WANT TO FEEL OLD? CONSIDER this: if The Sarah Jane Adventures were somehow personified as a human being (bear with us, this is a sci-fi mag), it would now legally be able to have sex, join the armed forces, drive a moped, and (best of all) purchase liqueur confectionery. Yes, terrifyingly, more than 16 years have passed since the spin-off show centred on Doctor Who’s most beloved companion debuted, on 1 January 2007. The brainchild of Russell T Davies (now once more ensconced in his throne as overlord of the Whoniverse), it’s still the apple of his eye.
The initial spark came on 8 September 2005, the day after Elisabeth Sladen shot her farewell scene for “School Reunion”, the Doctor Who episode which (31 years on from Sarah Jane Smith’s debut) saw her returning to the role alongside David Tennant’s Doctor. “I went to her hotel the next morning to say goodbye,” Davies tells SFX, “and her bedroom was full of gifts and cards and flowers. She said so many friends had been in touch. I thought, ‘Oh, you can’t let this go. There’s no way we’re just doing one episode. That would be mad!’
“When we put the episode together, she walked away at the end, and I thought that was a beautiful ending,” Davies continues, “But I also thought it was a bit sad. After all that emotional catharsis of life with the Doctor, she ends up with a tin dog [K-9] – that’s not much! So then I thought, ‘Right, we’ll bring her back every year.’ That was my original plan: every
