Sarah Jane’s Back
The second spin-off from the revived Doctor Who teevee series, The Sarah Jane Adventures, has finally completed casting and is now being written.
The show, starring Elisabeth Sladen as former Doctor Who companion Sarah Jane Smith (she co-starred with Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker from 1973 to 1976) plays an investigative journalist with a passion for extra-terrestial stories. Her previous life is only known to a trio of neighborhood children. Whereas the Doctor’s robotic dog K-9 appeared in the pilot, he/it is not expected to have a regular presence in this new series.
The pilot aired in England at the beginning of this year with a somewhat different cast. The Sarah Jane Adventures is oriented towards children in the way Torchwood is oriented towards adults, and is executive produced by Who honcho Russell T. Davies. No air date has been confirmed by the BBC.
Sladen has also played Sarah Jane in eight original full-cast audio adventures by Big Finish Productions.
Okay, there’s been all kinds of rumors about this year’s Doctor Who Christmas Special. People have been fighting about Australian pop star Kylie Minogue, and nobody’s been able to confirm her appearance. That’s fine; the last pop star (Billie Piper) turned out swell, so what the heck.
Susannah York, the honored British actress who played Lara in Superman The Movie and Superman II (not to mention such classy movies as They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? and The Killing of Sister George), is a featured player in Big Finish’s 96th regular monthly Doctor Who full-cast drama.
