The Sarah Jane Adventures

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The Sarah Jane Adventures

Logo of The Sarah Jane Adventures
Genre Science Fiction
Drama
Creator(s) Russell T. Davies
Starring Elisabeth Sladen
Yasmin Paige
Country of origin Flag of United Kingdom United Kingdom
Language(s) English
No. of episodes 1 (as of 1 January 2007) (List of episodes)
Production
Running time 60 min (pilot)
30 min (series)
Broadcast
Original channel BBC One
CBBC Channel
Picture format 720x576 16:9
Links
Official website
IMDb profile
Portal:Doctor Who
 Doctor Who Portal

The Sarah Jane Adventures is a British children's television series, produced by BBC Wales for CBBC, starring Elisabeth Sladen and created by Russell T. Davies. The programme is a spin-off of the long-running BBC science fiction programme Doctor Who, and focuses on the adventures of investigative journalist Sarah Jane Smith. The series debuted on BBC One with a 60-minute special on 1 January 2007. A full series of ten 30-minute episodes[1] will follow later in the year.[2] The series will be made up of five two-part stories.[3] It is set in roughly contemporary West London.

Contents

[edit] Cast and crew

In addition to Sladen, the programme stars Yasmin Paige as Sarah Jane's 13-year-old neighbour Maria Jackson, Porsha Lawrence Mavour as Maria's friend Kelsey Harper, and Thomas Knight as a boy named Luke, who has been adopted by Sarah Jane after the pilot episode.

Cast from left to right: Porsha Lawrence Mavour as Kelsey, Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith, Yasmin Paige as Maria and Thomas Knight as Luke
Cast from left to right: Porsha Lawrence Mavour as Kelsey, Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith, Yasmin Paige as Maria and Thomas Knight as Luke

The pilot episode featured Samantha Bond as "the scheming Ms Wormwood".[2] Joseph Millson appears as the father of Maria.[4]

The executive producers for The Sarah Jane Adventures are Davies, Phil Collinson and Julie Gardner. Susie Liggat produced the pilot, but Matthew Bouch will produce the series.

Co-writer Gareth Roberts, writing in Doctor Who Magazine, said, "We're all determined that this will be a big, full-blooded drama; that nobody should ever think of it as 'just' a children's programme."[5]

[edit] Background and development

In 2006, Children's BBC expressed an interest in producing a Doctor Who spin-off. Their initial idea was "a drama based on the idea of a young Doctor Who", but Russell T. Davies vetoed this. "Somehow, the idea of a fourteen-year-old Doctor, on Gallifrey inventing sonic screwdrivers, takes away from the mystery and intrigue of who he is and where he came from," said Davies. He suggested instead a series based on the Doctor's former companion Sarah Jane Smith.[6]

The character of Sarah Jane, played by Sladen, appeared in Doctor Who from 1973 to 1976, alongside Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor, and later Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor. A pilot for another Doctor Who spin-off series, K-9 and Company, made in 1981, featured Sarah Jane and the robot dog K-9; however, the option to make a series was not picked up. Sarah Jane and K-9 returned to Doctor Who in various media many times over the years, most notably in the 20th anniversary special "The Five Doctors" (1983) and in the 2006 episode "School Reunion".

Sarah Jane is frequently voted the most popular Doctor Who companion by both Doctor Who fans and members of the general public. [7] The prospect of a new television series focusing on Sarah Jane was first rumoured in The Sun in March 2006, prior to the airing of "School Reunion"; the report at that time suggested that Sarah Jane and K-9 would both appear in the series.[8] The fact that a Sarah Jane series was being developed was first confirmed in the BBC's in-house newsletter, Ariel, in early August 2006.[9][10][11] These early rumours were associated with the working title Sarah Jane Investigates.[9]

K-9 briefly appeared in the special, but will not be in the series.[2] This is due to the concurrent development of K-9 Adventures, which is not associated with the BBC and will not feature any Doctor Who connections beyond K-9 himself.[12]

[edit] Merchandising

Character Options have been awarded a license to produce Sarah Jane Adventure play sets, action figures, and a 'Sonic Lipstick' toy.[13]

[edit] Story connections to the Doctor Who universe

Sarah Jane has her own sonic screwdriver, disguised as a lipstick, which she refers to as "sonic lipstick". The official website notes that the Doctor left the lipstick, along with a "watch that scans for alien life" for Sarah Jane hidden inside K-9 Mark IV.[14] The watch is capable of identifying alien species and their home planets,[15] and the sonic lipstick is apparently "useless as a lipstick".[16]

Sarah Jane explains in the pilot that the series is set at least a year and a half after the events of School Reunion.

