The Sarah Jane Adventures - Death of the Doctor

In which three people return; one RTD, a little-known writer who's occasionally churned out a Doctor Who in the past, Katy Manning as Jo Grant (being seen for the first time since the 1970's) and, of course, Matt Smith as the Doctor. And to be honest with you, I was most interested in seeing the latter - and I suspect that I am not alone in that.

There's a danger, of course, that with so many elements in a story that the end result is unable to live up to expectations or come up with credible reasons for the involvement of the special guest characters on top of the regulars. Here, RTD did well - the notion of the Doctor's funeral means it is logical that UNIT would be involved, and likewise past companions. It would also make sense that the Doctor would appear - I mean, if anyone was going to crash his own funeral, it would be the Doctor. So the set-up was great, and as such it was pure RTD. He's great at setting up stories, and great at the concepts behind those stories.

He's also great at the emotional moments that frankly transformed Doctor Who when he took it over. Particularly in the second episode, those moments abound. The Doctor talking to Sarah Jane about his most recent regeneration and admitting it hurt while refusing to comment on how his previous incarnation was at the end was touching, particularly since we know what the Tenth Doctor's last words were*. Even more affecting was the Doctor's conversation with Jo Grant, as they tentatively discussed why he never came back to see her** whereas Sarah Jane has seen him many times since she left the TARDIS. And the final scene, where Sarah Jane related what other companions have got up to, was moving as well - the notion that the Doctor inspired them to go on and fight for others here on earth was brilliant***. Again, pure RTD - he knows how to pull on the heartstrings.

However, in terms of coming up with a genuinely striking plot, he's less good. Sure, this episode managed to end without someone pressing the magic button, although the solution to the Weave was hardly original and could have been seen by anyone not terminally myopic when it comes to plotting. The use of the lead-lined coffin to shield Jo and Sarah Jane was good, but again hardly groundbreaking stuff. And given the whole run time of the story was less than an hour, there was still a lot of padding in there - particularly the shuffling through ventilation shafts. And while RTD cannot be held solely responsible for the Shanseeth (which sounds a little like a brand of contraceptives when you say it out loud), the villain of this piece was sub-par, particularly when you consider the well realised villains of the stories in the previous weeks. There was something of the Jim Henson Company about the Shanseeth - but with less of the class associated with Henson. Oh, and the cliffhanger was frankly boring.

Still, the whole thing worked - and that was, at least in part, down to the actors in the piece. The regulars are exceptional - in particular, Clyde is a convincing character in his own right, and very well performed. Katy Manning's return as Jo was strongly rendered, making her recognisably the character who left in The Green Death but at the same time showing she had developed as a person (and, of course, her appearance has, well, changed radically too). And, of course, there was Matt Smith.

It is difficult to work out where the script ended and Smith's performance began, but it is clear that his mercurial incarnation is a far more interesting character than his predecessor. The relentless energy he brings to the role makes his Doctor compelling to watch, and the rudeness (in particular his really cutting comment to Jo about her age) gives him an edge missing in many presentations of the Doctor. His faintly dismissive tone was present - patronising others, particularly about their intelligence, and calling Sarah Jane "Smith" just as he calls Amy "Pond". But Smith's range was shown in the scenes where he was listening to an emotional Jo talking about her life without the Doctor. This isn't a Doctor who wears is heart on his sleeve, or is even particularly aware of the emotions of others. But when he does get that other people are upset - when he engages with their sadness - he has an air of quite empathy that shows he still cares about others. The combination of Smith and the character of his Doctor helps to make for compelling TV - even if he is fighting glove puppet space vultures wearing curtains.

In a sense, you'd have to work hard to make an episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures not work if it has the Doctor in it. And this story, in the final analysis, did work, and helped to bridge the gap between the end of the last season of Doctor Who and the coming Christmas special. Sure, it wasn't perfect, but then again, it didn't need to be. It was fun.

*If you haven't been paying attention or can't remember back to New Year's Day, they were "I don't want to go".

**Wasn't quite convinced about the idea of the Tenth Doctor looking in on all of past companions while he was dying, though. Seriously, how long did this regeneration go on for? And what about Sara Kingdom or Adric? Did he go and look sadly at piles of dust and tattered, burnt remnants of pajamas?

***Although I could only buy into some of the fates revealed by Sarah Jane. The gobby, feisty and good-hearted Tegan fighting for Aborigine rights in Australia? Spot on! Perfect! Ace running a multi-billion pound fund-raising company (even one with the acronym ACE)? Perhaps not. I'd have seen her being more involved in direct action, rather like Jo. But small gripes notwithstanding, it was nice to see that life goes on after the Doctor - which is, in part, what the Sarah Jane adventures is all about.