News Update

The cover of this week's DWM has been released. The main content relates to The Sarah Jane Adventures. The 'Fact of Fiction' covers the underwhelming Curse of the Black Spot. Surely a Sarah Jane Smith story would have made more sense, to give the issue more of a theme? It will be in the shops on Thursday.

One of the DWM interviewees, who worked on SJA is Phil Ford. In Radio Times, he has spoken about that other spin-off series, Torchwood. In this he states that it is highly unlikely that the series would return in the form where it left off (mainly due to the controversy surrounding John Barrowman, presumably) but he doesn't see why a prequel series couldn't be made. We know that RTD wants to create a "Universe", but whether or not this will include pre-existing spin-offs is unknown.

Regular readers of this blog will know that I was very much taken with a free e-book - Blackpool Remembered - concerning the Doctor Who Exhibition at Blackpool, which ran from 1974 - 1985. Having visited it myself between 1976 - 1978, it held a lot of nostalgia value for me. The book ran to 410 pages, and contained a lot of photographs of the exhibits, as well as a number of personal reminiscences of attendees (including a DWAS day-trip, Steve Cambden - K9 wrangler - and Edward Russell, brand manager of Doctor Who for many years). 

A follow-up e-book arrived the following year - Blackpool Revisited - which carried the story on to the later exhibitions, along with a sideways step to look at the Dapol exhibition in Wales, plus sundry other items. This ran to 639 pages.

I never visited the Longleat exhibition, which ran longer than the Blackpool one, but I will shortly be able to see images and read all about it in the third volume of this e-book series. It is due to be published on Saturday 1st April.

You can find the original Blackpool book at https://blackpoolremembered7485.wordpress.com, and from there you will see links to the other publications.

A second e-publication is due to be released on-line later this very day (27th Feb) according to its originator. This promises to be a series of e-books looking at the coverage of Doctor Who by Radio Times magazine. The website to go to is doctorwhointheradiotimes.com. 

As of the time of writing (1pm), it is still showing only a Password prompt box, but I will keep checking back. I saw some sample images on Facebook and they looked great.

UPDATE: unfortunately not available as a download, but well worth reading online. 

I was extremely disappointed that Radio Times did not produce any decent special edition for the 50th Anniversary. Hopefully they will for the 60th, as they always had a much better relationship with RTD than they did with Moffat. 

In the absence of anything official, however, it is nice to see what fans are producing - especially when they have such high production values.

Finally - I've found another nice colour picture of an original Police Box. This was in suburban London (the bus is destined for Moorgate).

L is for... Lloyd, Adam & Sam

In the year 2059, the schoolchildren of Ealing were familiar with tales of the "Madwoman in the Attic", who lived at 13 Bannerman Road. A boy named Adam broke in one night, determined to learn the truth about her. He was confronted by her in the empty attic. Rani Chandra had once lived across the road, but now lived the life of a recluse here. She told Adam of the events which had caused her to come to this.

Back in 2009 she had a schoolfriend named Sam. When his parents died he went to live at a foster home on the coast, in the small resort town of Danemouth. Unable to tell her parents of her secret life, she would write to him instead. He contacted her to inform her of a "demon" in the fairground.

She went to the town and learned about some disappearances of young people from the fairground, which was currently closed down. The caretaker - Harry - tried to dissuade her from investigating. Rani discovered a red-skinned alien being named Eve. Lonely, she has been abducting people to play with her. Harry was looking after her. Rani was unaware of Eve's great powers, and when she found a lack of interest from Sarah Jane Smith, Luke and Clyde, she angrily wished them out of her life. Eve then made this happen.

Sarah and the boys arrived in the town to look for her, and made contact with Sam. An embittered boy, Luke was able to get through to him. He joined them as they investigated the fairground, and discovered Eve's spaceship buried under the beach. They helped repair this and Eve decided to leave. She invited Harry to go with her, as well as the orphan Sam.

In the present day, Adam reveals that he is the son of Sam and Eve, come to correct Rani's time-line.

Played by: Gregg Sulkin (Adam), Toby Parkes (Sam). Appearances: SJA: 3.2 The Madwoman in the Attic (2009).

SJA 5.3 - The Man Who Never Was

In which Sarah Jane Smith is invited to the press launch of a revolutionary new laptop computer from Serf Systems. What is so special about this event is that IT entrepreneur Joseph Serf himself will be attending. He has been a recluse ever since a serious skiing accident a few years ago. Luke has returned home from university for a visit. He, Clyde and Rani are raving about the new computer, which is known as the SerfBoard, joking that it could replace Mr Smith and K9. Luke and Sky are invited along to the rehearsal for the press launch. Sarah is delighted to be reunited with her old editor Lionel Carson, but is surprised he should be here as he dislikes computers. As Serf gives a speech, Luke and Sky notice a tiny glitch in his face as he speaks. Everyone present is given a free SerfBoard, and Sarah is shocked to find that Carson adores it. Everyone present thinks it the greatest personal computer they have ever seen.
Back at the attic, Sarah has Mr Smith replay Serf's speech, after Luke and Sky tell her what they witnessed. True enough, they see the glitch. Sarah deduces that Serf did not survive the skiing accident, and what they saw was a hologram. Dropping a hint that she is aware of this, Sarah arranges an interview with Serf, which is overseen by his personal assistant, a man named Harrison.

Sarah confirms that Serf is indeed an advanced hologram as Luke and Sky infiltrate the company HQ's basement. There they discover a number of small alien beings, wearing monk-like cowls and with a single eye in the centre of their foreheads. They are not hostile, however, and urge the youngsters to flee, whilst Harrison takes Sarah prisoner. He has a pen which is really a control unit, linked to collars which the aliens - a species known as Skullions - must wear. Their leader, Plark, informs them that this can induce pain to force them to obey him. Harrison bought them as slaves in the black market which exists for aliens and their technology. They have been forced to create the hologram of Serf which they operate from the basement. It has a hypnotic facility which makes people believe everything the hologram tells them. Back at the attic, Clyde and Rani have had Mr Smith examine the SerfBoard, and have discovered that it is a very basic machine, with no special features at all. At the press launch, which will be broadcast globally, the hologram will be used to make everyone believe the claims about it - making Harrison a fortune.

