‘Not as daft as they look, for two batty old pensioners and a bunch of ASBO kids.’ This is the kind of thing 1990s fans, indoctrinated against the twin evils of fanwank and Season 24, can barely believe exists: an episode steeped in continuity with the Doctor battling puppet vultures with past companions – broadcast on BBC One. It’s RTD’s final Doctor Who script for 12 years, and plays like it: a kiss goodbye to the show he resurrected using the characters he loved himself as a kid.

Continue reading →

‘The Claw Shansheeth of the 15th Funeral Fleet. I’ve been looking for you. Have you been telling people I’m dead?’ Tackling death and bereavement in a CBBC show is a tricky thing. The first half of this takes the notion of the Doctor’s death, a subject RTD previously tackled in Turn Left, but makes it personal. Sladen is magnificent in Sarah Jane’s stubborn denial, with the slightly mad pitch of her voice as she declares she’s fine despite all evidence to the contrary.

Continue reading →

‘I think we’ve got a few things to talk about when this is all finished, Sarah, my darling.’ For most of its run time I thought this was going to actually tackle the question of whether Sarah Jane or the Men in Black have the right to hide the truth. Rani certainly has conscience pangs, ‘we thought it was funny, pretending we didn’t know anything about aliens. It’s not much of a joke now’, and, to Mr Dread, ‘We didn’t ask you to come and brush all those alien ships under the carpet.’ But come the end it’s all resolved with a comedy mind wipe as Ocean and Minty sadly conclude the aliens always win. At least Sarah Jane looks briefly contrite.

Continue reading →

‘Prepare to be incinerated.’ Probably Phil Ford’s best opening episode so far, managing to balance the CBBC comedy of BURPSS (British UFO Research and Paranormal Studies Society) with some interesting moments of reflection and moral complexity. There are a couple of scenes where Sarah Jane’s self-assumed responsibility for hiding the existence of aliens bumps up against the reality of members of the public who have had their own close encounters. In Gita’s case it’s played for laughs, but Ocean Waters has lived her life haunted by what happened to her in 1972, and Elisabeth Sladen has the savvy to make Sarah squirm in the face of it, having been almost smugly sassy during their first meeting.

Continue reading →

‘Don’t forget me, will you.’ This effectively explores the worst fears of Rani and Clyde. Rani’s nightmare is to be a gutter journalist, forced to present the news without knowing what she’s doing or going to say. Clyde’s is to be left behind, in a dead-end job. Meanwhile, Sarah Jane pulls on all her resources, and Mr Smith and K9 join forces to contact Luke in the dreamworld. In a genius stroke, without needing to banish Sarah Jane to the realm of nightmares, we get a glimpse of what her worst fear – a senile, bitter, lonely old woman – might look like.

Continue reading →

‘Get ready for the end of the world, Luke. An eternal sleep of nightmares.’ The Scary Jane Adventures launches with its most grownup episode to date. It’s the first one that could pretty much play out as an episode of Torchwood (complete with the presence of Julian Bleach as a sinister, dreamlike figure). Quite what the CBBC audience made of it I don’t know (although I expect by this stage a chunk of viewers had grown up with the show). I love it.

Continue reading →