investigations.
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Eye Of The Gorgon by Phil Ford,
directed by Alice Troughton
Maria is upset by her mother's decision to temporarily move back in with
Alan, while rumours of a ghostly nun lead Sarah Jane, Luke and Clyde to
the Lavender Lawns retirement home. There Luke befriends a resident
called Bea Nelson-Stanley, who is far more than her dotty facade would
suggest. For decades, Bea has been hiding an alien talisman, which she
now entrusts to Luke's care. The talisman is the key to a portal leading
to the planet of the Gorgons: the infamous monsters of Greek myth who
possess the power to turn people into stone. And the nuns who serve the
last Gorgon on Earth will stop at nothing to get it back.
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Warriors Of Kudlak by Phil
Gladwin, directed by Charles Martin
Lance Metcalf, a classmate of Maria, Luke and Clyde's, goes missing
following a visit to Combat 3000, a popular new laser tag facility.
Investigating, Sarah Jane discovers that there have actually been a
number of disappearances associated with Combat 3000 locations across
the country. The abductor is the alien General Kudlak, who is using the
game arena to identify young people with the greatest aptitude for
becoming warriors. Unbeknownst to Sarah Jane, however, Luke and Clyde
decide to participate in Combat 3000 -- and they soon become Kudlak's
latest targets.
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Whatever Happened To Sarah Jane?
by Gareth Roberts, directed by Graeme Harper
Maria wakes up one morning to discover, much to her horror, that she is
the only one who remembers Sarah Jane Smith. Clyde has never heard of
her, Luke is nowhere to be found, and a woman named Andrea Yates now
lives in Sarah Jane's house. To make matters worse, an enormous meteor
that Mr Smith was going to deflect is now on a collision course with
Earth. Maria becomes convinced that Andrea has something to do with her
vanished friend. But as she begins to uncover a tragedy in the distant
past that involves both women, will Maria become the next person erased
from history by the malevolent Trickster?
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The Lost Boy by Phil Ford,
directed by Charles Martin
The lives of Sarah Jane and her friends are thrown into turmoil when a
news report reveals that Luke is not an artificial creation of the Bane
after all, but an amnesiac boy named Ashley Stafford. While Sarah Jane
faces allegations of child abduction, Maria realises that she may never
be allowed to see her mentor again. Mr Smith encourages Sarah Jane to
take her mind off things by visiting the Pharos Parascience Institute,
where Professor Rivers introduces her to the brilliant but bratty young
Nathan Goss. Meanwhile, Maria and Clyde begin to unearth a conspiracy
involving an old foe... and one of their closest allies.
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The Sarah Jane Adventures experienced its first cast change
almost immediately. Reflecting on the character dynamics of Invasion Of The Bane, Russell T
Davies decided that the programme would benefit from a better gender
balance amongst its main cast. As a result, Porsha Lawrence-Mavour's
Kelsey Hooper was dropped, to be replaced by Daniel Anthony's Clyde
Langer. The resulting set of five stories proved to be an enormous
success for the CBBC digital channel, which scored its largest-ever
audiences by the end of the season.
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| Season Two: Family Matters |
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Rani Chandra was an aspiring journalist who
succeeded Maria as Sarah Jane's neighbour across the road, and proved to
be equally adept at helping to defeat all manner of extraterrestrial
threats to the Earth.
Anjli Mohindra (bio) made her first appearance as
Rani in The Day Of The Clown
(October 2008) and her last in The Man Who
Never Was (October 2011).
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Haresh Chandra was Rani's father, and Luke and
Clyde's principal at Park Vale school.
Ace Bhatti (bio) made his first appearance as
Haresh in The Day Of The
Clown (October 2008) and his last in The Curse Of Clyde Langer
(October 2011).
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Gita Chandra was Rani's mother, as well as
owner of the florist shop Bloomin' Lovely.
Mina Anwar (bio) made her first appearance as Gita
in The Day Of The Clown
(October 2008) and her last in Sky (October 2011).
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While Russell T Davies continued to oversee the broad creative direction
of the programme, Phil Ford (bio) assumed the role of lead writer on
The Sarah Jane Adventures.
