I heard the news that Elisabeth Sladen died on Twitter. Twitter is sometimes cruel and reports the death of actors that are still living so I had to wait to get an actual confirmation. I was 50% sure that this was a hoax because Elisabeth Sladen looked remarkably healthy. I was sometimes surprised at how healthy and energetic she looked. When I confirmed the news, I was crushed. I haven’t seen many of the pre-2005 Doctor Who episodes. In fact, I just saw my first Elisabeth Sladen appearance in an old Doctor Who (‘Ark in Space’) episode with Tom Baker just days ago. My first experience with Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith was with the tenth Doctor in ‘School Reunion’. I didn’t realize she had her own show until it was announced that David Tennant would guest on The Sarah Jane Adventures. I started with ‘Prisoner of the Judoon’ and have been watching every since. I found The Sarah Jane Adventures to actually be adventurous. I liked that it was light and easy to follow. Sarah Jane Adventures is the anti-Torchwood. The kids in the show are not not snot-nosed brats. They are mature young adults with the weight of the world on their shoulders. While Doctor Who was in the epic gap-year, SJA was my Whoverse fix. I don’t think that a lot of people gave SJA a far shot and unfairly dismissed it as a kids show. To be fair, for the most part it is but it had the ability to break out of it’s unexpected kiddy mold.

BBC reported that the fifth season of SJA will be the last. There are six episodes left to air and those will be in tribute to Elizabeth Sladen. I’d hoped that they would make her an honorary Time Lady and somehow continue the show that way. But with Tommy Knight as Luke going to college in real life, there is really only Daniel Anthony and Anjli Mohindra left. I’d hoped that perhaps Alex Kingston could some how fit into the role but let’s face it, Alex Kingston is more Torchwood than SJA.

I reluctantly look forward to the last episodes of The Sarah Jane Adventures. It will be interesting to see how the show ends.



BBC has a tribute page on the SJA website.

The Sarah Jane Adventures airs on BBC. Return date TBA.