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6TH OCTOBER 2008 - 13TH OCTOBER 2008

(2 EPISODES)

I’m not sure why the production time elected to write out Maria and her family in The Last Sontaran. The first series’ team seemed to work well together, and Maria’s parents in particular were always good value. But as the old axiom goes, a change is as good as a rest, and if nothing else The Day of the Clown proves that The Sarah Jane Adventures is just as capable of surviving a change in cast as the series that spawned it was.

As I’m writing this review in spring 2009 (after watching the repeats of the second series, having missed the original broadcasts) the recent Doctor Who DVD release The Rescue

is still very fresh in my mind – a serial that The Sarah Jane Adventures appears to have learned from. The Rescue saw Doctor Who introduce its first new companion, Vicki, who was soon proven to be essentially a carbon copy of Susan, who she was replacing!

Fortunately the new character introduced here, Rani, is of a very different disposition to Maria; in fact, as a young aspirant reporter, she actually has far more in common with our heroine than Maria ever did, giving the writers an exciting new angle to play with. Better still, Rani is played wonderfully by young Anjli Mohindra, who on the strength of this two-parter looks to be a very promising young actress indeed.

“Tell your Mum I’m giving you a little work experience.”

Of course the choice of name for the new ‘companion’ is a touch playful, to say the least -

I seriously doubt that I’m the only Doctor Who fan wondering about that one! And the new girl’s family are written every bit as mischievously – making Rani’s father the school’s new, oppressive headmaster looks like it is going to open up some attractive, and hopefully very humorous, storytelling opportunities. This certainly seems to be the case so far as Clyde is concerned.

However, despite The Day of the Clown being used as a vehicle to introduce Rani and her family, it is Clyde that writer Phil Ford uses to drive his story forwards and, ultimately, save the day with his flair for jokes. If I was 10 years old, this kid would be my bloody hero!

And it has to be said for a story that, from its title, I had inferred would be a bit hackneyed, The Day of the Clown is actually a very cleverly crafted tale and at times rather eerie. Ford’s script draws upon sources as diverse as Oddbob the Clown and the Pied Piper of Hamlin, before wrapping them up in a Mike Baldwin’s son-shaped package and using them to scare the pants off Sarah Jane, who it appears is coulrophobic. Like Johnny Depp.

Lovely stuff.

Copyright © E.G. Wolverson 2009

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