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The Last Sontaran by Phil Ford,
directed by Joss Agnew
Strange lights in the sky draw Sarah Jane, Maria, Luke and Clyde to a
radio tracking station. There they find a teenaged girl called Lucy
Skinner, whose scientist father is behaving very strangely. Searching
the nearby woods, they discover a spaceship piloted by Commander Kaagh,
the last survivor of the Sontarans' recent Earth invasion. Kaagh is
determined to avenge his people by manipulating the tracking station's
technology to crash artifical satellites down onto the world's nuclear
reactors, with apocalyptic results. But even as she strives to stop
Kaagh, Maria must grapple with the prospect of leaving Bannerman Road
forever.
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Maria decides to move away with her father so that he can accept a new
job.
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The Day Of The Clown by Phil
Ford, directed by Michael Kerrigan
Luke and Clyde's new classmate, Rani Chandra, has moved with her family
into the Jacksons' former home on Bannerman Road. Sarah Jane is
determined to prevent Rani from getting involved in her adventures,
until she learns that the girl is being haunted by a malevolent clown.
Clyde becomes convinced that the clown is connected to a spate of
disappearances from their school. With Rani's help, they deduce that all
of the missing children had a ticket to Elijah Spellman's circus museum.
When they confront Spellman, he reveals that he is not only Odd Bob the
Clown... but also the Pied Piper of old.
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Rani fills the void in the Bannerman Road gang left by Maria.
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Secrets Of The Stars by Gareth
Roberts, directed by Michael Kerrigan
One night, a blazing light from the heavens strikes a small-time shyster
named Martin Trueman. Within weeks, Trueman has risen to fame for his
uncanny astrological ability: seeing into the past and predicting the
future. When Sarah Jane attends one of his demonstrations, she's
unnerved by the extent to which he is able to divine her history with
the Doctor. But when she confronts Trueman about the source of his
abilities, he becomes hostile, warning her against interfering with the
power of the Ancient Lights. Although Sarah Jane is unbowed, she is
unaware that Trueman's malign influence already extends to one of her
friends.
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The Mark Of The Berserker by
Joseph Lidster, directed by Joss Agnew
Rani discovers that one of her classmates has found an alien pendant
which allows the wearer to control the minds of others. But the power
comes at a terrible cost, and she is able to retrieve the artefact and
bring it to Sarah Jane's attic for safekeeping. However, Sarah Jane is
out of town, and Luke is staying with the Langers. Without warning,
Clyde's long-absent father, Paul, shows up and expects to reconnect with
his son. Clyde is reluctant, but he inadvertently gives his dad the
opportunity to steal the pendant. Paul quickly finds the lure of its
power irresistible -- and one of his first acts is to make Clyde forget
all about his friends.
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The Temptation Of Sarah Jane
Smith by Gareth Roberts, directed by Graeme Harper
In August 1951, Eddie and Barbara Smith inexplicably left their infant
daughter, Sarah Jane, by the side of the road. Moments later, they
perished in a traffic accident. In the present day, Sarah Jane discovers
a time fissure which leads back to her home town of Foxgrove in the
summer of 1951. Although she suspects a trap, she and Luke travel back
in time, where Sarah Jane finds herself unable to resist altering the
course of events to save her parents' lives. In the process, she
succumbs to a plot by the Trickster to corrupt history -- leaving Clyde
and Rani to confront the Trickster's minion, the Graske, on a ruined
Earth.
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Enemy Of The Bane by Phil Ford,
directed by Graeme Harper
Mrs Wormwood returns, desperate for Sarah Jane's help. She explains that
she is now being hunted by the Bane, due to her failure during their
attempted invasion of Earth. In retaliation, she wants to foil the
Bane's plan to resurrect an ancient interstellar conqueror named Horath.
To do so, she requires information stored in UNIT's Black Archive, and
Sarah Jane reluctantly agrees to seek assistance from her old friend,
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. But Mrs Wormwood has formed a secret
alliance with Sontaran Commander Kaagh. The plan to revive Horath is
theirs -- as a first step to their domination of the galaxy.