Clyde and Rani don their smartest gear and decide to infiltrate the event, posing as a married couple who are IT journalists and who are stuck at an airport. A young cleaner - Adriana - is also held captive with Sarah, Luke and Sky, after she spotted one of the Skullions. Luke is able to send a message to Mr Smith via K9's dog whistle. Clyde and Rani are instructed to get Harrison's pen away from him, swapping it for one of their own. Mr Smith sends a message to the planet Skultos, notifying them that some of their people are held captive on Earth. Having escaped, Luke and Sky must operate the hologram to stop Harrison realising they are free, and have released the Skullions. The hypnotic control is used on the audience to make them take the pen from Harrison when he realises the deception. Carson destroys it. The hologram is then used to announce that the SerfBoard is useless. Everyone flees to the roof where Harrison threatens to kill Sarah, but the Skullion spaceship arrives in time to save her. Harrison is taken aboard along with Plark and his fellows. He will be taken away to see what a life of captivity is like for himself. Now out of a job, Sarah points Adriana towards UNIT, having been impressed with how she handled herself.
Back on Bannerman Road, Luke had initially been reluctant to see Sky take his old room. Now that he has met and worked with her, this is no longer a problem and he accepts her as part of his family.

The Man Who Never Was was written by Gareth Roberts, and was first broadcast on 17th and 18th October, 2011. It marks the end of the fifth season of The Sarah Jane Adventures - as well as being the final story of the entire series, following the tragic death of Elisabeth Sladen that Spring.
The story manages to include all the main cast, as Tommy Knight makes an appearance as Luke, meeting his step-sister Sky for the first time. Sadly, he has left K9 back in Oxford.
The story moves on the possible romance between Clyde and Rani as they pose as a couple.
There are two main inspirations evident.
The first is the obsession with technology, in particular the need people feel to buy the latest version of a product they already possess - which doesn't really do all that much more than what they've already got. This is particularly noticeable when it comes to mobile phones and computer gaming consoles. There is also the issue of the veneration of certain individuals in the IT sector - people like Elon Musk, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. The latter had just died a week or two before this story was broadcast, so parallels between Serf and Jobs would have been more noticeable at the time.

The other inspiration is the comic strip The Numskulls, who first appeared in The Beezer in 1962. These were tiny people who lived inside a man's head and who "operated" him, controlling the brain, mouth, ears etc. The strip moved to The Beano in 1990, before ending in 2013 in The Dandy. In 1993, the Numskulls no longer worked inside a man but a younger boy. These are clearly the inspiration for the alien Skullions, and even the name reflects this.
The leader of the Skullions - Plark - is played by regular Sontaran actor Dan Starkey.
The villain of the piece - Harrison - is played by James Dreyfus, who has since gone on to portray an early version of the Master on audio. Serf is Mark Aiken, an Irish actor who has featured in US series such as 24, CSI:NY and CSI:Miami. Playing Adriana is Edyta Budnik, who has since appeared in Coronation Street and Killing Eve.
The other notable guest artist is Peter Bowles, who plays Sarah's old friend Lionel Carson. Bowles came to prominence in the BBC sitcom To The Manor Born, but genre fans will also remember him for a guest appearance as an alien psychopath in Space:1999.

Overall, a perfectly fine story to end the series - all the regulars getting a share of screen time, though the story does have to concentrate on the first meeting of Luke and Sky. Naturally, we would have liked to have seen a special set of episodes to conclude what had been an immensely enjoyable series, but sadly this was not to be.
Things you might like to know:

• Three further stories were planned for Series 5 - 'Meet Mr Smith', 'The Thirteenth Floor' and 'The Battle of Bannerman Road'.
• The name Joseph Serf is a nod to Patrick McGoohan. He used this alias to direct a couple of episodes of The Prisoner - a series which also featured Peter Bowles as a guest artist.
• The Skullions are name-checked in an episode of TW: Miracle Day, in relation to the black marker it aliens and their technology.
• As the series had come to a premature end, a new ending was put together. This included the speech first spoken by Sladen from the end of the first series, with unused material added. Clips from earlier stories were shown, which included the Tenth Doctor, K9, Maria Jackson and Jo Grant.
• On Elisabeth Sladen's passing, Russell T Davies never considered recasting the part and so ended production on the series. He then devised a new CBBC series named Wizards and Aliens, which included some story elements which would have featured in The Sarah Jane Adventures.
• The last words on screen state that Sarah Jane Smith's story goes on forever... The recent lockdown productions designed to accompany the tweet-a-long viewings sadly elected to bring that story to an end. You can choose to ignore these, as they weren't broadcast on BBC TV, and some of them are, quite frankly, rubbish. The Sarah Jane Smith one was well done - very moving - but I'm electing to ignore it. If you accept one of them, you're obliged to accept them all and, as I've said, some of them are crap. For me, she's still out there, fighting the good fight.

SJA 5.2 - The Curse of Clyde Langer

In which fish suddenly rain from the skies over West London. Sarah Jane Smith is visiting neighbour Haresh Chandra's office to organise Sky Smith's enrolment at Haresh's school when they see a fish land on the window ledge. More are falling outside. Hurrying back to Bannerman Road, Sarah asks Mr Smith to investigate and it suggests a possible link to a new museum exhibition. The centrepiece of this is a Native American totem poll recently uncovered by archaeologists. It was reported that there was a rain of fish when it was found. Sarah, Sky and her young friends Clyde and Rani go to visit the museum. Clyde gives some money to a homeless girl before going in. They learn that the totem pole is said to represent an evil deity known as Hetocumtek. Clyde touches one of the carved faces, and gets a splinter in his finger. After scanning the artefact, Sarah can find no trace of any alien technology, so they head for home. As Clyde falls asleep that night, he fails to see his name begin to glow on all the paperwork it is written on...

The following morning begins as normal for Clyde, but as soon as someone mentions his name they suddenly become hostile towards him. Sarah accuses him of always belittling Luke, and throws him out of her house. Rani tells him she hates him, and her father expels him from school. His best friend turns against him, and even Luke refuses to talk to him when he tries to phone him about what is happening. Clyde realises that people are turning against him on the mention of his name - as though it is cursed. He goes to the museum to ask about such curses from the head of the anthropology section - Dr Madigan - but she too becomes hostile on hearing his name and has security throw him out. The situation deteriorates when Clyde goes home, and his mother throws him out. When he tries to take money from a cash machine, the screen simply shows his name over and over again.
The homeless girl he had seen earlier approaches him and offers to help him.

