Farewell, Sarah Jane

"The street's very quiet without her."

Writer: Russell T Davies
Format: Webcast
Released: 19 April 2020
Series: #DoctorWhoLockdown

Featuring: Jo, Rani, Luke, Clyde

Synopsis

To mark the anniversary of the passing of Elisabeth Sladen, who played the Doctor's friend Sarah Jane Smith. In a new video, Sarah Jane Smith's closest friends come together to say "Farewell, Sarah Jane".

Verdict

Farewell, Sarah Jane was an absolutely wonderful little story. It was full of emotion and just a perfect way to send off Sarah Jane Smith. I can imagine this was a pretty tough story for Russell T Davies to write amidst a global pandemic where people are losing their lives with such frequency, but nearly a decade on from her passing (which in itself is scarcely believable), this adventure takes place during the in-universe funeral of Sarah Jane Smith. It's such a shame that Lis Sladen died so early on, but this is a fitting way to finally get closure on the Sarah Jane Adventures. I thought the format was terrific in having Jacob Dudman narrate before some wonderful videos of Jo Grant (I refuse to call her Jones despite it being correct!), Gita, Ace and then of course Luke, Clyde and Rani. It was just lovely to see all of the characters back in the role to say goodbye to the series titular character. She really was one of a kind. I am glad that there was a semblance of humour in the story with Katy Manning just being her mad self reprising the role of Jo briefly. The cut to the vase smashing was hilarious! Gita was also full of comedy during the televised series, but it was nice to see some emotion from her and you just know for sure that it was very real. Lis Sladen was such a loved person, that's no secret, and I have to admit I found myself getting rather emotional as I watched on. Gemma was also listening in and whilst she isn't the biggest Sarah Jane Smith fan, that didn't at all matter. This was just a story of celebration. The narration also detailing a number of other Doctor Who characters present at the funeral was fitting of the woman Sarah Jane Smith was in that she had touched so many lives of those who had travelled with the Doctor. I'd love to know when, or if, she had encountered the likes of Dodo, Ian and Barbara or Nyssa and Tegan! Or if the word of Sarah Jane had just got around and meant so much. I find it interesting that Nyssa was there given the way and location of her departure from the TARDIS in Terminus! I also loved finding out that Martha and Mickey now have a child, although I'm not struck on the name August! It was nice of them both to be there though. Jo explaining why the Doctor wasn't at the funeral was good and I can imagine he would be devastated to learn of his passing. We saw the reaction of the Eleventh Doctor when he found out the Brigadier had passed so I think the death of his beloved Sarah might crush him. Rani getting the final words on Sarah Jane was quite beautiful and I loved the idea of her not believing that she had really died. Right at the end, the Doctor had come for her and they were off in the TARDIS again having adventures forever. That was a really wonderful thought and something I would definitely like to believe. We had Captain Jack saluting Sarah Jane, Sky even showing up briefly and Maria and her dad attending via video link. It was all lovely. The attempt of the Trickster to defeat Sarah Jane even in death was excellent and I loved the idea of friends coming banding together to put riddance to that threat and practically kill off the Trickster for good! That was an unexpected development. Overall, just a quite wonderful celebration of Sarah Jane Smith. A fitting farewell.

Rating: 10/10