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Elisabethan drama

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THE SARAH JANE ADVENTURES

SEASON TWO Elisabethan drama

2008 PG 337 mins £19.99 OUT NOW:

Creator: Russell T Davies

Cast: Elisabeth Sladen, Tommy Knight, Daniel Anthony, Anjli Mohindra, Alexander Armstrong ★★★★ Extras: ★★


Since the credit crunch, children's television has been under increasing pressure. So amidst all the cheap filler and American imports, it's good to see this Who spin-off flying the flag for original, homemade drama. It's cheap, of course - no fleets of expensively rendered Dalek saucers here. The default SJA approach is to have a single humanoid villain, and if a costume can be recycled from the prop store, all the better.

Creepy concepts and wit cost nothing though, and SJA is blessed with plenty of both. No doubt the SFX team of a decade's time will respond to many a reader's traumatising memories of children's TV with the phrase, "that was an episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures". Danny Anthony's wisecracking Clyde Langer remains a pleasure to watch (even if some of his gags are of Christmas cracker standard), the evolution of a dry sense of humour for super-computer Mr Smith is a welcome development, and new girl Rani is as cute as her parents are annoying...

What's really impressive about SJA is that, like its parent programme, it has such broadbased appeal. Middle-aged Who fans will find plenty to delight them, whether it's the long-overdue return of UNIT'S Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart, or the opening-up of vast, previously unexplored vistas of Sarah Jane's backstory. Kids, meanwhile, will benefit from seeing emotional issues like parental abandonment worked through in a non-patronising way. Of the many knock-on effects of Doctor Who's phenomenal success, one of the most indisputably positive is that SJA exists, and is encouraging a sense of wonder in the minds of a generation.

Extras: Pretty insubstantial - some interviews, synopses, a gadget glossary, a quiz, character profiles, gallery, trailers.

FACT ME!

SARAH JANE

  • In SJA, the character's always called "Sarah Jane" and "Sarah" is considered wrong, but in the original series the Doctor always just called her "Sarah".
  • A pilot for a spinoff called K-9 And Company aired in 1981, but wasn't picked up for a series.
  • Lis Sladen also reprised the role in 1983 special "The Five Doctors", Children In Need one-off "Dimensions In Time" (1993), and two '90s radio plays, The Ghosts Of N-Space and The Paradise Of Death.
  • Her car is an emerald green Nissan Figaro. Only 6,000 were produced in this colour.


Caption: John Barrowman was up to his mooning tricks again.

Disclaimer: These citations are created on-the-fly using primitive parsing techniques. You should double-check all citations. Send feedback to whovian@cuttingsarchive.org

  • APA 6th ed.: Berriman, Ian (issue 190 (Jan 2010)). Elisabethan drama. SFX p. 112.
  • MLA 7th ed.: Berriman, Ian. "Elisabethan drama." SFX [add city] issue 190 (Jan 2010), 112. Print.
  • Chicago 15th ed.: Berriman, Ian. "Elisabethan drama." SFX, edition, sec., issue 190 (Jan 2010)
  • Turabian: Berriman, Ian. "Elisabethan drama." SFX, issue 190 (Jan 2010), section, 112 edition.
  • Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=Elisabethan drama | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Elisabethan_drama | work=SFX | pages=112 | date=issue 190 (Jan 2010) | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=18 December 2024 }}</ref>
  • Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=Elisabethan drama | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Elisabethan_drama | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=18 December 2024}}</ref>


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