Clyde finds himself living amongst the homeless of London. He decides not to give his real name, for fear of alienating the girl, whose name is Ellie Faber. From her he hears of a number of homeless people who have gone missing recently - and Ellie claims they were taken away by the "Night Dragon".
Back on Bannerman Road, only Sky has remained unaffected by the curse on Clyde's name. Dr Madigan contacts Sarah to say strange things are happening around the totem pole, and Sarah now detects a build-up of alien energy. The faces on the artefact begin to change into more malevolent aspects. At a soup kitchen, an old woman known as Mystic Mags tells Clyde that she has seen something worse than the Night Dragon when reading his tea leaves, and that she knows a curse has been placed on him. Sky finally succeeds in getting Sarah and Rani to listen to a theory from Mr Smith - that the totem pole houses an alien intelligence which has been reactivated through contact with Clyde. By forcing themselves to say Clyde's name, the curse is lifted. They go out and find Clyde and bring him to the attic, where Mr Smith hacks into the teleport of a passing spaceship to bring the totem pole to them. When Clyde touches it once more, repeating his name over and over, Hetocumtek's power is destroyed.
Clyde goes out looking for Ellie but fails to find her. He sees a lorry with "Night Dragon Haulage" written on the side, and learns that the drivers often give lifts to homeless people, taking them to another town to try to start a new life...

The Curse of Clyde Langer was written by Phil Ford, and was first broadcast on 10th and 11th October, 2011. As the penultimate story of the season, and of the series as a whole, it marks the departure of a couple of semi-regular cast members. Bowing out are Ace Bhatti, who played Haresh Chandra, and Jocelyn Jee Eisen, who had infrequently appeared as Clyde's mother Carla.
It's a Clyde-centric story, with Daniel Anthony carrying much of the plot. Although mentioned, Tommy Knight's Luke is absent from this story.
Homelessness in general, and youth homelessness in particular, are major themes. It is believed that Clyde's search for Ellie may have been returned to later in the series had it continued.
This story won the Writers Guild of Great Britain (Children's Fiction) award in 2012 for its sensitive tackling of these issues.
The other cast members worth noting are Lily Loveless, playing Ellie Faber, Sara Houghton as Dr Madigan, and Angela Pleasence as Mystic Mags. Angela had previously portrayed the aged Queen Elizabeth at the conclusion of The Shakespeare Code.

Overall, a well made story, which has its homelessness theme intrinsic to the plot, rather than treating it as a lecture tacked on (something the current iteration of Doctor Who should take note of). Daniel Anthony is excellent, but the other regulars aren't sidelined to allow his central role. SJA stories always end on a happy note, but this one ends on a bit of a sad note as Clyde doesn't know where Ellie has gone.
Things you might like to know:

• The pre-title sequence has now been amended to include Sky.
• The cash machine Clyde tries to use belongs to London Credit Bank. This fictitious institution first appeared in The Runaway Bride. It was from one of their ATMs that the Doctor flooded the street with banknotes to confuse the Robot Santas.
• The soup kitchen is run by an organisation called "Steven's Point". This is the same organisation who were feeding the homeless in The End of Time Part 1 - their mobile catering facility attacked by the Master.
• Clyde takes the name 'Enrico Box', rather than give his real, cursed name to Ellie. He takes this from a discarded box for "Enrico's Pizza". The Doctor Who universe usually only ever refers to "Jubilee Pizza", first mentioned in 2005's Dalek.
• Mystic Mags derives her name from newspaper and TV astrologer Mystic Meg, who was very big in the UK in the 1990's.

SJA 5.1 - Sky

In which a meteor falls to Earth, crashing into a scrapyard in West London. From it emerges a huge man, made of metal. The following morning Sarah Jane Smith is shocked to discover a baby girl on her doorstep. Rani suggests that perhaps it was the Doctor who left her. Her parents Gita and Haresh see the child, and Sarah bluffs that she has adopted her, and her name is Sky. When Sky cries, it causes all the electrics in the house to go haywire. Clyde is left minding the baby, as she seems to respond to him, whilst Sarah and Rani go to the scrapyard to investigate the meteor fall. They find their old friend Professor Rivers is already there. They meet a tramp who sleeps in the yard, and he tells them of the metal man he saw - last seen heading in the direction of Bannerman Road. Sarah is convinced that the appearance of this creature and the arrival of the baby must be connected in some way.
Elsewhere, at a nearby nuclear power station, a blonde-haired woman named Miss Myers materialises and exerts mental control over one of the station's crew - a man named Caleb. From him she learns of a strange power surge centred on Bannerman Road earlier that morning. She goes there and finds Clyde and the baby in the garden, about to be attacked by the metal man.

She forces the metal man to withdraw, then takes Clyde and the baby to the power station. When Sarah and Rani return to the house, Mr Smith directs them to the station. There, they learn that Miss Myers is an alien, a member of the Fleshkind, who have been at war with the Metalkind for many years. Sky is her child, but has really been bred as a weapon, designed to wipe out the Metalkind. Sky absorbs a massive amount of electrical power, and transforms into a young girl, of around 12 years of age. Miss Myers explains that Sky is really a bomb. Sarah and her friends escape, taking Sky with them. Miss Myers captures the Metalkind and wires him up to the nuclear reactor, with Caleb's help. It will be used as a lure to bring others of its kind here, where Sky will destroy them. To prevent a nuclear catastrophe, Sarah must return to the station with Sky and the others. Clyde and Rani are sent to deactivate the reactor, whilst Sarah attempts to make Sky turn against her programming. There is a massive electrical discharge which should prime Sky, but it rewrites her DNA to make her safe. Miss Myers abandons Sky now that she is no longer a weapon, but the Metalkind uses some of the excess electrical discharge to open a portal and he seizes Miss Myers and departs with her as his captive.
Back on Bannerman Road, Sarah has to explain Sky's new appearance to Gita and Haresh as a mix-up at the adoption agency. Sarah is visited by the enigmatic Shopkeeper and his parrot, The Captain, who reveals that it was he who left the baby for Sarah to protect. Sky elects to remain with Sarah.

Sky was written by Phil Ford, and was first broadcast on 3rd and 4th October, 2011. It marks the opening of the fifth and final, truncated, season of The Sarah Jane Adventures - transmitted posthumously as Elisabeth Sladen has passed away in the Spring of 2011. All three of the stories which make up Series 5 were recorded in 2010 at the end of Series 4.
The story introduces a new series regular, to replace Tommy Knight's Luke Smith. Like Luke, this is another product of alien engineering, whom Sarah adopts as Sky Smith (Sinead Michael).
This is the last story to feature Mina Anwar (Gita Chandra), and marks the final appearance of Floella Benjamin as Prof. Celeste Rivers, who has featured occasionally since the first series.

