Sarah Jane Investigates

[Theta Sigma]

The Sarah Jane Adventures

Another spinoff:
From Outpost Gallifrey:
"Sarah Jane Investigates
TV Series NewsAugust 1, 2006
The BBC's in-house newsletter Ariel today released information suggesting the identity of the second Doctor Who spinoff series that has bee rumored for the past several months, one that will bring back Elisabeth Sladen, who appeared last season in the episode "School Reunion". Says the item, "CBBC is developing a spin-off series from Doctor Who based on the adventures of investigative journalist Sarah Jane, played by Elizabeth Sladen, and to be written by Russell T Davies. Sladen, who originally played the Doctor's assistant in 1973, returned for the last series where she was seen vying with young Rose Tyler for the Doctor's affections." Outpost Gallifrey has heard from a variety of sources that the working title on this is Sarah Jane Investigates. There is currently no word as to when this might appear; we'll keep you posted."

 

[Theta Sigma]

Latest update:
According to Outpost Gallifrey's source the plan is to record a pilot before launching a series (sounds like the exact situation with K-9 and Company) with a tentative broadcast date on New Year's Day.

 

[Theta Sigma]

The BBC has issued a press release. The spin-off has now undergone a name change to The Sarah Jane Adventures. It will start off with a 60 minute special in early 2007 with a full series due later in the year. To my absolute delight the special will feature Samantha Bond (Moneypenny in the James Bond movies.
The press release:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2006/09_september/14/sarah.shtml

"Russell T Davies creates new series for CBBC, starring Doctor Who's Sarah Jane Smith

Category: TV Drama; Children's
Date: 14.09.2006
Multi-award winning writer Russell T Davies has written a brand new series for CBBC called The Sarah Jane Adventures. It stars one of The Doctor's most famous companions, investigative journalist Sarah Jane Smith.
Russell T Davies says: "Children's TV has a fine history of fantasy thrillers - I loved them as a kid, and they were the very first things I ever wrote. So it's brilliant to return to such a vivid and imaginative area of television."
The series begins with a 60-minute special which will be broadcast in early 2007 with the series due later in the year.
Set in present-day West London, the programme stars original Sarah Jane actress Elisabeth Sladen and Yasmin Paige, who plays her 13-year-old neighbour Maria.
The two form an unlikely alliance to fight evil alien forces at work in Britain.
Elisabeth says: "I left Sarah Jane but she never left me. I can't wait to return to Cardiff to find out what's going to happen to her next."
In the special, Maria and Sarah Jane are brought together in their battle against the scheming Ms Wormwood, played by Samantha Bond.
Filming begins next month on location in Wales, with the series going into production in spring 2007.
Creative Director of CBBC, Anne Gilchrist, says: "CBBC viewers have already proved themselves to be enormous fans of Dr Who. I am thrilled that they'll now have this new series as an extra-special treat."
Sarah Jane Smith was a companion to the third and fourth Doctors, Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker, and was a regular in the series from 1973 to 1976.
She made a recent return in the 2006 episode School Reunion opposite David Tennant, the tenth Doctor.
Russell T Davies' hugely successful Doctor Who has a Christmas Special due this year, with a third series broadcast in Spring 2007.
The hotly-anticipated Torchwood, following the adventures of Captain Jack, begins this autumn on BBC THREE.
The Sarah Jane Adventures is written by Russell T Davies and Gareth Roberts. It was commissioned by Jane Tranter for BBC Drama, and Anne Gilchrist and Jon East for CBBC. It is produced by BBC Wales and will transmit on the CBBC Channel and CBBC on BBC onE.
The Executive Producers are Julie Gardner and Russell T Davies. The Producer of the special is Susie Liggat and the Director is Colin Teague. The Producer of the series is Matthew Bouch and the Series Producer is Phil Collinson.

Notes to Editors

K-9, the faithful robot dog and Sarah Jane's goodbye present from The Doctor, makes an appearance in the special but will not appear in the series."

 

[Theta Sigma]

Found out from Wikipedia that as reported by DWM 375, the full series following on from the hour-length debut will consists of ten 30-minute episodes.

