Doctor Who: Matt Smith in The Sarah Jane Adventures

This was supposed to be the pre-Christmas dry spell for Doctor Who. But with a live show touring the nation , a graphic novel on the shelves and two Nintendo games out next month, fans have found their next fix has never been far away. But in Monday and Tuesday’s double bill of children’s spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures, we found more cataclysmic events within the Whoniverse. Russell T Davies returned to the fold to write SJA story Death of The Doctor, bringing with him Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor and, for the first time since 1973, Pertwee-era companion Jo Grant, played once again by Katy Manning. “Not as daft as they look for two batty old pensioners and a bunch of asbo kids.” In a nutshell, here was the most nostalgia-friendly love-in we’ve witnessed in 50 years. Sarah Jane is visited by a shifty-looking Unit Colonel and told her old friend the Doctor is dead. The Scooby Gang head to the Unit base on Mount Snowdon for the funeral, organised by vulture-headed alien undertakers The Shansheeth. S-J’s Tardis predecessor Jo Grant has come for the funeral, the pair go all Made in Dagenham for a while. The funeral turns out to be faked and before long the gang all get to meet Doctor Eleven for the first time. This could hardly been more of a Russell T Davies script, his familiar tropes turned up to (wait for it…) Eleven. There were animal-headed aliens. There was a jolly chase around a ventilation shaft. There were lashings of brazen sentimentality to rip out your heart. Moreover, Death of The Doctor established Matt Smith in the role as much as any of his episodes in the main show. Hurrahs all round. “I waited and I waited for years. Because you wouldn’t just leave. Not forever. Not Me.” Some history: Jo Grant was companion to the Third Doctor between 1971 and 1973. She was a junior civilian operative for Unit, but this being the 1970s, she never really got to do much more than ask questions and get rescued. She left the Doctor to marry a Nobel Prize-winning environmental scientist and go and study vegetation in the Amazon. Season 2 Episode 1: The Robot Revolution Episode 2: Lux Episode 3: The Well Episode 4: Lucky Day Episode 5: The Story and the Engine Episode 6: The Interstellar Song Contest Episode 7: Wish World Episode 8: The Reality War Season 1 Episodes 1 & 2: Space Babies / The Devil's Chord Episode 3: Boom Episode 4: 73 Yards Episode 5: Dot and Bubble Episode 6: Rogue Episode 7: The Legend of Ruby Sunday Episode 8: Empire of Death Christmas special: Joy to the World 60th anniversary specials Special 1: The Star Beast Special 2: Wild Blue Yonder Special 3: The Giggle Christmas special: The Church on Ruby Road Flux / Series 13 Chapter one: The Halloween Apocalypse Chapter two: War of the Sontarans Chapter three: Once, Upon Time Chapter four: Village of the Angels Chapter five: Survivors of the Flux Chapter six: The Vanquishers New Year's Special: Eve of the Daleks Spring special: Legend of the Sea Devils BBC centenary special: The Power of the Doctor Series 12 Episode 1: Spyfall part one Episode 2: Spyfall part two Episode 3: Orphan 55 Episode 4: Nikola Tesla’s Night of Terror Episode 5: Fugitive of the Judoon Episode 6: Praxeus Episode 7: Can You Hear Me? 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Episode 8: The Witchfinders Episode 9: It Takes You Away Episode 10: The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos New Year's special: Resolution Series 10 Episode 1: The Pilot Episode 2: Smile Episode 3: Thin Ice Episode 4: Knock Knock Episode 5: Oxygen Episode 6: Extremis Episode 7: The Pyramid at the End of the World Episode 8: The Lie of the Land Episode 9: Empress of Mars Episode 10: The Eaters of Light Episode 11: World Enough and Time Episode 12: The Doctor Falls 2017 Christmas special: Twice Upon A Time Series 9 Episode 1: The Magician's Apprentice Episode 2: The Witch's Familiar Episode 3: Under The Lake Episode 4: Before The Flood Episode 5: The Girl Who Died Episode 6: The Woman Who Lived Episode 7: The Zygon Invasion Episode 8: The Zygon Inversion Episode 9: Sleep No More Episode 10: Face The Raven Episode 11: Heaven Sent Episode 12: Hell Bent 2015 Christmas special: The Husbands of River Song 2016 Christmas special: The Return of Doctor Mysterio Series 8 Episode 1: Deep Breath Episode 2: Into The Dalek Episode 3: Robot of Sherwood Episode 4: Listen Episode 5: Time Heist Episode 6: The Caretaker Episode 7: Kill The Moon Episode 8: Mummy on the Orient Express Episode 9: Flatline Episode 10: In the Forest of the Night Episode 11: Dark Water Episode 12: Death In Heaven 2014 Christmas special: Last Christmas Series 7 Episode 1: Asylum of the Daleks Episode 2: Dinosaurs on a Spaceship Episode 3: A Town Called Mercy Episode 4: The Power of Three Episode 5: The Angels Take Manhatten 2012 Christmas special: The Snowmen Episode 6: The Bells of Saint John Episode 7: The Rings of Akhaten Episode 8: Cold War Episode 9: Hide Episode 10: Journey to the Centre of the Tardis Episode 11: The Crimson Horror Episode 12: Nightmare in Silver Episode 13: The Name of the Doctor 50th Anniversary special: The Day of the Doctor 2013 Christmas special: The Time of the Doctor Series 6 Episode 1: The Impossible Astronaut Episode 2: Day of the Moon Episode 3: The Curse of the Black Spot Episode 4: The Doctor's Wife Episode 5: The Rebel Flesh Episode 6: The Almost People Episode 7: A Good Man Goes To War Episode 8: Let's Kill Hitler Episode 9: Night Terrors Episode 10: The Girl Who Waited Episode 11: The God Complex Episode 12: Closing Time Episode 13: The Wedding of River Song 2011 Christmas special: The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe Series 5 Episode 1: The Eleventh Hour Episode 2: The Beast Below Episode 3: Victory of the Daleks Episode 4: The Time of Angels Episode 5: Flesh and Stone Episode 6: The Vampires of Venice Episode 7: Amy's Choice Episode 8: The Hungry Earth Episode 9: Cold Blood Episode 10: Vincent and the Doctor Episode 11: The Lodger Episode 12: The Pandorica Opens Episode 13: The Big Bang 2010 Christmas special: A Christmas Carol One of Davies’ triumphs was bringing Sarah Jane back in the first place in order to show the effect that Tardis travels have on ordinary people’s lives. Poor Sarah Jane spent years lonely and single, not moving on until her return in 2006 and subsequent spin-off. Jo’s return showed how differently things could turn out – she’s spent the past 40 years chaining herself to barricades, flying kites on Kilimanjaro and sailing down the Ganges in a tea chest, seven times a mother and 13 times a granny. And returning actress Katy Manning was sensational. Her immediate bond with Sarah Jane was ridiculously infectious, but they also shared each other’s pain. A pang of jealous regret shot across Jo’s face when she learned that the Doctor had returned for Sarah Jane, but not for her. And despite all she had achieved, she freely admitted, “sometimes I feel like I never stopped running”. “If that day ever came… I think the whole universe would shiver.” And so to the really big news. A lingering problem since the Who revival has been the trouble with regeneration. Back in the olden days (The Deadly Assassin in 1976 to be precise) it was established that a Timelord had an upper limit of 13 lives. Eleven Doctors in and the clock is ticking – nobody wants to be a slave to continuity, but something needed to be done about it. And here it is. Crawling through the ventilation shaft, Clyde asks the Doctor how many times he can regenerate. “Five hundred and seven.” Audacious hardly covers it. Judging by an average stint of 3.2 years per Doctor, which gives the series a shelf life of 1622.4 years to come. No immediate danger – and surely this is better for the jeopardy of the show than previous reports that the Doctor was now immortal ? But does nobody else feel a teensy bit cheated? Could they not have given some kind of explanation? My theory is that he doesn’t the Doctor doesn’t actually know how many times he can regenerate. Maybe something happened in the Time War that jumbled things up, and for all he knows, anybody could be his last one. Now that’s jeopardy. While we’re on the subject: the Doctor also reveals that he can change colour, and his statement that “I can be anything”, at least does not deny that he could be a woman. This I’m not buying. It’s long been established that Timelords came in both sexes, and that this one is male. But should a future producer be brave enough, that door is still ajar. “I want you to remember every single day with me, every single second. Because your memories are more powerful than anything else on this planet.” If your emotional cortex wasn’t already sufficiently frazzled by the events of Death of The Doctor, RTD had one final continuity suckerpunch, Sarah Jane had been Googling “Tardis”, and while she couldn’t be sure, she reckons she knows of people all over the world who went on the same adventures as her and Jo. And so in two minutes, RTD ties up 50 years of canon. Tegan is fighting for Aboriginal rights in Australia. Ben and Polly run an orphanage in India. SJ’s old pal Harry saved millions of lives developing vaccines. Ace has raised billions with the organisation Charitable Earth. And Ian and Barbara Chesterton have apparently never aged since the 1960s. If there’s ever been a more shameless love note to Doctor Who’s progressive undercurrents, I’ve yet to witness it. See you all at Christmas.