There are elements of The Terminator (1984) in this story, with the appearance of the robotic Metalkind and his mode of arrival. Miss Myers also materialises in a pose similar to that of the Terminator - and the Metalkind has come in search of a child who will be used as a weapon against them, in the same way that young John Connor will one day lead a resistance against the machine intelligence of the future. The Metalkind also has a hint of a robotic version of Watchmen's Nite Owl about it.
Inside the Metalkind costume is regular monster artists Paul Kasey. Playing Miss Myers we have Christine Stephen-Daly, who had been a regular in medical soaps Casualty and Holby City, playing the same character in both series. She had also featured in a few episodes of the cult science fiction series Farscape. Power worker Caleb is played by Gavin Brocker, who had earlier featured in the Torchwood episode Captain Jack Harkness.

Overall, a story which does the job of introducing a new regular character very well, even if the plot isn't terribly original. At time of broadcast, the shadow of Lis' passing hung over all this series.
Things you might like to know:

• Originally, Rani was to have been proven correct in her guess that it was the Doctor who had left the baby on the doorstep. Matt Smith was to have appeared in a cameo at the conclusion of the story, but proved to be too busy on A Christmas Carol to take part. Cyril Nri stepped in late in the day as the Shopkeeper, and didn't take a credit on the episode. 
• Although supposed to be concurrent, there is no mention of the Miracle Day phenomenon (Torchwood).
• The Shopkeeper and The Captain were to have featured more, with their own story arc, had the series continued.

Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith - SJA 4.6

In which Sarah Jane Smith, Clyde and Rani rush to the landing site of a meteorite, following an alert from Mr Smith. There is a fear that it may carry alien pathogens. It proves to be harmless, but they are confronted by a woman who has also come to investigate, and claims to be helping save the planet from aliens. She speeds off in a red sports car, and later they discover that she has moved in to a house around the corner from Bannerman Road. They go to confront her and learn that her name is Ruby White and she has moved to the area because of all the alien activity which Sarah and her friends have been dealing with over the last couple of years. She cold shoulders them and orders them out of her home - accusing them of being little more than amateurs.
The next day Sarah finds herself forgetting that Luke is away at university when she talks to Rani's mother. Gita. Then she forgets K9's name when she later talks to her son.

There is another alert from Mr Smith, sending them to a junkyard where a trio of Dark Horde warriors materialise. Sarah discovers that she has forgotten to ask Clyde to bring the sonic lipstick, and she realises they are defenceless. Ruby suddenly appears and gets Clyde and Rani to help her to chase the Horde off, using a hand-held AI device to make them think they are up against superior forces. Clyde nicknames the device Mr White, after Sarah's Mr Smith.
They invite Ruby back to the attic, where she apologises for her earlier cold attitude towards them. She wants to be friends, and even Mr Smith and Mr White seem to get along. That evening, Sarah becomes increasingly worried about her memory lapses, and asks Mr Smith to conduct a medical scan on her. He notifies her that she has a degenerative brain condition. Not wishing to put Clyde and Rani at risk, as she did at the junkyard, Sarah decides to retire. She invites Ruby to her home and asks her to take over from her. After ordering Mr Smith to delete her command protocols, she gets ready to leave on an extended holiday. However, she finds herself transported to a cellar where Ruby chains her to the wall. In an alcove is a massive fleshy lump - Ruby's stomach. She is really an alien Qetesh, creatures who feed on the emotions of others. Ruby has been attacking Sarah for some days, causing her memory problems, and Mr White had tampered with Mr Smith to give the false medical scan diagnosis. She has abducted Sarah as she had led the most exciting life of anyone on Earth. Afterwards she will feed on the entire planet...

Instead of stopping alien invasions, she will facilitate them - to create more emotions upon which to feed. Clyde and Rani see a fake video message from Sarah telling them that she has gone away for good, but Clyde is suspicious as she would never abandon Luke. Mr Smith then attempts to warn him but Ruby shuts the computer down and Mr White teleports Clyde away from the attic. He finds himself in a pod floating in space above the Earth - a prison capsule from which Ruby has escaped. He has a limited amount of oxygen. Mr White had been an entertainments console left by her captors, but she reprogrammed it to aid her escape.
Worried about his mother, Luke arrives at Rani's house. Luke contacts K9 back in Oxford and gets him to trace Clyde's phone, and they discover he is in space. Rani must get her mobile close to Mr White, so that K9 can hack into it. Mr White is reprogrammed to return Clyde to Earth, but Ruby escapes. Luke, Rani and Clyde go to her house and find Sarah in the cellar, where the stomach is still feeding off her. Mr White is used to create a hologram of meteor strikes hitting the planet, and the huge wave of emotion generated is too much for Ruby's stomach to absorb. It shrivels up, releasing what it had taken from Sarah back to her. Ruby vows revenge, but is sent back to her prison in space.

Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith was written by Gareth Roberts and Clayton Hickman, and was first broadcast on 15th and 16th November, 2010. It marks the end of Series 4 of The Sarah Jane Adventures - what would prove to be the last full season of the show. Hickman is best known for being the editor of Doctor Who Magazine (from 2002 to 2007, so in post to oversee the return of Doctor Who to the airwaves, and a huge redesign for the publication). He's also well known for his design work - including the covers for the Classic Doctor Who DVD range. You'll have seen him in a few of the DVD extras as well.
Every series of SJA has had a story with "Sarah Jane Smith" in the title, written by Roberts. This is the first one not to feature the Trickster. This is the first season in which he hasn't appeared. Instead, a new character is introduced - a sort of anti-Sarah Jane Smith who at first appears to do everything she does, only better, and looks more glamorous to the youngsters. Mr White is a small hand held gizmo, as opposed to Sarah's huge attic-dwelling computer, and Ruby White drives a flash red sports car as opposed to Sarah's - a retro-looking Nissan Figaro.
After a few cameo appearances on video links in the last couple of stories, Tommy Knight returns as Luke, and K9 also features. This would be K9 Mark IV's final appearance on screen (and therefore John Leeson's final vocal work in the televised Doctor Who universe, at least to date).