 

[Theta Sigma]

A clip of the series can now be accessed at the Doctor Who BBC site and click on 9 on the Advent Calender:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/

 

[Theta Sigma]

The official BBC site of Sarah Jane Adventures has been launched at www.bbc.co.uk/sja but the contents of it are only available to UK people only. Non-UK people are directed to an FAQ explaining why it has been restricted to the UK. It says it is for the rights reason.

 

[Theta Sigma]

According to Lis Sladen herself production on the full series of Sarah Jane Adventures has been delayed due to production problems with Torchwood:
http://www.sarahjanetv.blogspot.com/
"Hi Captain, went to the SF Ball in Bournemouth last Saturday. Thought you might like to see enclosed pic of Elisabeth Sladen on stage (above). She was really lovely; but said the "Sarah Jane Adventures" is delayed because of production problems on Torchwood. Regards, Soaps."

 

[Theta Sigma]

Outpost Gallifrey has reported that the full series finally started production on April 16.

Gareth Roberts has confirmed that he will be writing the first and fourth adventures for the series. Other episodes are being written by Phil Ford, Phil Gladwin, and a possible script from Russell T Davies. Alice Troughton is directing the first four episodes.

 

[Theta Sigma]

Outpost Gallifrey has reported via Doctor Who Magazine about the stories and its writers:
Adventures One and Four by Gareth Roberts
Adventures Two and Five by Phil Ford
Adventures Three by Phil Gladwin

No script by Russell T Davies but is still executive producer.

 

[Theta Sigma]

There is now an indication on when the full series will start.

Outpost Gallifrey has reported via a press release http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2007/07_july/16/cbbc.shtml that the full series will be part of CBBC's autumn season. This means that it will start in the UK in September at the earliest.

 

[Mister Saxon]

Thats awesome! Thanks for the information

 

[Ryan]

That's good, i've been wondering what had happened to it.

 

[Theta Sigma]

You're Welcome.

Outpost Gallifrey has reported that Jane Asher will be a guest star in the series.

It is not her first involvement in the world of Doctor Who as she appeared as Susan, the Doctor's granddaughter in the BBC Radio 4 play Whatever Happened To . . . Susan Foreman? in 1994.

 

[Theta Sigma]

Not an exact date but the full series will start at the end of this month in the UK [with plot details about the first story]:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2007/09_september/06/sarah.shtml

"The new series The Sarah Jane Adventures sees the return of some familiar alien enemies from Doctor Who as the Slitheen are back and out for revenge.

Coming to CBBC on BBC one and CBBC at the end of September 2007, The Sarah Jane Adventures stars one of Doctor Who's most famous former companions – investigative journalist Sarah Jane Smith.

The series is from the same people behind Doctor Who including multi-award winning writer Russell T Davies.

Having travelled the universe with The Doctor, Sarah Jane is used to dealing with alien encounters.

But when her young friends Maria, Luke and Clyde join her they soon become embroiled in a mysterious world of chases, danger, and monsters from outer space, discovering that life on Earth can be an adventure too.

In Revenge Of The Slitheen, the first two-part story from the new series, Maria, Luke and Clyde realise that all is not as it seems on their first day at their new school.

The food keeps going off, there's a funny smell and the new technology block is hiding some dark secrets. They soon find out that the Slitheen have disguised themselves as teachers as part of their deadly plan which threatens the future of Earth.

Will Sarah Jane and the gang be able to stop them all before it's too late?

Executive Producer Russell T Davies says: "This is a wonderful opportunity, to use all our Doctor Who resources here in Cardiff for the making of a brand new drama for CBBC.

"We hope brand new viewers join us for ten full-blooded episodes of excitement and danger, headlined by a truly excellent cast."

Sarah Jane Smith is played by Elisabeth Sladen who also starred as Sarah Jane in the Seventies Doctor Who series as a companion to the third and fourth Doctors.

Maria Jackson, Sarah Jane's neighbour and sidekick, is played by Yasmin Paige. Luke Smith, Sarah Jane's adopted son who was created by aliens, is played by Thomas Knight, and Daniel Anthony plays the streetwise Clyde.

