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Sarah Jane Smith travelled with the Doctor between The Time Warrior and The Hand of Fear. Resourceful Freelance journalist Sarah Jane Smith met the Doctor while posing as her scientist Aunt Lavinia, in an attempt to infiltrate UNIT's security. Stowing away in the TARDIS, she found herself in mediaeval England, helping the locals fight off a Sontaran invasion. Sarah was a new breed of companion in one respect. She WAS independent
and a fierce feminist, even extolling her views about women’s
rights to the ladies both above and below stairs, of the medieval
castle and to the queen of Peladon. She was loyal to The Doctor and deeply fond of him. When he was mortally wounded in the fight with the Metebelis spiders, she cried over his body, only to find him regenerated into a new, younger Doctor. After the initial confusion her affection deepened and many viewers wondered if this could be the first Doctor companion romance, but the scriptwriters kept everything strictly platonic. Sarah was starting to feel the strain of the adventures with The Doctor and threatening to leave when he was called to return to his home planet and he knew he could not take her with him. He brought her back to what he said was South Croydon, but she soon realised it was not. Sarah Jane’s story did not end there, though. Later, he sent her the Mk.3 version of K-9, and she appeared in a short-lived adventure with him. Then, finally, in 2006, she was reunited with The Doctor. The idea that she and The Doctor had been more than just friends was re-ignited in the emotionally charged School Reunion when she was bitter towards him for never coming back, implying that she never married because no man ever measured up to him. Mickey’s reference to ‘the missus and the ex’ – Rose and Sarah, the verbal argument between Rose and Sarah, and even Mr Finch’s temptation of The Doctor, promising him that Sarah could be with him forever, never aging, all suggest that those fans who saw a romance back in the 1970s were not far wrong. But they parted as friends once more, with Mark IV K9 as a parting gift and Sarah’s new adventures see her leading a bachelorete life as she battles aliens on Earth with her sonic lipstick and a computer called Mr. Smith.
Sarah Jane was again reunited with The Doctor when the Daleks stole the Earth for use in their plan to destroy the whole universe except for Dalek life. She and her adopted son, Luke, and Mr Smith played an important role in helping The Doctor find the missing planets and later in defeating the Daleks and bringing the Earth back to the solr system.
Sarah Jane and Luke had one last encounter with The Tenth Doctor when he saved Luke from being run over by a car. Without being told, Sarah Jane knew that she would not see him in that incarnation again.
Following this, she began work at the Liverpool Playhouse repertory company as an assistant stage manager. Her first stage appearance was as a corpse. However, she was scolded for giggling on stage, thanks to a young actor, Brian Miller, whispering the words, "Respiration nil, Aston Villa two" in her ear while he was playing the doctor. Elisabeth was so good as an assistant stage manager that she did not get many acting roles, a problem she solved by deliberately making mistakes on several occasions. This got her told off again, but she started to get more on-stage roles. Elisabeth eventually moved into weekly repertory work, traveling
around to various locations in England. Elisabeth and Brian, now married,
moved to Manchester, spending three years there. She appeared in numerous
roles, most notably as Desdemona in Othello, her first appearance
as a leading lady. She also got the odd part on Leeds Radio and Granada
Television, eventually appearing as a barmaid in six episodes of the
long-running soap opera Coronation Street. She made her first, uncredited,
screen appearance in 1964 in the iconic Liverpool film Ferry 'Cross
the Mersey as an extra. In 1972, Brian Miller was appearing a play that moved down to London, and they had to move along with it. Elisabeth found city life a bit of an adjustment, but eventually adapted. Her first television role in London was as a female terrorist in an episode of Doomwatch. This was followed by guest roles in Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em and Z-Cars.