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The regular cast of The Sarah Jane Adventures remained in flux
during its second season. With Yasmin Paige's education precluding her
participation in every episode, it was decided to write the Jackson
family out of the programme in the opening serial, The Last Sontaran. In the next
story, The Day Of The Clown,
Rani Chandra and her family were introduced to fill the void left by the
Jacksons. Meanwhile, perennial Doctor Who favourite Brigadier
Lethbridge-Stewart -- played once again by Nicholas Courtney -- made an
appearance in the season finale, Enemy Of The Bane. His return
coincided with the fortieth anniversary of the Brigadier's Doctor
Who debut.
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| Special (2009): The Two Ranis |
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From Raxacoricofallapatorius With
Love... by Gareth Roberts and Clayton Hickman, directed by Joss
Agnew
Ambassador Rahnius of the Galactic Alliance teleports into Sarah Jane's
attic. He claims to have been despatched to extend the Alliance's
gratitude to Sarah Jane for her many accomplishments. But when K·9
appears, he accuses the Ambassador of being a Slitheen in disguise.
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| Season Three: All Our
Yesterdays |
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Prisoner Of The Judoon by Phil
Ford, directed by Joss Agnew
Sarah Jane and her friends investigate what they expect to be a
meteorite, but which turns out to be a crashed Judoon prisoner
transport. It was carrying an intergalactic serial killer named Androvax
-- a Veil, capable of inhabiting the bodies of others. Sarah Jane forges
an uneasy alliance with Judoon Captain Tybo in an effort to recapture
Androvax, but she falls prey to the Veil herself. Now in possession of
all of Sarah Jane's knowledge and weapons, Androvax sets his sights on
Genetec Systems -- whose nanobot technology will help him escape the
Earth, or destroy it in trying.
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The Mad Woman In The Attic by
Joseph Lidster, directed by Alice Troughton
Rani is feeling alienated from Sarah Jane, Luke and Clyde. When her old
friend Sam asks her to come back home to Danemouth to investigate a
mystery, she's quick to accept. Stories of disappearances at a derelict
amusement park lead Rani to an alien girl named Eve, who crashlanded on
Earth and was hidden in the park by its caretaker, Harry. But Eve and
her damaged vessel possess devastating powers that transcend time and
space, and when Sarah Jane and her companions come looking for Rani,
their actions may put their own futures at risk...
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The Wedding Of Sarah Jane Smith
by Gareth Roberts, directed by Joss Agnew
Sarah Jane has a surprise for Luke: she's been secretly dating a man
named Peter Dalton, and has accepted his proposal of marriage. Luke is
delighted to see his mother so happy, but Clyde and Rani are suspicious
-- especially when it turns out that nobody has lived in Peter's house
for several weeks. They're unable to convince the others that anything
is amiss, however, and the day of the wedding quickly arrives. But Peter
does indeed harbour a dark secret: he is a pawn of the Trickster, and
not even the arrival of the Doctor may be enough to spare Sarah Jane.
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The Eternity Trap by Phil
Ford, directed by Alice Troughton
Professor Rivers of the Pharos Institute invites Sarah Jane to
participate in her investigation of Ashen Hill Manor. The estate has
been plagued by rumours of hauntings and mysterious disappearances for
centuries, dating all the way back to 1665, when it was home to the
purported alchemist, Erasmus Darkening. Sarah Jane is skeptical at
first... until Professor Rivers vanishes as well. With spirits roaming
the secret passages that riddle the house, and something malevolent
stalking the grounds after dark, Sarah Jane and her friends must find
out what really happened in Ashen Hill Manor three hundred and fifty
years ago.
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Mona Lisa's Revenge by Phil
Ford, directed by Joss Agnew
Clyde has developed a talent for art. Luke secretly entered one of his
pieces in a contest, and it has won their class a trip to see the
Mona Lisa, which is on display at a London gallery. But something
hidden in the bowels of the gallery brings the painting to life, and
Mona Lisa turns out to be a sinister woman gifted with unearthly powers.
