The Sarah Jane Adventures/Characters
The Sarah Jane Adventures, a Doctor Who spin-off where one of the Doctor's former companions leads a group of people who frequently defend the Earth against aliens. This time most of the group are in their early teens. It's set in Ealing.
Core Cast
Sarah Jane Smith
Played by: Elisabeth Sladen
13-year-old Sarah Jane played by: Jessica Ashworth (2007)
Young Sarah Jane played by: Jessica Mogridge (2008)
Former traveling companion of the Doctor. She used to just be The Watson to him, however it no longer applies to her as she has grown out of it.
- Action Mom
- Actor Existence Failure: Elisabeth Sladen died during the production of the fifth series, the show was canceled by CBBC soon after (although the three serials already finished were aired).
- Defrosting Ice Queen
- Distaff Counterpart: Had started acting completely like the Doctor. In the first episode, suddenly having a child to take care of snaps her out of it, and she gradually becomes much more human again.
- Doesn't Like Guns
- Grandma, What Massive Hotness You Have! /HotScoop /HotMom
- Intrepid Reporter
- Lady of Adventure
- Little Old Lady Investigates
- Mama Bear: To Luke
- Never Mess with Granny: She fits this trope particularly in that episode where she stops an escaping biker with her sonic lipstick, and blows into it as if it were a gun that she fired.
- Older and Wiser
- Team Mom
- Technical Pacifist: She inherited this trope from the Doctor by the time of The Sarah Jane Adventures. In The Last Sontaran, she not only lets Commander Kaagh go scot-free after trying to destroy the world, she leaves his ship intact. Of course, he comes back and tries to destroy the world again.
Maria Jackson
Played by: Yasmin Paige (2007-08)
New girl to the area, sees Sarah Jane communicating with an alien and after helping foil an alien scheme she joins Sarah Jane in her adventures.
- Kid Sidekick: All of Sarah Jane's teen companions qualify, but Maria is the one who works most closely with her.
- Like A Daughter To Sarah Jane
- Little Miss Badass: Shows shades of this after leaving for America. In an email she says she's helping aliens hide from the United States government.
- Ordinary High School Student
- Put on a Bus: In The Last Sontaran.
- Real Life Writes the Plot: Paige had to leave the show to take her exams.
- The Lancer
- The Watson
Luke Smith
Played by: Tommy Knight
The boy Sarah Jane adopts in the first episode. He was grown in a lab by aliens, so he knows nothing about socializing at all. Very intelligent, but seems simple.
- Artificial Human
- Belly Buttonless: He lacks a navel, due to being created by the Bane.
- Commuting on a Bus: Luke left for Oxford after The Nightmare Man but appeared in several episodes afterward.
- Genetic Memory
- Happily Adopted
- Momma's Boy: Not portrayed as a bad thing at all.
- No Social Skills: At first
- Photographic Memory
- Portmanteau Couple Name: "Clani" in The Man Who Never Was.
- Teen Genius
- The Smart Guy
- The Watson
- Younger Than They Look: Was effectively "born" in the middle of the first episode, yet appears 14.
Clyde Langer
Played by: Daniel Anthony
Cool kid, or at least likes to think of himself as such. Starts of as a bit of a jerk but slowly softens. Smarter than he'd like to admit.
- Casanova Wannabe: Kid-friendly version, of course.
- Deadpan Snarker
- Genre Savvy: Shows signs of this through some of his snarking, but recently it seems he's taken to carrying around a flashlight during the day, just in case he has to go down some dark, creepy tunnels.
- Hidden Depths: Clyde's a talented artist.
- Parental Abandonment: We don't get to meet Clyde's family till series two (The Mark of the Berseker), though it is established early on that he lives with his mother after his father ran off with his mother's sister
- UST: A mild case of this with Rani. He mentions a couple of times in "The Empty Planet" they may have to Adam and Eve the planet again, possibly seriously.
Rani Chandra
Played by: Anjli Mohindra (2008-2011)
Old Rani played by: Souad Faress (2009)
Suspiciously Similar Substitute for Maria from series 2, another new girl and the daughter of the local Comprehensive School's new Sadist Teacher Headmaster. Wants to be a journalist.