Elisabeth Sladen says: "It's great to be back enjoying Sarah Jane with some fantastic new adventures. There's still so much more to find out about her after all these years.

"I hope that viewers have as much fun watching the series as I did making it."

The new ten-part series of The Sarah Jane Adventures features five stories each told over two episodes.

Guest stars in future episodes include Jane Asher, Phyllida Law and Floella Benjamin.

Revenge Of The Slitheen is written by Gareth Roberts who also writes for Doctor Who. The Executive Producers are Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner and Phil Collinson. The series producer is Matthew Bouch.

The series follows a special episode Invasion Of The Bane broadcast at New Year.

The Sarah Jane Adventures is part of the new-look CBBC which launched on 3 September 2007."

 

[Theta Sigma]

The full series will have its [UK] debut on September 24 as it has been revealed in the following link (with the same plot details about the first story that I posted before):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/proginfo/tv/wk39/mon.shtml#mon_slitheen

 

[Theta Sigma]

The official BBC site of Sarah Jane Adventures has been launched at www.bbc.co.uk/sja but the contents of it are only available to UK people only. Non-UK people are directed to an FAQ explaining why it has been restricted to the UK. It says it is for the rights reason.

Non-UK people are now able to see the website and it looks impressive.

 

[Theta Sigma]

Adam Kirk posted at Outpost Gallifrey that the Sydney Sun Herald has reported that the Australian ABC will screen the series sometime next year but the ABC is yet to confirm this.

 

[Theta Sigma]

Issue 193 of Data Extract, the Magazine of the Doctor Who Club of Australia reports on Russell T Davies confirming that the Sarah Jane Adventures. However based on reports made at the Doctor Who Forum, Davies is not responsible for giving the final go-ahead for the second season. That decision belongs to the BBC which still have not formally given such a go-ahead. However when the BBC Press Office announced that Executive Producer Julie Gardner will depart next year, she will continue with her Executive Producing duties for Doctor Who, Torchwood & Sarah Jane Adventures throughout this year.

 

[Theta Sigma]

Lis Sladen has been interviewed in SFX:
SFX: the leading science fiction, fantasy and horror magazine

She revealed she will be appearing in Doctor Who season 34 and that season 2 of the Sarah Jane Adventures is definitely happening and will have 24 episodes.

 

[Theta Sigma]

Picked up from DoctorWhoNews.com:
Digital Spy has quoted a source from the BBC saying that no decision has been made on the second season despite what Lis said in the SFX interview.

The SFX article has been updated suggesting that the 24 episodes may represent two seasons being filmed back to back meaning that if confirmed a third season will be made with 12 episodes each for the said two seasons.

 

[Theta Sigma]

Since the last post in this thread, season 2 has definitely been confirmed.

I finally finished seeing season 1. Very good and a lot of fun.

 

[Theta Sigma]

I have just found out that it has been confirmed in the latest issue of DWM that Phil Ford is now the new Head Writer of the series.

 

[Syf]

I just wanted to point out a little tidbit of "cross-universe" stuff.

The Sara Jane series has started here in the US finally on the Sci-fi channel. Tonight was the third night for the series. I'm not sure what the episode was called. (it's the second episode of the gorgons or "medusa" worshiping nuns, or it was in the episode that followed... Sorry, dealing with 4 kids at the same time leaves my memory of the events a bit shady). But anyways, to the point, there was a piece of "Star Trek" in this episode. On the wall when Sara was going through some papers in her "secret lair", was a Federation Galactic map originally seen in Star Trek TNG. Funny how Trek pops up where you'd least expect it, like a DW spin-off.

 

[Theta Sigma]

To Australian fans:
I recently finished listening to the CD release Doctor Who At The BBC: The Tenth Doctor narrated by Lis Sladen which included at the end a sneek peak into The Sarah Jane Adventures with filming on the first episode Invasion of the Bane. Nothing much is given away and the inclusion of this on the release means that in general this is the only exposure of The Sarah Jane Adventures to most Australian viewers until the ABC or some other network picks it up.