She forces the weak-willed curator, Lionel Harding, to help her search
the gallery for her mysterious “brother”. And when Sarah
Jane arrives to investigate, Mona Lisa traps her inside a painting --
leaving Luke, Clyde and Rani to stop the threat on their own.
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The Gift by Rupert Laight,
directed by Alice Troughton
Sarah Jane uncovers a new scheme by the Slitheen to destroy the Earth,
but the villains are stopped by the Blathereen, members of another
family on Raxacoricofallapatorius. The Blathereen profess nothing but
goodwill towards the human race, and offer Sarah Jane the gift of
Rakweed, a hardy and nutritious plant which can grow in even the most
hostile of environments. Although Sarah Jane does not entirely trust the
Blathereen, she decides to take a chance and accept the Rakweed --
little realising that the Blathereen have their own sinister designs on
Earth.
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For the third season of The Sarah Jane Adventures, an agreement
was reached for K·9 to join the main cast, and so the events of The Mad Woman In The Attic were
arranged to provide K·9 with a release from the extra-dimensional space
in which he had been voluntarily trapped since Invasion Of The Bane. A new
broadcast schedule was introduced for the programme, which now aired
twice weekly.
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| Season Four: The Circle Game |
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The Nightmare Man by Joseph
Lidster, directed by Joss Agnew
Luke is wracked with insecurity after he decides to take early admission
to Oxford University. As the day of his departure from Bannerman Road
looms, he finds himself dreaming for the first time ever. But what he
experiences are terrible nightmares, which play upon his worries about
leaving his home, mum and friends behind. These dreams are actually the
work of an entity which calls itself the Nightmare Man, who is feeding
upon Luke's fears in order to manifest in the real world. Once the
Nightmare Man walks the Earth, he will plunge all humanity into an
eternal state of bad dreams...
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Luke leaves for university, accompanied by K·9.
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The Vault Of Secrets by Phil
Ford, directed by Joss Agnew
Androvax the Veil returns to Earth, but this time he claims to be
seeking Sarah Jane's help. Dying from an incurable poison, Androvax is
trying to recover a spaceship which carries the cryogenically-frozen
survivors of his doomed planet. The trail has led him to a mysterious
vault hidden beneath a disused asylum in London, but it is guarded by
androids led by the impassive Mister Dread. With the fate of an entire
species at stake, Sarah Jane is forced into an uneasy alliance with one
of her most sinister enemies, little realising that Androvax's designs
may have terrible consequences for the Earth.
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Death Of The Doctor by Russell T
Davies, directed by Ashley Way
UNIT arrives at Sarah Jane's door with terrible news: the Doctor is
dead, his body brought to Earth by alien undertakers called the
Shansheeth. Sarah Jane refuses to believe that her friend is gone for
good, but she nonetheless agrees to travel to a UNIT base for the
Doctor's hastily-assembled funeral. She isn't the only skeptic: also in
attendance is Jo Jones, Sarah Jane's predecessor aboard the TARDIS, who
is equally convinced that the Doctor is still alive. But when Clyde
discovers that he and the Doctor share an unexpected connection, it's up
to him, Rani and Jo's grandson Santiago to uncover the Shansheeth's
scheme.
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The Empty Planet by Gareth
Roberts, directed by Ashley Way
One night, Mr Smith detects an untraceable alien signal. Nothing seems
amiss... until the next morning, when Rani and Clyde awaken to find that
Sarah Jane, their parents, and indeed everybody on Bannerman Road have
all vanished. Even Mr Smith does not respond to their commands. Heading
into town, they find that London is deserted, with only a frightened boy
named Gavin left behind. But suddenly, strange sounds fill the air,
alien symbols appear on every television screen, and robots roam the
streets. Can Clyde and Rani solve the mystery of the empty planet?
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Lost In Time by Rupert Laight,
directed by Joss Agnew
Sarah Jane is summoned by the mysterious Shopkeeper, who warns her that
three fragments of chronosteen, a metal forged in the time vortex, have
been lost in the Earth's past. Chronosteen has the power to change
history, and so the Shopkeeper sends Sarah Jane, Clyde and Rani back in
time, each with a mission to recover one of the pieces. Clyde finds
himself fighting Nazis along the English coast. Rani becomes caught up
in the intrigue of the court of Lady Jane Grey. And Sarah Jane must
unearth the secret of a haunted house, and its tragic connection to the
future...
