The Day of the Clown

"Even clowns have their dark days."

Writer: Phil Ford

Format: TV 

Broadcast: 6th-13th October 2008

Series: SJA 2.02

Featuring: Sarah Jane, Luke, Clyde, Rani

Synopsis 

Rani Chandra is the new girl on Bannerman Road. She is haunted by a sinister clown. Does it have anything to do with local children who have gone missing? When Clyde's friend disappears, the trail leads to a strange circus museum and the legend of the Pied Piper.

Verdict

The Day of the Clown was another brilliant story in the Sarah Jane Adventures! Series two has started off extremely well with two very good and consistent stories and with a major change in cast to be accommodating along with the storytelling, I have been mightily impressed with Phil Ford's writing. He had the difficult task of writing Maria out in the last adventure and in this story there was the harder task of replacing her. Rani immediately caught the eye and I loved how her character has a keen eye for the strange and the interesting. She was very similar to how I imagine Sarah Jane was at her age and the thirst she had for the truth was really quite excellent. Clyde immediately took a shine to her and whilst he was winding Luke up about fancying Maria, there was no subtly in what Clyde thought of the new occupant on Bannerman Road. Luke clearly was finding it difficult without Maria around and although he liked Rani well enough after they'd first met, he found their relationship difficult without being able to tell her the truth about the aliens. I thought the plot was excellent and I think this was definitely the scariest story yet from the Sarah Jane Adventures. It was about fear so that is hardly surprising but clowns are something I know a lot of people have a fear of so their use here was excellent. The story acting as Doctor Who's take on the Pied Piper was pretty incredible and I loved how it was linked with modern day missing children as well as Odd Bob the Clown. Bradley Walsh playing the role of Spellman as well was brilliant as I'm quite a regular viewer of The Chase, it was rather strange to see him dressed as he was. I must say though that he played the role fantastically well! The dialogue between him and Sarah Jane was excellent and I liked that we learned of the origin of her fear of clowns. After everything she has seen in the universe, that moment in her childhood still scares her. The reference to Revenge of the Slitheen in explaining why the school had a new headmaster was very good but I think the best thing about Mr Chandra was his relationship with Clyde, and the latter's reaction to finding out that he was in fact Rani's father. Clyde couldn't believe his luck but he did actually end up by having his tea made by his new headmaster so things weren't all bad. I thought the references to Warriors of Kudlak and The Lost Boy were also fantastic and I'm loving that this spinoff series is not shy when it comes to mentioning past stories. I also think it's brilliant how consistent the series with this story marking the fourth adventure in a row to score such a high rating. I've been very impressed I must admit. The cliffhanger was pretty good and although the resolution was maybe a little shaky, it didn't alter the quality of the story as a whole. The revelation that Spellman was actually a manifest of the emotion of fear itself was quite something and I loved how Rani provided Clyde with the means to defeat the evil clown. Jokes. Clyde defeated an alien with humour, and some terrible jokes at that! Sarah Jane overcame her fear in the end and the comedic element helped with that. Overall, another excellent story!

Rating: 9/10