In which Sarah Jane Smith and her young companions are working in the attic when an alarm sounds. They are visited by a small man dressed in business suit and bowler hat. He claims to have come from the Galactic Alliance to pass on thanks for all the help Sarah and her team have given to protect the Earth from alien threats. The man gives his name as Rhanius - or Rani for short. Rani Chandra points out that there are now two Rani's present...
He explains that he has just come from the golf course where he was playing Brucifax and Tarbulon, then presents them all with headwear which look suspiciously like deeley boppers. He pulls up a chair and begins to tell them a story about fork handles (one that would probably have been long and rambling, with many detours) but he is interrupted when they hear the sound of breaking wind. Rhanius claims that it must be the chair, but Sarah and her friends are not convinced.
Sure enough, Mr Smith identifies the newcomer as a Slitheen. The deeley boppers are activated and cause everyone to become frozen on the spot. K9 arrives, but Rhanius puts a wheelclamp on him.
Rhanius unmasks and reveals that he is going to steal K9. Clyde is able to turn on an energy reversal device attached to Mr Smith, and Rhanius finds that he is now immobilised and his captives are free. He is sent back to where he came from - presumably the planet Raxacoricofallapatorius...
From Raxacoricofallapatorius With Love was written by Clayton Hickman and Gareth Roberts, and was broadcast on the night of 13th March 2009 as part of the BBC's biannual Comic Relief telethon. (Hickman was editor of DWM between 2002 - 2007, and with Roberts has written a number of Doctor Who spin-off materials. He was also the DVD range cover designer until 2012).
It is a mini-episode (of 5m 10s duration) of The Sarah Jane Adventures, with comedy actor Ronnie Corbett as its guest star. The SJA team pretty much play it as they would a normal episode, whilst the script is littered with Two Ronnies references.
There is the two Rani's gag, and he was famous for his rambling anecdotes sitting in front of the audience. The "fork handles" sketch is without doubt the comedy duo's best known piece. Sarah says "And it's goodnight from him..." as Rhanius is teleported away - the line Ronnie Barker always closed their show on.
Corbett was also well-known for his pro-celebrity golfing appearances, where he would often be joined by the likes of Bruce Forsyth and Jimmy Tarbuck.
Doctor Who has a history of association with Comic Relief going back to 1999, when a certain Steven Moffat wrote The Curse of Fatal Death, which starred Rowan Atkinson as the 9th Doctor - before he regenerated into Hugh Grant, Jim Broadbent, Richard E Grant and Joanna Lumley.
Whilst the programme has always had links with the BBC's annual Children In Need charity event (going back to 1993's notorious Dimensions In Time), it would not provide another minisode for Comic Relief until 2011, when Moffat contributed the shorts Time and Space, although David Tennant had featured in a Doctor Who related Catherine Tate sketch for the 2007 event.
If any of the above references go over your head, just have a hunt around You Tube and you're sure to be enlightened.
No comments:
Post a Comment