- Dawson Casting: Rani's actor is over 18, to the relief of many older male fans
- Intrepid Reporter in the making
- One Steve Limit: Averted. One of the former villans in Doctor Who was named Rani.
Sky Smith
Played by: Sinead Michael (2011)
Baby Sky played by: Chloe Savage, Ella Savage, Amber Donaldson, Scarlet Donaldson (2011)
Alien girl who joins the cast in Series 5. Left on Sarah Jane's doorstep as a baby and rapidly ages.
- Defusing the Tykebomb
- Happily Adopted
- Plot-Relevant Age-Up
- Shock and Awe: The end of "Sky" suggests that her electric powers haven't totally gone away.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: For Luke. She is a teenager with No Social Skills who is Younger Than They Look and is adopted by Sarah Jane, and was grown by a woman (really an alien) as a weapon, and said woman refers to herself as the real mother. This is heavily lampshaded in Series 5, episode 2 when Clyde says that having her around is like "deja vu" and Sarah Jane lets her wear Luke's old clothes.
- And again when they meet in Episode 5, Clyde calls Luke "[his] biggest success - Frankenbane, now a normal teenager", and they eventually form a Brother-Sister Team.
- Tyke Bomb
Mr Smith
Voiced by: Alexander Armstrong
Sarah Jane's alien computer. Within his casing, he is actually a sentient crystal called a Xylok, and in The Lost Boy, he tried to make the moon crash into the Earth, to release the other Xyloks from beneath a volcano.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: He's originally evil.
- Good Feels Good: After his true purpose is forgotten he begins to develop a sense of humor.
- Magical Computer
- Magical Database
Other Important Cast Members
Alan Jackson
Played by: Joseph Millson (2007-08)
Maria's long suffering, kind-hearted father. Divorcee, Maria lives with him because the schools in the area are better and... well... Maria's mum is a bit... flaky.
- Chekhov's Skill: Think Alan's hastily-introduced skateboarding skills will be turn out to be important in the episode's resolution?
- Hot Dad
- Name's the Same: has the same name as a famous singer.
- Papa Wolf
- Parental Obliviousness: Until Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?
Chrissie Jackson
Played by: Juliet Cowan (2007-08)
Flaky Malakey. She loves her daughter but she's irresponsible and undependable. She doesn't like Sarah Jane as she is jealous of the bond she and Maria have forged.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Mostly a case of Beware the Nice Ones, and getting really lucky with an Armor-Piercing Slap, but the record still stands... she took out a freakin' SONTARAN!!!
- Drop-In Character
- My Name Is Not Durwood: She dismissively calls Sarah Jane a variety of incorrect ones.
- Parental Obliviousness: Until The Last Sontaran
Haresh Chandra
Played by: Ace Bhatti (2008-2011)
The headmaster of Park Vale High School and Rani's father. Doesn't get along with Clyde and is annoyed Rani is friends with him; by the same token, he encourages Rani's friendship with Luke, an excellent student.
- Bait and Switch Tyrant: He appears to be very nasty on his introduction, it is later revealed to be mostly an act
- Flanderization: He, for the most part, turns into a clueless comic foil.
- Good Parents
- Hidden Depths: Despite his usual switch between Stern Teacher and Henpecked Husband, he's on many occasions shown himself to be a very caring father to Rani, such as after the Doctor's "death" in Series 4.
- Hot Dad
- Parental Obliviousness
- Stern Teacher
Gita Chandra
Played by: Mina Anwar (2008-2011)
Rani's mother, who runs a flower shop called Bloomin' Lovely. Wants to be friends with Sarah Jane, but Sarah Jane seems to find her mildly annoying.
- Catch Phrase: "Bloomin' Lovely". (Hands out card for her flower shop.)
- Good Parents
- My Name Is Not Durwood: Keeps calling Sarah Jane "Sarah".
- And as we all know, only the Doctor is allowed to do this.