We only have two guest artists in this story, principal of whom is Julie Graham. She's Scottish, so naturally her first TV work was an episode of Taggart. Genre appearances include the revamped Survivors, a remake of Terry Nation's 1970's drama series, and Bonekickers. that dreadful archaeological adventure series.
Voicing Mr White is Eddie Marsan (Mr Norrell in the BBC adaptation of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell amongst many, many others).
It's a surprise that neither guest artist has been called upon to appear in Doctor Who itself.
Overall, another quality addition to The Sarah Jane Adventures. It's tragic in hindsight, watching this knowing that Lis Sladen was already ill, as we see Sarah physically and mentally deteriorate. The title is painfully apt, as this was the last thing we had seen before Lis's untimely death.
Things you might like to know:

• Series 5 would have bucked the trend of not having a story with "Sarah Jane Smith" in the title, as we have a record of what the unmade stories would have been called.
• Roberts and Hickman were collaborating on another story for that season when Sladen died and production was stopped.
• Ruby White was clearly set up for future return appearances, as the last we see of her is her vowing revenge on Sarah.
• Clyde maintains the tradition of someone being slimed during the story.
• Yet another reason to ignore the whole UNIT dating controversy, as Sarah states that she was 23 when she first met the Doctor. The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith shows that she was born in 1951 - meaning the events of The Time Warrior take place in 1974.
• Julie Graham went to school with Eric Potts (Oliver Charles in Aliens in London).

Lost In Time - SJA 4.5

In which a newspaper article about a sighting of aliens brings Sarah Jane Smith, Clyde Langer and Rani Chandra to an obscure antiques shop. The shopkeeper appears and tells them that the article was planted by him in order to lure them here, as he needs their help. Three pieces of Chronosteel - a metal forged within the Time Vortex - are scattered throughout history, and they must be retrieved before they distort time. Before Sarah can reject the mission, the shopkeeper creates a time window which engulfs them and they vanish. After they have gone, he talks to his parrot - the Captain - telling it that they only have until an hourglass runs out to complete their task, or disaster will result.
The three friends find themselves separated throughout history. Rani is in the Tower of London in July 1553, where she finds that she is to meet Queen Jane. Clyde is in 1941, on a beach on the south coast, whilst Sarah is in a large townhouse in 1889.

Sarah encounters a girl named Emily Morris, who has come to this house to investigate ghosts. She thinks Sarah might be one, until she finds that she is real. Clyde, meanwhile, has met a schoolboy named George, and together they see a group of men arrive on the beach by boat. They turn out to be German soldiers, led by SS Lt Koenig. Clyde and George set off for the nearby village to warn the authorities. Rani is introduced to Queen Jane, and finds that she has been appointed one of her ladies-in-waiting. Jane and her nurse are fearful for the new Queen's safety, as Mary Tudor is on her way to London at the head of a large army, and there may be traitors within the Tower who favour a catholic monarch over Jane. Sarah and Emily come upon a room where they hear children's voices, and Sarah realises that they come from the future, rather than the past. Some terrible tragedy will take place in this room sometime in the future. They see the image of a girl  from Sarah's time, talking on her mobile phone. She is supposed to be babysitting, but is planning on leaving her charges alone to meet friends - locking them in the room whilst she is away.

Clyde and George meet schoolteacher Miss Wyckham, who tells them that the village has already been taken over, but they might be able to capture the Germans who are gathered at the church. When they arrive there, they discover that the teacher is really an agent for the Nazis, in league with Koenig. They have brought a device with them which will block British radar, and enable German aircraft to attack without being intercepted by the RAF. Clyde discovers that a vital component of the device is made from a strange metal - one of the Chronosteel objects. He and George steal it and escape. Koening, Miss Wyckham and the Germans retreat to the beach, but are captured by the Home Guard. Rani succeeds in thwarting an assassination attempt on Jane by one of her other maids. The blade of the knife she was wielding proves to be the second Chronosteel object.
In the house, Sarah discovers that the key to the room is the final object. Emily is able to make a link to the future to save the children, who had been playing with matches and a candle.

All three time-travellers are sent back to the present day, but at the last minute Emily keeps hold of the key - so Sarah returns empty handed. The shopkeeper fears the worst, but a woman suddenly turns up at the shop with the key. She is Emily's grand-daughter, Angela, and had been told by her grandmother to bring it here on on this day. The shopkeeper reveals that the Captain is really his commander, responsible for sending them on their mission. They teleport away with the Chronosteel.
Clyde reads up on George and finds out that he recently won the George Cross, whilst Sarah goes off to chat to Angela about the amazing life her grandmother had led. Rani reads about the sad fate of Queen Jane, but is happy that she had been a comfort to her in the final day of her short reign.

Lost In Time was written by Rupert Laight, and was first broadcast on November 8th and 9th, 2010. Laight had previously contributed the Series 3 story The Gift.
It introduced the characters of the Shopkeeper and his parrot commander the Captain. Had the series continued, they were to have returned for further adventures.
The story is made up of three individual smaller adventures - one for each of the main characters, so each gets equal screen time. Each segment is satisfying in its own right - a ghost story of sorts for Sarah, a historical adventure for Rani, and a Boy's Own escapade for Clyde - but the overarching plot also works well. Sadly Laight is no longer with us to ask, but it may have been that these three mini-stories had been considered as full stories in their own right, but weren't quite enough to fill two episode slots by themselves. Of the three, only Clyde's WWII story might have worked as a longer piece.

The Shopkeeper is played by Cyril Nri. He appeared as one of the main characters in Russell T Davies' Cucumber, and was also in the final episode of Class as the Chairman of the Governors.
The guest cast for the Sarah segment includes Gwyneth Keyworth as Emily, whilst the babysitter, Gemma, is played by Lucie Jones, who had been a 2009 X Factor contestant, and would go on to become the UK's 2017 Eurovision Song Contest hopeful.
In Clyde's story we have German actor Tom Wlaschiha, recently famous for playing the face-changing assassin Jaqen H'ghar in Game of Thrones. Miss Wyckham is Catherine Bailey. George was played by Richard Wisker, who was a regular on CBBC in the Tracy Beaker series.
In Tudor England we have Amber Beattie as Queen Jane, Elizabeth Rider as the nurse, and Fiona Hampton as the assassin maid Matilda. Rider provided the voice of ATMOS in The Sontaran Stratagem / The Poison Sky and later played Linda, girlfriend of Clara Oswald's dad in Time of the Doctor.

