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04/19/11(Tue)16:25 No.15633090Despite
choosing to leave the programme in 1976, with an emotional departure
scene at the conclusion of the serial The Hand of Fear, Smith later
stated in interviews that although she had left Sarah Jane, "Sarah Jane
never left me". Although she declined producer John Nathan-Turner's
offer to come back as Sarah to bridge the changeover between the Fourth
and Fifth Doctors, she returned to the role for the 1981 pilot programme
K9 and Company and for a guest appearance in the 1983 20th anniversary
celebration The Five Doctors, and continued to appear in radio and audio
stories, documentaries and at fan conventions across the following two
decades.
With the return of Doctor Who to television in 2005,
however, Sladen unexpectedly found herself back on BBC One screens when
she made a guest appearance in the 2006 episode School Reunion, where
Sarah was emotionally reunited with the Doctor, now played by David
Tennant. The character, and Sladen's performance, proved to be as
popular as ever, if not more so, and the following year she was given a
starring role in her own spin-off series, The Sarah Jane Adventures.
This won Sladen and her character a whole new legion of fans, both young
and old, and continued the adventures of unquestionably one of Doctor
Who's most popular characters. |