A clip on the BBC website shows that Sarah reported on various incidents from Doctor Who, including the invasion of the dinosaurs, which was later "revealed" to be mass hallucinations caused by contaminants in the water supply, a reference to Torchwood character Rhys' explanation for the perceived Cybermen invasion. In the pilot episode, Maria's father attributed zombie-like behaviour to a chemical leak at the Bubble Shock! factory, triggering hallucinations.

The first episode features a "star poet" from the planet Arcateen 5, of the same race as Torchwood's "Mary" from "Greeks Bearing Gifts".

[edit] Pilot

Sarah Jane Smith in a scene from the pilot episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures
Sarah Jane Smith in a scene from the pilot episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures

The 60-minute pilot, titled Invasion of the Bane, was co-written by Russell T. Davies and Gareth Roberts.[11] The story focused on Sarah Jane's investigation of a popular and addictive soft drink called Bubble Shock! (The 1993 Doctor Who novel by Roberts, The Highest Science, featured an addictive drink named bubbleshock.)

Sarah Jane is shown driving a Nissan Figaro car with pale green bodywork and white roof in 1950s styling, reminiscent of the grey Peugeot 403 car associated with famous TV detective Columbo.

[edit] Series

Production on the full series is due to begin in April 2007.[17] Two of the five two-part stories will be scripted by the pilot's co-writer Gareth Roberts; one other is due to be written, subject to other work commitments, by executive producer Russell T Davies, and one more by Bad Girls and New Captain Scarlet writer Phil Ford.[17] Phil Gladwin will also write one story.[18]

[edit] References

  1. ^ (2006-11-08 (cover date)) "Sarah's Adventures". Doctor Who Magazine (375): 4. 
  2. ^ a b c BBC (2006-09-14). Russell T Davies creates new series for CBBC, starring Doctor Who's Sarah Jane Smith. Press release. Retrieved on 2006-09-14.
  3. ^ Cook, Benjamin (2007-01-03 (cover date)). "TV Preview: The Sarah Jane Adventures". Doctor Who Magazine (377): 27. 
  4. ^ "Fantasy role for ex-EastEnder", Metro, 2006-12-08. Retrieved on December 10, 2006.
  5. ^ Roberts, Gareth (2006-11-08 (cover date)). "Production Notes". Doctor Who Magazine (375): 66. 
  6. ^ Russell, Gary (2006). Doctor Who:The Inside Story. London: BBC Books, 252. ISBN 0-563-48649-X. 
  7. ^ Doctor Who: Elisabeth Sladen talks. bbc.co.uk (2006-06-07). Retrieved on August 2, 2006.
  8. ^ Nathan, Sara. "Dr Who's K9 gets a lead", The Sun, 2006-03-04. Retrieved on August 2, 2006.
  9. ^ a b Lyon, Shaun (2006-08-01). Sarah Jane Investigates. Outpost Gallifrey News Page. Retrieved on August 2, 2006.
  10. ^ Wright, Mark (2006-08-02). With apologies.... The Stage. Retrieved on August 6, 2006.
  11. ^ a b (2006-09-13 cover date) "SARAH JANE INVESTIGATES!". Doctor Who Magazine (373): 5. 
  12. ^ Nazzaro, Joe. "Who's Sarah Jane Gets Own Show", Sci Fi Wire, Sci Fi Channel, 2006-09-28. Retrieved on September 28, 2006.
  13. ^ C21 Media (January 30, 2007). Licensees for Charlie and Lola, Sarah Jane. Press release. Retrieved on 2007-01-30.
  14. ^ The Sarah Jane Adventures: Tour.
  15. ^ BBC - Mr Smith Video Console - Scanner Watch
  16. ^ BBC - Mr Smith Video Console - Sonic lipstick
  17. ^ a b Hickman, Clayton; Spilsbury, Tom (2007-01-31 cover date). "Writing Sarah". Doctor Who Magazine (378): p. 5. 
  18. ^ Hickman, Clayton; Spilsbury, Tom (2007-03-28 cover date). "Sarah Jane Update". Doctor Who Magazine (380): p. 6. 

[edit] External links

The Sarah Jane Adventures  v • d • e 
The Sarah Jane Adventures related articles
Doctor Who • Whoniverse • Sonic lipstick
Mr. Smith • K-9 • Third Doctor • Fourth Doctor • Tenth Doctor
Main characters
Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) • Maria Jackson (Yasmin Paige)
Luke Smith (Tommy Knight) • Kelsey Harper (Porsha Lawrence Mavour)
Related Doctor Who and Torchwood episodes and serials
"The Time Warrior" • "The Hand of Fear" • "School Reunion" • "Greeks Bearing Gifts"
The Sarah Jane Adventures lists
Episodes • Monsters and aliens • Minor characters • Planets
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