A Girl's Best Friend

"There hasn't been a human sacrifice since 1891!"

Writer: Terence Dudley

Format: TV

Broadcast: 28th December 1981

Series: K9 and Company Pilot

Featuring: Sarah Jane,K9

Synopsis 

Sarah is looking forward to spending a quiet Christmas with her Aunt Lavinia in the sleepy village of Morton Harewood. But when she arrives, she finds her aunt is missing, and a surprise present from an old friend is waiting to be opened. 

Sarah and her aunt's ward, Brendan, are soon caught up in the affairs of a mysterious cult who practice the black arts, and are preparing for a human sacrifice. But they have the Doctor's gift to aid them - a robot dog who answers to the name of K9...

Verdict 

A Girl's Best Friend was something I found very intriguing to be watching. It seems to be the forgotten story of Classic Doctor Who and I think that is immediately confirmed by the fact this was my first ever watch of the to be spinoff episode. I must admit, I'm not surprised that we didn't get a full series of K9 and Company because this story definitely had its problems but I think it should have been given a go because of the mass of potential it had. This is the closest we got to a Doctor Who spinoff during the Classic era but the thought of one just seems strange to me and I'm not sure why. There have been many spinoff audios and of course Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures to accompany the revived series, with another in the form of Class joining the fray later this year, but this one just seemed out of place which was a shame. It was brilliant to see new material of Sarah Jane and K9 from the Classic era for the first time and there was a pretty good story to match the brand new pairing but it did have its problems. I thought the story of Sarah's aunt Lavinia was actually a good one with her quickly leaving the village and nobody being able to get ahold of her. She had ran off to America and said goodbye to nobody so there was a mass element of doubt and my expectation was that she was actually a part of the village cult. Instead the revelation was that she actually couldn't get ahold of Sarah. I thought that was a very poor ending and I really was disappointed with it because of the attention it had gotten throughout the episode. The village setting was pretty good and it was definitely established that was the intended location for the would be series by the opening titles. I must mention the titles because I thought they were absolutely ridiculous. They really were awful. I was actually laughing at how bad they were and immediately the tone and atmosphere set by them didn't make me expect anything too good and that's what I got. From the start, I just seemed to be waiting for something major to happen and I didn't really get anything as a reward. I had the anticipation which was good, but I didn't get an end result which was disappointing. That was a running occurrence in the story which was rather mixed. I wouldn't say my rating was generous though. Following on from The Invasion of Time and Warriors' Gate, Sarah seems to be the third former companion who has a model of K9 to keep her company! I like that idea and it's good to think that even after spending time with the Doctor, they have a souvenir of sorts from their ventures to remind them of the good they did and in some cases will continue to do. Brendan wasn't the best character in the world as the actor didn't seem suited to the age he was playing but his understanding of K9 was really great and something I very much liked. Lis Sladen reprised her role as Sarah Jane Smith wonderfully well after a lengthy time away and I must admit I did like The Hand of Fear getting a nice reference. I was expecting the Doctor to get mentioned more and with the mysterious events that were going around the village I almost expected him to turn up, even though I knew that wouldn't be happening. The Tracey characters along with Pollock and Wilson were good characters but the story was just lacking a spark to propel it to a higher rating. Overall though, a good little episode and I love the fact that Classic Doctor Who does have its own spinoff, even if it only got given the go ahead for its pilot and nothing more. It's not the best but it's still very good and deserves its place in the Classic era of Doctor Who. It shouldn't be forgotten as it paved the way for what we would later see in School Reunion. 

Rating: 7/10