Legendary Doctor Who star Elisabeth Sladen passed away last night, losing her long bought with Cancer. The Doctor Who star played Sarah Jane Smith one of The Doctor’s Original companions. She revised the role that made her famous a few years ago in the BBC Spin-Off “The Sarah Jane Smith Chronicles.” It was one of my favorite shows, the first two seasons aired on BBC America, but Series Three never aired in the states and I’m pretty sure Series Four was filmed and scheduled to air on BBC sometime this spring. Elisabeth died at the age of 63. Elisabeth we’ll miss you!
Sarah Jane Smith was widely regarded as The Doctor’s best companion, appearing as she did [and holding her own] with both the third and fourth Doctors [Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker] before reappearing in The Tenth Doctor’s run and getting her own series. Smith was written as a liberated journalist – this was in a time when women’s lib was a relatively new thing – and Elizabeth Sladen played her with a panache that most of the Doctor’s companions [male and female] lacked.
Sladen had a knack for giving the occasionally boisterous, always curious and ferociously intelligent Smith a depth that went beyond what was on the page. When she was startled by a Who villain, Smith might scream but she’d pull herself together and carry on – and Smith always made that believable. And Sladen made it believable when Smith provided inspiration for The Doctor to save the day – something that happened more frequently during the Sarah Jane years than with any other companion [at least until Rose Tyler showed up].
When Doctor Who rebooted with Christopher Eccleston as Doctor Nine, Billie Piper’s Rose Tyler was, essentially, a pre-career Smith [minus the tendency to scream] and Piper’s performance reminded strongly of Sladen.
The Sarah Jane Adventures was the only second series headlined by a former companion [an attempt to feature Smith and K-9 only got to the pilot stage] after Torchwood [and Captain Jack Harkness hadn’t been a companion for very long] and while a lot of Rose Tyler fans thought there should have been a Rose Tyler series instead, Sladen’s The Sarah Jane Adventures pulled in terrific ratings and was frequently as good as the best of both the show’s parent series and fellow spin-off. Sarah Jane Smith as a Whovian character was second to none save The Doctor. That she worked as both a secondary character and a lead is mostly due to the fine work of Sladen.
Every indication is that Sladen was as wonderful a person in real life as Smith was on TV. I cannot recall even one negative thing said about her – except for when she was interviewed and was the very model of British self-deprecation and modesty.
As a fan of Doctor Who since day one, with the William Hartnell Doctor, I saw and enjoyed every episode that featured Smith, as well as the first three seasons of The Sarah Jane Adventures, and she – and thus Sladen – will always have a special place in my heart.
Farewell Elizabeth Sladen; farewell Sarah Jane Smith. You will not be forgotten.