I was deeply
saddened to hear of the passing of Elisabeth
Sladen from cancer this week. I'm not usually
affected by the deaths of actor's or celebrities but I'll admit this news brought a tear to my eye.
She was best known for her role in Doctor Who as Sarah Jane Smith. She first played the part between 1973 and 1976, first playing opposite Jon
Pertwee's Doctor and then Tom Baker's. I was about 7/8 when she joined and Doctor Who was my favourite TV show. She arrived at a time when the show really his a golden period: Planet of the Spiders, Pyramids Of Mars, The Seeds of Death, The Ark In Space, The Brain Of
Morbius and Genesis Of The
Daleks...the list goes on. She was feisty but not fearless, fun, and
likable, but tough. Someone we could identify with - human.
She was, and remained, the most popular of the Doctor's companions. She was the only actor to appear in both Old Who and New Who, when an episode "School Reunion" was written uniting her with the Doctor and answering the question so many of us had asked - what happened to Sarah Jane? It was such a success that she given her own spin-off series in 2007, The Sarah Jane Adventures, and a whole new generation was able to fall in love with her again.
Thanks you,
Lis, for being Sarah Jane. We'll miss you.