- Parental Obliviousness: Starts to crumble as of series 4, when she's sure something's going on.
- Victory-Guided Amnesia
K-9
Voiced by: John Leeson (2007, 2009-2010)
Robotic dog, also a former companion of the Doctor (though at a different time to Sarah Jane). The current model (Mk IV) was left to Sarah Jane at the end of the Doctor Who episode School Reunion, after the previous one (from the failed spin-off K-9 and Company) was destroyed. Spent most of the show offscreen for copyright reasons (with a justification, of course), but was a regular for most of series 3.
- Deus Ex Machina: His cameo appearances prior to joining the regular cast mostly consisted of him teleporting in to save the day.
- Although Sarah Jane did call on him.
- Spock Speak: "Affirmative Mistress"
The Shopkeeper and the Captain
Played by Cyril Nri and a parrot (2010-2011)
Two enigmatic self-styled "servants of the universe" who have occasionally press-ganged Sarah and friends into serving their probably benevolent purposes. Their origins and affiliations are unknown. The Shopkeeper appears to be an avuncular dark-skinned man in eccentric early-twentieth-century clothes, and the Captain to be a large red-and-yellow parrot. They were responsible for putting Sky on Sarah Jane's doorstep.
- Aborted Arc: we would probably have learned more about them if not for the sad ending of the series.
- Mission Control
- Mr. Exposition
- Obstructive Code of Conduct: they appear to be limited in how much they can actively "interfere"
- Powers That Be
- Silent Partner: the Captain
- Spell My Name with a "The"
- This Is My Human: The Captain is really the one in charge.
Villains
Mrs. Wormwood
Played by: Samantha Bond (2007-08)
Member of a race called the Bane, who tried to take over Earth with a special soda drink called "Bubble Shock!", but was defeated by Sarah Jane. Later, Mrs. Wormwood returns to Earth and with the help of Kaagh, the Sontaran, tried to reawaken an ancient Cosmic Horror called Horath, to take over the galaxy.
- Everything's Squishier with Cephalopods: Her true form is a giant, one eyed squiddy-thing.
- Luke, I Am Your Mother: She oversaw Luke's creation during the Bubble Shock! incident. Later says this word-for-word.
- Meaningful Name: When she meets her, Sarah Jane comments that Wormwood was mentioned in Revelations, as a star that fell to Earth and poisoned the rivers.
- We Can Rule Together: Tries this with Luke in Enemy Of The Bane.
- We Will Meet Again: Says this to Sarah Jane in Invasion Of The Bane, and does as such in Enemy Of The Bane.
The Slitheen family [1]
Played[2] and voiced by: Ian Midlane, Martyn Ellis, Anton Thompson McCormick, Imogen Bain, Ryan Watson, Holly Atkins, Jay Simpson (2007); Ronnie Corbett, Calvin Dean, Edward Judge (2009)
An alien criminal family hailing from the planet Raxacoricofallapatorius. After members of their family were killed by the Doctor, they built up a grudge against planet Earth.
- The Clan
- Fat Bastard: They kill fat humans and use the skins as disguises, because their body compressing technology only compresses them enough to fit. Except in The Lost Boy, where two of them use the skins of a rather skinny couple to pull off their plan, thanks to newer, more advanced compression technology.
- Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: They love killing humans.
- Palette Swap: The Slitheen-Blathereen from The Gift are brownish-orange, compared to the more yellow-green Slitheen.
- Also in The Nightmare Man, an unnamed Slitheen is shown to be a much darker shade of green than the others shown, leading some to believe that he is actually from another Raxacoricofallapatorian family.
- Toilet Humor: A major part of their character humor. But absolutely averted in The Lost Boy.
- Weaksauce Weakness: They explode upon contact with vinegar, because they're made of calcium.