Overall, a very good story, the device of mini-adventures in different settings keeping things interesting.
Things you might like to know:

• The newspaper article which brings Sarah & Co to the shop is dated 23rd November, 2010 - Doctor Who's 47th anniversary.
• Sarah tells Emily about the Stone Tape theory of hauntings - that emotionally charged events can somehow be imprinted into the fabric of a building. This was popularised by Nigel Kneale in his 1972 TV ghost story The Stone Tape, though its origins go back to Charles Babbage, of computer fame, in 1837.
• Lady Jane Grey was hailed as Queen on the death of Edward VI, the only (legitimate) male heir of Henry VIII. His first child, by Catherine of Aragon, had been a daughter - Mary - who was a staunch Catholic. Mary had the strongest support from the people, partly because they felt it was her birthright but also because many wanted to see the return of the old faith. Jane had gone to the Tower to prepare for her coronation, only to find herself a captive there. She was executed in February 1554.

The Empty Planet - SJA 4.4

In which Rani Chandra and Clyde Langer wake up one morning to discover that they appear to be the only people on Earth.
The previous night at Sarah Jane Smith's house, Mr Smith had been monitoring strange signals emanating from space. Initially, they notice that their families have vanished, but when they take to the streets they find that the disappearances cover the whole area. TV and radio channels show only static. They move towards the centre of London, discovering that the disappearances are ever more widespread. When they decide to head back to Sarah's home they hear a noise, and spot a boy in school uniform. They pursue him and are led to a tower block where the boy lives. His name is Gavin and he tells them that he is an orphan, living here with a foster family, of whom he has had many. He seems scared of Clyde and Rani, rather than happy to see other people.

A strange noise is heard and Gavin runs off. Clyde and Rani look for him, but stop at a cafe to get some food. They hear the noise again, and a message comes over the TV, radio and their mobile phones - a voice demanding the sun and the air. Going outside they split up to look for Gavin, but both encounter giant robots - one red and the other yellow...
Gavin reappears and saves Rani, whilst Clyde also manages to evade his robot attacker. They go back to the cafe where Sarah's friends start to reminisce about their life since encountering Sarah Jane Smith. This leads them to realise something which makes them different from everyone else they know. At the conclusion of their encounter with the Judoon, they had been grounded - forbidden from leaving the Earth. This might explain why they have not been taken, but not Gavin, who claims to know nothing of aliens.
The robots burst in and corner Clyde and Rani, whilst Gavin slips away. The robots scan them, but don't harm them. They reiterate their demand for the sun and air.

However, it soon becomes apparent that what they are really looking for is the son and heir. Gavin is really an alien prince, who was sent to Earth as a baby for safety when his planet was attacked. The threat is now gone, and the robots have been sent to bring him home. Recalling Gavin's love of nature, they trace him to a local wildlife park, bringing the robots with them. However, the machines can't see him. He is wearing a bio-damper which was given to him to protect him. They convince him to remove it, and the robots tell him of his true nature, and show him images of the planet he is to rule. He agrees to go with the robots, knighting Clyde and Rani before ordering the robots to return the Earth's population.
Back on Bannerman Road they tell Sarah and Mr Smith of everything that has happened, as no-one knows they have gone anywhere apart from some lost time. Their solo adventure has brought the pair closer together.

The Empty Planet was written by Gareth Roberts, and was first broadcast November 1st and 2nd, 2010.
The story is very much a character piece for Anjli Mohindra as Rani, and Daniel Anthony as Clyde, as every scene features one or both of them. It also starts to develop their personal relationship with each other - hinting at a blossoming romance. Had the series not ended prematurely the following year, this romance would have been developed further by the production team.
Lis Sladen only features briefly at the beginning of the first episode, and the end of the second - making it a Sarah-lite story, much as Mark of the Berserker had been in Series 2, and Mona Lisa's Revenge in Series 3.
The only other cast member of note is Joe Mason, who plays Gavin, though we also briefly see Rani's parents, and Clyde's mum Carla (Jocelyn Jee Esien), who has featured only a couple of times in the series.
The story is also notable for the extensive location footage, with very little studio work.

Overall, quite a nice little episode. The first section sets up the mystery very well, and you're really intrigued to know what has happened to everyone - and why Clyde and Rani haven't been affected. It's the nature of the series that the resolution is going to be a little bit twee, but it is still good to see Clyde and Rani get so much screen time. A special mention must be made of the excellent robot designs as well.
Believe it or not, but there are no things you might like to know about this story. Lots of little continuity references, but that's your lot.

Death of the Doctor - SJA 4.3

In which Sarah Jane Smith gets a visit from UNIT. Colonel Karim has come to inform her in person of the death of her friend, the Doctor. Sarah refuses to believe he can be dead, as she always thought that she would somehow know if this happened, but agrees to travel to Wales with Karim for his funeral service. Rani and Clyde agree to go with her, worried that she is in denial. They are taken to UNIT's base built into the foot of Mount Snowdon. Karim explains that the Doctor's body was found by the alien Shansheeth - huge vulture-like creatures which act as undertakers. They scour battle fields for bodies in order to give them a proper burial. The TARDIS was not found with the Doctor. It is planned that his body will be fired into space in a UNIT rocket. Rani and Clyde are alarmed to find what they think are Graske working in the HQ. However, these are their blue-skinned cousins called Groske, who are not as troublesome. One of the creatures comments that Clyde smells strangely, and he notices a trace of Artron energy on his hand. Most of the Doctor's old acquaintances are unable to attend the funeral service. Liz Shaw is currently working at UNIT's moonbase, whilst the Brigadier is stuck in Peru. However, the Doctor's companion who immediately predated Sarah has been able to attend - Jo Grant.

Now a grandmother, she is still married to Cliff Jones, and has a huge family. She spends her time travelling the globe taking part in environmental protests. With her is one of her grandsons, Santiago. Sarah is overjoyed to meet her, having heard so much about her - and Jo tells her that she has heard all about Sarah too.
Later, in their quarters, Jo admits that she also has doubts about the Doctor's death - feeling that she too would have felt it. The Shansheeth, meanwhile are using a harp-like instrument which they played at the service to examine the memories of those who took part - agreeing that these are strongest with Sarah and Jo. Clyde, Rani and Santiago follow the Groske into some ventilation tunnels and come to his den. They hear the harp music playing, which is putting Sarah and Jo into a trance. They then overhear the Shansheeth plotting with Colonel Karim to create a memory weave - stealing Jo and Sarah's memories, which will kill them. Clyde suffers another attack of Artron energy, which attracts the attention of the aliens. Escaping into the corridor, Clyde suddenly starts talking with a different voice - that of the Doctor - and notices that his hand looks like it belongs to another person. Clyde suddenly vanishes and is replaced by the Doctor. Clyde finds himself transported to an alien planet, bathed by a red sun. The Shansheeth arrive in the corridor but when the Doctor challenges them they fire energy bolts at him from their claws...

