Doctor Who's Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane) Dies at 63 132
Doofus writes "NPR reports that Elisabeth Sladen, who played the Doctor's assistant Sarah Jane, has died at 63. Sladen played opposite Jon Pertwee and then Tom Baker, and eventually earned her own show. BBC stories here, including a picture with K9, and here."
Re:Good Bye Sarah Jane (Score:5, Interesting)
Perhaps like me she would have been one of the first (most likely the first) assistants you remembered as I started watching Dr Who in the early '70s.
Even after watching later, and pre (on video), incarnations of Dr Who, Jon Pertwee + Elizabeth Sladen will always be the doctor and his assistant to me.
Re:Good Bye Sarah Jane (Score:5, Interesting)
My first would have been Liz Shaw, although she never had much impact for me. Jo Grant was a bigger hit with me as a kid because she was more familiar to me since she acted like a big kid. Plus I thought she was the hottest woman on TV at the time.
But Sarah Jane was such a strong character, more forthright and proactive than the other two companions I had seen. She also was the first one (for me) to cross the border of regeneration. I think that the warmth of Tom Baker's Doctor may have coloured how I saw Sarah Jane. Perhaps they really weren't as close as I imagined; it is just that their relationship post-regeneration seemed friendlier.
Re:Even in the new series... (Score:4, Interesting)
Tom Baker on the news:
http://www.tom-baker.co.uk/pages/content/index.asp?PageID=159 [tom-baker.co.uk]
'Sarah Jane dead? No, impossible! Impossible. Only last week I agreed to do six new audio adventures with her for Big Finish Productions...She can't be dead. But she is: she died yesterday morning. Cancer. I had no idea she was ill; she was so private, never wanted any fuss, and now, gone. A terrible blow to her friends and a shattering blow for all those fans of the programme whose lives were touched every Saturday evening by her lovely heroic character, Sarah-Jane Smith.'