It has been nine years since Elisabeth Sladen, known to millions of “Doctor Who” fans as Sarah Jane Smith, passed away. Now, Whovians finally have a chance to say goodbye as former “Who” showrunner Russell T. Davies released a 15-minute audio epilogue for “The Sarah Jane Adventures,” the spinoff series that featured the beloved TARDIS companion.
The youthful narrator is Jacob Dudman, who has played the Doctor in several audio dramas. The epilogue reveals that Sarah Jane had died alongside Sladen. All of her friends from Bannerman Road are there at her funeral, including Clyde Langer, Rani Chandra, and her adopted son Luke. Her funeral is also attended by two fellow companions of the Doctor, Jo Grant and Ace, played once again by Katy Manning and Sophie Aldred.
Sarah Jane (Sladen) was perhaps the most well-known classic companion of the Doctor, travelling with both the Third (Jon Pertwee) and Fourth (Tom Baker) incarnations of the Time Lord. She returned triumphantly in the second series of the re-booted show, alongside David Tennant and Billie Piper, and her comeback was so successful she got her own spin-off, called The Sarah Jane Adventures, which aired on CBBC. The Sarah Jane Adventures lasted five seasons, and saw cameos from leads David Tennant and Matt Smith during its run. When Sladen died in 2011, production of the show had to be halted, and several planned stories (and a proper send-off for the character) were scrapped.
With all of Britain on lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic, Davies took the extra time to write a proper send-off to Sarah Jane and the woman who played her.
Along with releasing Farewell, Sarah Jane, Davies also gathered fans for a livetweet rewatch of Journey’s End, one of the final episodes of his run as head writer of Doctor Who. Sladen and the rest of the Sarah Jane Adventures cast appeared in the episode as all the characters from the show’s past four seasons teamed up to help the Doctor stop Davros, the creator of the Daleks.
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