The Doctor vanishes, but is replaced with Clyde. They swap bodies a couple more times then run off with their friends. The Doctor takes Sarah and Jo by the hand and all three are transported to the alien planet, leaving Clyde back at the UNIT base with Rani and Santiago. They retreat back into the ventilation shafts to avoid Karim and the Shansheeth - taking refuge once more in the Groske's den. On the planet, the Doctor explains that he has become separated from his TARDIS by the Shansheeth. he has built a device which should get him back to Earth but he needs help with it, to prevent Clyde being transported back here permanently. Jo is upset to have learned that Sarah has had some recent encounters with the Doctor, feeling that she wasn't good enough for him to have come and found her. He surprises her by revealing he knows all about her life since leaving UNIT. He has been keeping a discreet watch on all of his old companions, and went to see them all just before his last regeneration.
They operate the Doctor's device and return to UNIT's HQ complex. The Doctor must rescue the youngsters, as Karim turns up the heating in the ventilation shafts to danger levels, whilst the Shansheeth abduct Jo and Sarah and take them to the funeral chamber where the TARDIS is waiting.

They are strapped to the memory weave equipment, which begins to absorb their memories of travelling in the TARDIS. The Shansheeth do not have the ship's key, but a replacement can be made from these memories. They recall all of their initial adventures with the Doctor, and the key begins to form. The Doctor cannot get into the room, but he tells them that they should remember everything - including their lives since leaving him. The memory weave begins to overload and threatens to explode. Sarah and Jo break free and clamber into the lead-lined casket which was supposed to have been the Doctor's coffin - just as the memory weave explodes. Karim and the Shansheeth are killed in the blast.
The Doctor takes everyone back to Bannerman Road in the TARDIS, telling Jo and Sarah how proud he is of them before leaving to catch up with Amy and Rory, who are on honeymoon. When it is time for Jo and Santiago to depart, Sarah tells her of some of the other companions she has researched - teachers Ian and Barbara, who are academics at Cambridge, Ben and Polly who run an orphanage in India, Tegan Jovanka, who works with Aboriginal peoples in her native Australia, and a woman named Dorothy, who runs the 'A Charitable Earth' Foundation...

Death of the Doctor was written by Russell T Davies, and was first broadcast on 25th and 26th October, 2010.
This was the final TV script RTD wrote for the Doctor Who universe (at least to date), and it follows the previous season's The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith in having a guest appearance by the Doctor himself - in this case the new Doctor Matt Smith. That earlier story is referenced, as Clyde is still imbued with Artron energy from having come into contact with the Tenth Doctor's TARDIS.
As well as being a crossover with the parent programme in its current incarnation, Death of the Doctor is most notable for featuring the return of Katy Manning as Jo Grant - one time companion to the Third Doctor, but now grandmother Jo Jones. We learn that she is still married to Prof. Clifford Jones, and has become a fearless eco-warrior.
The story also makes reference to a number of other companions - Liz, the Brigadier, Ian & Barbara, Ben & Polly, Harry, Tegan and Ace. Some of what we hear totally contradicts what has featured in some of the novels and comic strips.
As their memories are accessed, we see a large number of clips from stories of the Classic Era which featured Jo and Sarah, plus SJA clips for Sarah's more recent memories. For Jo's more recent exploits we only get some ransacking of travel programme footage.

The guest cast is not a huge one. David Bradley makes his first appearance in the Doctor Who universe by voicing the Shansheeth leader. he'll be back in Series 7 as the villainous Solomon in Dinosaurs on a Spaceship, before essaying William Hartnell in the 50th Anniversary drama An Adventure in Space and Time, then playing the First Doctor himself in Twice Upon A Time.
Santiago Jones is played by Finn Jones, who became a regular on Game of Thrones as Loras Tyrell.
Colonel Karim is Laila Rouass, who came to fame through Footballers' Wives.
Jimmy Vee is once again hidden under prosthetics as the Groske. Tommy Knight makes another Luke cameo, by appearing in a video call with the gang at the start of the story.

Overall, it's a love letter to Doctor Who of the 1970's, for many its Golden Age.
Things you might like to know:

• The Shansheeth are quite effectively realised, but once you see them tending to only wave one arm around, you quickly spot how they were done.
• RTD had previously considered Death of the Doctor as a title for what became The End of Time Part II.
• This is the second time that UNIT has featured prominently in The Sarah Jane Adventures, and on both occasions the commanding officer turned out to be a villain. Major Kilburne had been a disguised Bane in Enemy of the Bane.
• Torchwood had previously found a spaceship at the foot of Mount Snowdon, yet this is where UNIT Base 5 is located. As the Torchwood organisation was over a century old, they may have obtained it long before UNIT arrived in the area.
• It is said that Ian and Barbara haven't aged since the 1960's. Nothing we saw on screen of their travels with the Doctor might have caused this. They are both professors at Cambridge University, though a couple of years later we find that Ian is Chairman of the Board of Governors of Coal Hill School (The Day of the Doctor).
• Ben and Polly are still together in India, running an orphanage. The location might be a reference to the fact that Anneke Wills resided at an Ashram for a number of years.
• In an earlier SJA story Sarah seemed to indicate that Harry Sullivan was dead. She says "Poor Harry..." when remembering him. Here she mentions his work with viruses but does so in the past tense, confirming that he is no longer with us.
• The novel Eternity Weeps has Liz Shaw working in a moonbase for UNIT, but has her die in the early 2000's.
• The recent trailer for the Season 26 Blu-ray box set also features Ace running the 'A Charitable Earth' Foundation. Whilst that is hardly canon, this story clearly contradicts the comic strip in DWM where she is killed.
• During Tom Baker's time, Nicholas Courtney's absence was usually explained away by having the Brigadier stuck in Geneva. Since 2008, it is Peru where he has got himself stuck - starting with The Sontaran Stratagem. It had been hoped that Courtney could have made a cameo appearance in this story, but he was too ill. He passed away four months after it was broadcast.
• Jo's memories include clips from Carnival of Monsters (one featuring Ian Marter in his earlier guise of Lt. Andrews in that story), The Three Doctors (including glimpses of the First and Second Doctors), The Mutants, The Sea Devils and Frontier in Space (including Roger Delgado's Master).
• Some of Sarah's memories include clips from Masque of Mandragora, Genesis of the Daleks, The Android Invasion, Invasion of the Dinosaurs, The Monster of Peladon, Pyramids of Mars and The Hand of Fear.
• A minor continuity matter is cleared up as we learn that Jo Grant did indeed visit Karfel with the Third Doctor (Timelash refers to this unseen adventure. No mention is made of who the Doctor's other companion was at the time).
• Sarah recalls events from The Five Doctors, yet speaks of Tegan as though she has never met her. This was a problem thrown up by School Reunion, in which, despite having her owning K9 Mark III, she acted as though she hadn't seen the Doctor since The Hand of Fear.