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Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith by
Clayton Hickman and Gareth Roberts, directed by Joss Agnew
Sarah Jane is feeling old, her memory becoming unreliable. When she and
her friends confront a platoon of Dark Horde warriors, she forgets vital
equipment and endangers them all. Only the intervention of a mysterious
adventurer called Ruby White averts disaster. Ruby quickly develops a
rapport with Clyde and Rani; she is assisted by an AI called Mr White
and has even moved in just down the road. Sarah Jane begins to consider
retirement, and she views Ruby as her natural successor. But Ruby is
actually a Qetesh: an alien entity which feeds on thrills... and no
human leads a more exciting life than Sarah Jane Smith.
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The real-life obligations of its young stars again influenced the
direction of The Sarah Jane Adventures during its fourth season,
with Tommy Knight's educational commitments prompting him to reduce his
role. As Luke headed off for an early start to university, K·9 went
with him, reflecting the expiry of the agreement which had permitted the
robot dog to enjoy a more substantial presence during the previous
season.
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| Season Five: A Life Of Adventure |
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Bred to be a weapon in a genocidal alien war, Sky
Smith was spirited away by the mysterious Shopkeeper and brought
to Earth to be raised by Sarah Jane as her daughter.
Sinead Michael (bio) made her first appearance as
Sky in Sky (October 2011) and
her last in The Man Who Never
Was (October 2011).
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Sky by Phil Ford, directed by
Ashley Way
An alien baby is abandoned on Sarah Jane's doorstep, prompting her to
investigate the child's mysterious background. She soon discovers the
presence of two aliens in London: a humanoid Fleshkind and a boron-based
Metalkind, representatives of species which have been at war for
generations. The baby, whom Sarah Jane names “Sky,” is a
genetically-engineered weapon which was developed by the Fleshkind.
However, their plan to wipe out the Metalkind will endanger not only
Sky, but the entire Earth -- and when Sky abruptly ages to teenagerhood,
Sarah Jane realises that time is running out.
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Sky decides to remain on Earth with Sarah Jane.
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The Curse Of Clyde Langer by
Phil Ford, directed by Ashley Way
When fish rain from the sky above Ealing, Sarah Jane and her friends are
drawn to a recently-unearthed totem pole which is being displayed at a
local museum. Clyde messes about with the exhibit, and winds up with a
livid splinter. He thinks nothing of it until the next day, when
everyone suddenly turns against him: Sarah Jane orders him out of her
house, Rani says she hates him, and even his mum wants nothing to do
with him. Only Sky is immune but, while she tries to get to the bottom
of the strange sequence of events, Clyde is left to eke out a life for
himself on the streets of London with the help of his new friend, Ellie.
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The Man Who Never Was by
Gareth Roberts, directed by Joss Agnew
Sarah Jane is invited to a special advance preview of the SerfBoard, a
revolutionary new computer created by the reclusive Joseph Serf. She is
accompanied by Luke and Sky, who are startled to spot Serf
“glitching” during his presentation, as if he were some kind
of hologram. More chillingly, some of the other journalists in
attendance start to behave strangely, leading them to wonder if the
SerfBoard is exerting an unnatural influence. Soon Sarah Jane and her
family discover that there are aliens working in a secret subbasement at
Serf Systems... but there is more to the Skullions' activities than they
initially suspect.
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For budgetary and logistical reasons, three of the six stories planned
for the fifth season of The Sarah Jane Adventures were actually
filmed alongside the 2010 run. They included the introduction of a new
regular character, Sky Smith, who was created to provide a younger
protagonist now that Luke, Clyde and Rani were growing up. Sadly,
production on the season's latter half would never take place. A few
weeks before filming was due to resume in Spring 2011, Elisabeth Sladen
was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer; she died on April 19th. It was
quickly decided that no further episodes of The Sarah Jane
Adventures would be made, although the three remaining stories were
broadcast in October 2011 as a tribute to the show's unforgettable
star.
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