L is for... Langer, Clyde

 

Clyde Langer was a pupil at Park Vale Comprehensive in Ealing, West London. This was the school attended by Maria Jackson - friend and neighbour of journalist Sarah Jane Smith - and Luke Smith, Sarah's adopted son. He lived with his mother Carla, his father Paul having run off with Carla's sister some years ago.

On Luke's first day at the school, he and Maria dragged Clyde into an encounter with the alien Slitheen family. They had infiltrated a number of schools across the planet as part of a plot to avenge the members of their clan who had perished in the destruction of Downing Street. Clyde discovered Sarah's secret activities, and was invited into her circle.

He was the class joker, and decided to help teach Luke how to think and act like a normal teenager.

The pair were transported to an alien spaceship after taking part in a live action laser-fire game, and were almost transported to fight in an alien war in another galaxy.

When a family claimed Luke as their lost son, Clyde refused to believe it. When he sought help from Sarah's computer - Mr Smith - he found that it was behind the plot to exploit Luke's mental powers. Clyde found himself turned into computer data within Mr Smith, but was able to use this to seek help.

After Maria left Bannerman Road, budding journalist Rani Chandra moved in to her old house and soon became a friend of Clyde, Luke and Sarah. 

She was immediately thrust into an encounter with an alien force which manifested itself as a clown which fed on fear, and Clyde helped defeat it by using his terrible jokes against it.

Later, Clyde was reunited with his absentee father, who became possessed by an alien talisman. He made Clyde forget his mother and friends.

 An encounter with a Judoon captain led to Clyde and Rani being grounded - unable to leave the Earth.

One repercussion of this was when they discovered that the world's population had vanished one morning. A pair of alien robots had removed everyone whilst searching for their lost prince, who they were to transport home to rule. As Clyde and Rani had been grounded by the Judoon, they were left behind.

Clyde struck up a friendship with K9 Mark IV, which Sarah owned. On one occasion he smuggled it into school to help cheat on an exam. He also took it to Sarah's wedding, with a man named Peter Dalton. Clyde was suspicious about him, and it turned out that he was an unwitting ally of the Trickster, who had been plaguing Sarah for some time. On this occasion, Clyde got to meet the Doctor, in his Tenth incarnation. He had come to warn Sarah of the Trickster's trap. Clyde was dosed with Artron energy on touching the TARDIS just as it dematerialised.

Clyde had a real talent for art, and was surprised to learn that he had won a contest - Luke and Rani having submitted his work without his knowledge. The prize was for his class to visit the Mona Lisa, on loan to a London gallery. Sarah was upset to discover that Clyde had copied real Sontaran weaponry for his painting - especially when it and the Mona Lisa came to life. Clyde drew K9, knowing it would also come to life and so appear in the gallery to help them.

When Sarah was informed of the Doctor's death, Clyde accompanied her and Rani to their base in Snowdonia - Luke by this time having left for university. Clyde noticed that the Artron energy in his body was becoming active, and suddenly found himself transported to a distant planet. He had swapped places with the Doctor, now in his Eleventh incarnation. who had been trapped on the planet by the Shansheeth - intergalactic funeral directors. They and a corrupt UNIT major were planning to steal the TARDIS. The Doctor was able to bring him back to Earth and help defeat the Shansheeth plan.

A mysterious shopkeeper sent Sarah, Clyde and Rani back to different periods of Earth's history in search of a dangerous time-sensitive mineral. Clyde found himself on the south coast of England during WWII, where he and a young evacuee named George helped foil a Nazi invasion attempt.

When a woman named Ruby White began investigating alien incursions in the same way that Sarah had, and the latter decided it might be time to retire as she was feeling ill, Clyde became suspicious. To stop him interfering Ruby had him transported to the prison she had just escaped from - a small capsule orbiting the Earth.

A visit to a museum saw Clyde get a splinter in his finger from a totem pole. The next thing he knew, all of his friends and family started to turn against him. He soon found himself homeless. The totem pole was possessed by an ancient alien presence. Fortunately, he was able to break the curse.

He and Rani then posed as a couple to infiltrate a computer tech firm. A growing romantic friendship had now developed between them.

In one of two alternative realities, Clyde never knew Sarah or her friends as she had died in 1964, replaced by her school friend Andrea Yates.

In the other, Clyde had been with Sarah and Maria when the Royal Hope Hospital had been transported to the Moon by the Judoon, where they all perished through lack of oxygen.

Played by: Daniel Anthony. Appearances: The Sarah Jane Adventures Series 1 - 5 (2007 - 2011).

• Anthony was brought in to replace the female character of Kelsey, who had appeared in the pilot. This was to balance the gender profile of the cast of the cast (though Kelsey had also been hugely unpopular).
• Anthony was one of those actors often called upon to play younger than he really was. He turned 20 when the series began.