Korst Gogg Thek Lutiven-Day Slitheen
Played by Jimmy Vee (2007)
Voiced by Anton Thompson McCormick and Ryan Watson (2007)
A young member of the Slitheen family. He first appears in Revenge of the Slitheen disguised as Carl to help his father and uncle in their plot to turn off the Earth's sun. When their plan backfires, Korst and his father beg for Sarah Jane's help. Though Sarah Jane tries to help them, she fails. Korst's father is killed in the resulting explosion and Korst blames her for his father's death. He reappears in The Lost Boy, disguised as Nathan Goss.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones
- Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: In his first appearance, he is obsessed with the opportunity to hunt humans.
- Teen Genius
- You Killed My Father: Korst blames Sarah Jane for his father's death.
The Trickster
Played by: Paul Marc Davis (2007-2009)
Leader of the Trickster's Brigade and member of the Pantheon of Discord, an extra-dimensional entity that messes with timelines and creates chaos. The main recurring singular villain in the series, out to take down Sarah Jane, and later the Doctor himself. His main tactic is to "save" someone's life in a way that alters the timeline to his benefit - the only real way to stop him once this happens is for the person he saved to renounce the deal and make a Heroic Sacrifice.
- Big Bad
- The Chessmaster
- Chewing the Scenery
- Deal with the Devil
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": "The Trickster" was a nickname given to him by Alan Jackson. Later writers, and even his creator, seem to forget this as he is later called the Trickster by the Doctor, Jack Harkness and even the Trickster himself.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good
- Eyeless Face
- Humanoid Abomination
- I Am Legion: "I embody multitudes!"
- Once a Season: Always appears in no more than one story per season, all of which have Sarah Jane's name in the title: Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? in series one, The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith in series two and The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith in series three. Unfortunately he did not return for the series four finale Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith.
- Trickster Archetype
Kaagh
Played by: Anthony O'Donnell (2008)
Lone survivor of the Tenth Sontaran Battle Fleet, his escape pod crash landed on Earth by accident. He planned on making Earth's satellites crash into nuclear reactors across the world, but was thwarted by Sarah Jane's gang. He later teamed up with Mrs. Wormwood and tried to resurrect an ancient Cosmic Horror called Horath.
- Attack Its Weak Point: Chrissie attacked his probic vent. With her high heels.
- Heroic Sacrifice: After learning that Mrs. Wormwood was planning to double-cross him, he grabbed her and threw himself into the portal where Horath was located, sealing it.
- Honor Before Reason
- I Was Beaten by a Girl: After losing to Sarah-Jane and the gang, he's unable to return to Sontar out of shame ("What sort of a soldier is beaten by a female and half-forms?"). He resorts to doing mercenary work in space, which is how he meets Wormwood.
- Proud Warrior Race Guy
- Super Soldier
Androvax
Played by: Mark Goldthorpe (2009-10)
A survivor of the Veil race, he destroyed twelve planets as revenge for his home world freezing to death. He was first encountered as a prisoner under Judoon jurisdiction, he was later seen in much worse condition after being bitten by a venomous snake, seeking the way to an interdimensional vault containing the last of his people.
- Anti-Villain
- Grand Theft Me: Takes over the bodies of all the main cast.
- Last of His Kind: At least until he discovered that his race sent a ship of one hundred cryogenically frozen Veils into space shortly before their planet was destroyed.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: In The Vault of Secrets, releasing his people would mean destroying the Earth.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds
Mr. Dread
Played by: Angus Wright (2010)
A Man In Black android, ordered to guard an extra-dimensional vault containing alien artifacts, to keep Earth safe. He has a lifespan of 500 years and a cool gun and bore a strong physical resemblance to Hugo Weaving as Mr. Smith from The Matrix series. The Man In Black robots including Dread himself had previously appeared in the animated Doctor Who episode Dreamland.
Miss Myers [3]
Played by: Christine Stephen-Daly (2011)
Appearing in Series 5, she is one of the Fleshkind who is at war with the Metalkind. She creates Sky as a bomb to end the war.
- Expy: Of Mrs. Wormwood. She creates a teenager with No Social Skills who is Younger Than They Look and refers to herself as it's mother, and intends to use it as a weapon until it's adopted by Sarah Jane.
- Hot Mom
- Back to The Sarah Jane Adventures