Tuesday, April 26, 2011

My Sarah Jane – A Tribute To Elisabeth Sladen

Sarah Jane: “Don’t forget me.”
The Doctor: “Oh, Sarah, don’t you forget me.”

It took me a while to watch this tribute to Elisabeth Sladen, who sadly passed away four days before transmission of the sixth series of Doctor Who but congrats to CBBC for coming up with a lovely tribute to the late actress in such short notice.

A host of different people that the actress worked with contributed to this 15 minute programme – recent Doctors such as David Tennant and Matt Smith, former companion actress Katy Manning, Lis’s younger co-stars Daniel Anthony, Tommy Knight and Anjili Mohindra as well as John Barrowman and Russell T. Davies.

The tribute gave up some of the best clips from Sarah Jane’s 37 year TV run as well as some interesting comments. John Barrowman wisely noted how a lot of modern day companions are influenced by Sarah Jane and it’s easy to see where he’s coming from as well and David Tennant lamented about the character being part of his childhood.

Most touching was Barney Edwards talking about the celebration of the character’s impact (and the actress) as opposed to mourning her loss but I did get a laugh out of Katy Manning labelling Sarah Jane the ultimate Who girl (or something to that effect). Definitely the highlight of the 15 minutes here.

- Lots of clips were used from both Doctor Who and The Sarah Jane Adventures but none from K9 And Company.
- Nice use of Adele and Elvis Costello here, musically.
- Poor Daniel Anthony and Tommy Knight looked drained during this.
- Shame Tom Baker didn’t make a contribution but what he had written about Elisabeth Sladen was lovely.

Definitely worth watching but an all too sad a reminder that one of the most iconic and influence companions is sadly no longer with us. Fandom is a sadder place without our Sarah Jane Smith.

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