Elisabeth arrived at the audition not knowing it was for the new companion role and was amazed at Letts's thoroughness. She was introduced to Jon Pertwee, whom she found intimidating at the time. As she chatted with Letts and Pertwee, each time she turned to look at one of them the other would signal a thumbs-up. She was offered and accepted the part of investigative journalist Sarah Jane Smith. Elisabeth Sladen stayed on Doctor Who for three and a half seasons, alongside both Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor and Tom Baker as the Fourth, receiving both popular and critical acclaim for her role as Sarah. When she left the series in 1976, it made front page news, where previously only a change of Doctors had received such attention. Elisabeth returned to Liverpool with her husband and did a series of plays. Notable appearances following that include a two-year stint as a presenter for the children's program Stepping Stones, a role as a stand-up comic's spouse in Take My Wife, and a small part in the movie Silver Dream Racer as a bank secretary in 1980, only her second motion picture appearance to date. The new decade also marked her first appearance at a Doctor Who convention, Who 1 in March 1980, along with Ian Marter, who had played companion Harry Sullivan on the programme. In 1981, Barry Letts cast her as the female lead in the BBC Classics production of Gulliver in Lilliput. New Doctor Who producer John Nathan-Turner had asked her to return to the series to ease the transition between Tom Baker and new Doctor Peter Davison. She declined the offer, but accepted his second offer of doing a pilot for a spin-off series called K-9 and Company, co-starring with K-9, the popular robot dog from Doctor Who. However, the pilot was not picked up for a series. Elisabeth would reprise the role of Sarah in 1983 for the 20th anniversary special The Five Doctors. She continued to appear in various advertisements and in another Barry Letts production, Alice in Wonderland (playing the Dormouse), as well as attending conventions in the United States. After the birth of her daughter Sadie Miller in February 1985, Elisabeth went into semi-retirement, placing her family first, but still finding time to appear occasionally on television. Elisabeth's last TV appearance as Sarah before the 2005 revival of Doctor Who was in the 1993 charity special Dimensions in Time, however she also appeared as Sarah in the 1995 independently produced video "Downtime", from Reeltime Pictures, which also featured Nicholas Courtney as the Brigadier and Deborah Watling as Victoria Waterfield. Elisabeth returned to the role of Sarah once again in several audio plays. Two of them were produced for BBC Radio, The Paradise of Death (Radio 5, 1993), and The Ghosts of N-Space (Radio 2, 1996), together with Jon Pertwee as the Doctor and Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. Big Finish Productions has also produced two series of Sarah Jane Smith audio adventures set in the present day, released in 2002 and 2006. Elisabeth also appeared in a Bernice Summerfield audio drama, Kate Orman's Walking to Babylon, but not as Sarah Jane. Her daughter Sadie has also appeared in the Sarah Jane Smith audios. Elisabeth appeared as Sarah in School Reunion, an episode of the 2006 series of the revived Doctor Who, along with John Leeson who returned as the voice of the robot dog K-9 and David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor. In the lead-up to the broadcast of School Reunion, Elisabeth was quoted in The Daily Mirror being somewhat critical of the characterisation of Sarah Jane in the original programme: "Sarah Jane used to be a bit of a cardboard cut-out. Each week it used to be, 'Yes Doctor, no Doctor', and you had to flesh your character out in your mind — because if you didn't, no one else would." She spoke more favourably of the characterisation in the new series. The Sarah Jane Adventures, another television spin-off focusing on Sarah Jane, produced by BBC Wales for CBBC and written by Russell T. Davies and Gareth Roberts, aired as a 60-minute special on New Year's Day 2007, with a full series to follow later in the year.
Film and TV "Doctor Who"
Sarah Jane Adventures Invasion of the Bane (1 January 2007) - Sarah
Jane Smith
Before Doctor Who "Faith in the Future" .... Sophie
(1 episode, 1996)
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Elisabeth
Sladen was born on February 1, 1948 in Liverpool. She was an only
child whol developed an interest in performing at an early age, beginning
dance lessons when she was five and dancing in one production with
the Royal Ballet. She eventually turned to acting, and after finishing
grammar school, attended drama school for two years.
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