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1ST JANUARY 2007

(60-MINUTE NEW YEAR SPECIAL)

Despite my best efforts, I found it very difficult to approach The Sarah Jane Adventures without prejudice. The mere fact that it was intended for broadcast on CBBC was enough to put me off for starters; after all, I’m a big boy now.

As fate would have it though, it was actually the missus – the same missus that regularly lambastes Doctor Who - that forced me to sit down on New Year’s Day 2007 and watch Invasion of the Bane. She had seen the trailer and thought that it looked “quite good”. I disagreed. In the end though, it turns out that she was right, and I was wrong. Looks like

there is an exception to the rule, then…

Now although Russell T Davies and Gareth Roberts’ Invasion of the Bane was far better than I had expected it to be, I was still far from being won over. I felt like I was watching an exceptionally well-crafted and expensively-produced children’s programme, which I was,

but from an adult viewer’s standpoint I did not enjoy this holiday special enough to  tune in

to watch the first episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures when the series began proper nine months later.

With hindsight, and particularly when compared to later stories, I think a lot of this is down

to two things. Firstly, the character of Kelsey Harper (Porsha Lawrence Mavour) is so emb-arrassing to anybody above the age of 12 that it actually hurts. The odd thing is though that Kelsey shares many traits with Clyde (who would replace her from Revenge of the Slitheen onwards), yet for some unfathomable reason Clyde just works. Perhaps this is attributable

to Daniel Anthony’s energetic performance, or the character's relationship with Luke; I’m

still not sure.

The second thing is the out-and-out cheesiness of it all – whilst it is certainly no K-9 & Co., Invasion of the Bane is all Bubble Shock! and bus rides. Granted, it is not a million miles from what you might get in an offbeat episode of Doctor Who or even Torchwood, but even so, something about this story just makes me want to grind my teeth.

Thankfully though, Invasion of the Bane is saved by some truly exceptional performances. Samantha Bond’s Bane Mother, for example, hits exactly the right note – melodramatic in the extreme, but not too hammy. Her scenes with Elisabeth Sladen in particular are electric.

I also took an instant shine to Maria’s wonderful, estranged parents, Alan and Chrissie Jac-kson (Joseph Millson and Juliet Cowan respectively). For me, these two were the unsung heroes of the first series.

Copyright © E.G. Wolverson 2009

E.G. Wolverson has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

Doctor Who has only had three televised spin-offs in its forty-five year history, yet two of them have featured one time companion Sarah Jane Smith. It’s testament to the popularity of the character – and the actress who brought her to life, Elisabeth Sladen – that, over thirty years since her first appearance alongside the third Doctor in The Time Warrior, Sarah Jane returned to our screens, first in School Reunion in Doctor Who’s second 21st century series, and then again, for her own series.

The first thing to note is this: this series is tremendously good fun. This is, after all, the most important thing we can look for here. While Doctor Who itself has grown to a new form of phenomenal popularity, Sarah Jane sees a return to a familiar old format, of short advent-ures for younger viewers. This is a kids’ show, doesn’t pretend to be anything else, and as such it’s brilliant and perfect. Sarah Jane herself was, back in the old days, a sometimes perfect companion, sometimes very difficult to watch, more due to the writing of any one story I suspect, than to any poor performance on the part of Sladen. Here she is being

written for by people at the top of their game, who adore the character and the actress,

and it shows. Sladen rules this show as much as David Tennant rules Doctor Who.

In point of fact, what is presented here as series one is really series one plus the hour-

long first episode. Invasion of the Bane was first broadcast as a one-off adventure on

New Year’s Day 2007, a little taster for the full series and a tryout for the various elements

of the show. This has been previously released on DVD, but here it is again with the full

first series, while series two has just finished airing on BBC1.

The series comes from the creative hands of Davies, Gardner and Collinson, as does its parent show; however, the writing credits are dominated by the indomitable Gareth Roberts. Davies and Roberts share writing duties on the pilot, with Colin Teague directing. Invasion of the Bane is rip-roaring fun, setting up the series nicely while telling a good, self-contained story.

The plot is actually fairly complex; young Maria Jackson has moved house with her father, Alan, following her parents’ divorce. She finds herself living opposite one Sarah Jane Smith. In the middle of the night, she spots Sarah communicating with an alien. The following day, she is introduced by local girl Kelsey to the Bubbleshock factory. Bubbleshock is a new soft drink sweeping the nation, but its secret ingredient Bane is in fact extracts from the body of the Bane Mother, queen of a race of aliens intent on conquering the earth. Oh, and the Bane have been having trouble with controlling some humans, so they’ve created an adolescent archetype – a perfect human – to study the species. The archetype runs of with Maria while Sarah is investigating. Eventually, of course, the trio defeat the Bane and send them pack-ing. Actually quite a lot for an hour long kids’ show!

There are some great touches. The Bane are masterful; huge green cyclopean octopuses that can take human form. Proper alien monsters, just like we like. Sarah’s array of gadgets, including the sonic lipstick from the Doctor, the attic full of alien evidence (and UNIT snap-shots) and the huge alien supercomputer, Mr Smith (wonderfully voiced by Alex Armstrong, but just where did she pick that up?) We even get an appearance from K-9, through a portal in said attic, to the sealed dimension in which he’s guarding the black hole apparently cre-ated by CERN!

Really though, this episode is made by the cast. Aside from Sladen’s great performance, Yasmin Paige is perfect as Maria, displaying exactly the right combination of intelligence, enthusiasm and cuteness. Tommy Knight, as the archetype, later named Luke as he is adopted by Sarah, is occasionally a bit much in his wide-eyed newborn innocence, but again, the actor’s charm wins us over. Only Kelsey, played by Porsha Lawrence Mavour,

is a misstep. She’s played brilliantly, and is probably the most realistic portrayal of a four-teen year old girl I’ve seen on television – but that’s the problem. Her mouthy style – ‘all

noise and ignorance’ – gets annoying too quickly, and it’s easy to see why she was cut for the main series. Matters are balanced out by a wonderfully arch performance by Samantha Bond as Mrs Wormwood, the Bane’s chief representative on Earth, second only to Mother herself. I’m also rather keen on her secretary Lesley – one of the most physically attractive women I’ve ever seen! I don’t mind that she’s a space octopus underneath – can she become a recurring villain, please?

Although there are some naff moments – the climactic “Calling the Bane!” mobile phone attack is a bit rubbishy, and Bubbleshock must be truly addictive to have become success-ful with a name and design like that (although I love that everyone thinks it must be harmless because it’s ‘organic’) – overall this is a cracking slice of kids’ television, with plenty to keep children of all ages – up to their mid-twenties, at least – amused. 

Copyright © Daniel Tessier 2009

Daniel Tessier has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

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