The Vault of Secrets - SJA 4.2

In which Androvax of the Veil has escaped from prison and returned to Earth. Taking over the body of a girl, he tries to break into a vault in the basement of an old abandoned hospital. He has discovered that he needs two keys to open the vault, but only has one. He is chased off by the arrival of three men dressed in black suits, who have powerful energy weapons built into their arms. These are androids known as the Alliance of Shades. They gather up alien technology and guard it in places like this - their appearances giving rise to the mysterious Men in Black who are seen around UFO sightings. Androvax exits the girl and runs off, leaving her unharmed, and the Shades delete her recent memory.
Meanwhile on Bannerman Road, Gita Chandra is dragging her reluctant husband Haresh off to a meeting being held by BURPSS - British UFO Research and Paranormal Studies Society. The group is led by a woman named Ocean Waters and her friend Minty. Gita has been obsessed by aliens, ever since her encounter with the Judoon the year before. On their return from the meeting, they see Androvax hiding in Sarah's garden and alert her. The alien takes over Rani's body but he is chased up to the attic where he is placed in a containment field by Mr Smith. He releases Rani, then surprises everyone by asking for Sarah's help.

Androvax explains that he is dying, but has discovered that he is not the last of his race. There is a spaceship full of his people held in stasis and imprisoned in the vault at the hospital - and he wants Sarah's help in freeing them. The ship crashed on Earth some 40 years ago, and the Alliance of Shades captured it and locked it away. Sarah, Clyde and Rani go to the hospital and encounter the Shades, who are led by Mr Dread. He demands that Androvax be handed over to them, along with the vault key which he possesses. Sarah and her friends flee back to Bannerman Road where they meet Ocean and Minty, who are tracking alien signals on the street. Sarah uses her sonic lipstick to disable their scanner. It transpires that Ocean had met the Shades in the past following a UFO encounter, and this is what led her to becoming obsessed by aliens. She has the other key to the vault. As Mr Dread and his associates burst into the house, Androvax grabs both keys and runs off, hijacking Clyde's body - leaving the others about to be destroyed by the Men in Black...

Androvax has transferred to Gita's body and run off, so the Shades call off their attack. Sarah sabotages Mr Dread's car and they set off for the hospital. Dread requisitions another vehicle and follows. Sarah confronts Androvax, who has now exited form Gita. She tells him she cannot help him as the Earth could be destroyed if the Veil spaceship is released. Mr Dread puts himself into his regeneration cubicle to recharge, whilst his colleagues accidentally destroy each other when they try to shoot Clyde. Androvax takes Sarah's body and pretends to be her, so that her friends won't stop her from opening the vault. Once the doors are open, they see that the vault is hyper-dimensional - bigger on the inside - and contains many huge spacecraft. Androvax releases Sarah then locks himself in the vault. Sarah wakes Mr Dread and convinces him to help them. He gives up several hundred years of energy to teleport the Veil spaceship into space just as it begins to take off - saving the planet from destruction. Mr Dread puts himself into extended hibernation but before doing so he wipes Gita's recent memories.
Back at Bannerman Road, Ocean and Minty are dismayed when Gita tells them she doesn't believe in aliens. Ocean knows that she has been "got at" by them, but leaves with Minty.
meanwhile, out in space, Androvax leads his people to find a new planet on which to rebuild the Veil race...

The Vault of Secrets was written by Phil Ford, the series lead writer, and was first broadcast on 18th and 19th October, 2010. It is a sequel to Ford's third season story Prisoner of the Judoon, in that it sees the return of the reptilian body-swapping alien Androvax (once again played by Mark Goldthorp), and shows us the consequences of Gita Chandra's encounter with the Judoon in that story.
We also have similar scenes where one of the "aliens" purloins a vehicle from a startled motorist in each story.
The Vault of Secrets is also connected to the animated Tenth Doctor adventure Dreamland (2009), which had also featured Mr Dread and the Men in Black, this time at Area 51 in 1947. Dreamland was also written by Ford, and had featured a glimpse of Androvax's spaceship as seen in Prisoner of the Judoon.
We mentioned last time that Tommy Knight had left the series as a regular in the previous story, but Luke Smith makes a cameo already at the beginning of this story, as we see him on a video-link talking to Sarah, Clyde and Rani from his digs in Oxford.

In Dreamland, Mr Dread had been voiced by Peter Guiness, but in this story he is played by Angus Wright. Wright has voiced Magnus Greel in two audio productions for Big Finish.
Fans suspected a possible River Song connection with Ocean Waters, leader of the BURPSS group, but this was not to be. She is played by Cheryl Campbell. Minty is David Webber.
The story gives bigger roles for Gita and Haresh - for comedic effect as usual.

Overall, another great story with a nice blend of excitement and humour. Mr Dread and the Men in Black never returned to the series, which is a shame. Likewise, it would have been nice to have had Ocean and Minty as returning characters in another story or two, as a rival group to the Bannerman Road gang.
Things you might like to know:

• Sarah interrupts the video link to Luke as she has to stop a NASA rover from seeing something alien on the surface of Mars - a large pyramid. This is obviously an Osiran structure - presumably the one that she and the Fourth Doctor visited in Pyramids of Mars.
• The Alliance of Shades become yet another organisation in the Doctor Who universe who gather up and conceal alien technology on present day Earth. Once upon a time there was just UNIT, but since the series returned in 2005 we can add Torchwood, Sarah Jane Smith herself, and now the Men in Black - plus we have a couple of stories where wealthy individuals also have private collections of alien material - such as Joshua Naismith (The End of Time) or Parker (TW: A Day in the Death).