 

[Theta Sigma]

Major classic Doctor Who series character appears in The Sarah Jane Adventures:

Spoiler

The Brigadier is back. Nicholas Courtney reprises his role of the Brigadier in The Sarah Jane Adventures rather than in the parent programme Doctor Who.

As reported at DoctorWhoNews.com the same story of the Brigadier's appearance will also apparently see the return of the Sontarans, seen in several classic Doctor Who series stories and more recently in season 34. Samantha Bond is also believed to be returning as Mrs Wormwood, the character she played in the pilot episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures, The Invasion of the Bane.

 

[Theta Sigma]

To Australian viewers:
This was picked up at DoctorWhoNews.com in the This Week in Doctor Who page:
According to the Science Fiction South Australia (sfsa) website a buyer has been found for The Sarah Jane Adventures:
BBC Worldwide has sold the first two seasons of the series to Nickelodean Australia.

SFSA - The South Australian Doctor Who Fan Club Inc. - News

 

[Theta Sigma]

Sarah Jane Adventures begins on Nickelodean Australia on Friday October 31 7pm:
Airdate: The Sarah Jane Adventures : TV Tonight
"Nickelodeon has confirmed it has picked up the rights to The Sarah Jane Adventures, another spin-off from Doctor Who.

It will premiere Friday October 31 at 7pm.

The series stars Elisabeth Sladen who first appeared in the role in 1973 as a regular companion of the Fourth Doctor. Sladen also appears in the season finale of Who on the ABC this Sunday night.

Pitched as a children’s series, the spin-off began with a special in January 2007 in the UK before the full series aired later in September. A second season launches next week in the UK.

Press Release:
From the team that brought you the original ‘Doctor Who’ comes the spin-off series, Sarah Jane Adventures. Sarah Jane Smith is a truly remarkable woman. A former journalist and companion to Doctor Who, she inhabits a world of mystery, danger and wonder. A world where aliens are commonplace and the Earth is constantly under threat.

Sarah Jane’s young friends – Maria, Luke and Clyde – are put in a world that they couldn’t have imagined before they meet Sarah Jane. Nothing will ever be ordinary for them again as they join her and become embroiled in a world of adventure, mystery, alien objects and monsters.

From the monstrous Slitheen, to the mysterious veiled Abbess and the sinister Mrs Wormwood, Sarah Jane and her companions fight to confound Earth’s foes – with a little help from Mr Smith her highly advanced alien computer, her newly (and genetically grown) adopted son Luke Smith, a sonic lipstick, which can open locked doors and her scanner watch, which can detect alien lifeforms and identify them."

 

[Theta Sigma]

Australian broadcasting update on SJA:
For those who do not know, SJA began with the hour long Invasion of the Bane as the New Year special for 2007.

It was then followed by the first season which is made up of 10 half-hour episodes. These 10 episodes is divided into five 2-parters.

The Optus Guide for SJA's start date on Nickelodean on Friday October 31 has the programme scheduled for 7-8pm which takes into account the length of Invasion of the Bane.

However according to the November issue of Optus Magazine SJA is scheduled for each Friday in November from 7-7:50pm.

This means that Nickelodean is screening both episodes of a story on each Friday rather than as an individual episode per screening.

 

[Theta Sigma]

Australian broadcasting update:
I had another look at the November issue of Optus Magazine - in addition to its Friday slot, it looks like the half hour episodes of The Sarah Jane Adventures will be shown individually on Nickelodean starting on Sunday November 3 6:30pm.

Interestingly the hour long first episode Invasion of the Bane is going to be shown as two half hour episodes.

 

[Theta Sigma]

To Australian viewers:
In the last couple of SFX's Doctor Who specials they had an Anatomy of An Episode pie chart showing what elements of a Whoniverse episode is made of.

For the first episode of SJA, Invasion of the Bane to be shown tonight on Nickelodean it is the following from this year's special:
Annoying Kids 5%
Doctor Who 10%
Pop Culture 10%
Toxic Soft Drinks 15%
Aliens 20%
Sarah Jane's Back 40%