The Sarah Jane Adventures is a British science fiction television programme that was produced by BBC Cymru Wales for CBBC, created by Russell T Davies, and starring Elisabeth Sladen.

[7][8] A third series, once again comprising six two-part stories to make a total of twelve episodes, with Russell T Davies serving as executive producer, aired from 15 October 2009[9] to 20 November 2009.

[21][22] This was due to the concurrent development of the independently produced children's series, K9, which features a remodelled version of K9 with only indirect nods to Doctor Who.

[27] For the tenth anniversary of the show, an event was held 29 July 2017 at Cardiff University Students' Union, with proceeds going to Ty Hafan Hospice for Children.

[29] Members of the cast and crew that took part in the event were Tommy Knight, Anjli Mohindra, Yasmin Paige, Sinead Michael, Mina Anwar, Katy Manning, Paul Marc Davis, Phil Ford, Gary Russell, Joe Lidster, Sam Watts, Richard Wisker, Cheryl Rowlands, Scott Handcock, Brian Miller, John Leeson, Mat Irvine and Chris Johnson.

The third member of Sarah Jane's young entourage is 14-year-old Clyde Langer, played by Daniel Anthony, who is introduced in the first episode of the full series.

Actress Porsha Lawrence Mavour briefly played Maria's friend, Kelsey Hooper, in the 2007 New Year's Day special Invasion of the Bane which was created before the start of the series.

In the second story of that series, The Day of the Clown, several new regular cast members are introduced: Rani Chandra and her parents, Haresh, and Gita (played by Anjli Mohindra, Ace Bhatti, and Mina Anwar, respectively).

The 2007 special featured Samantha Bond as the scheming villain Mrs Wormwood and Jamie Davis as her PR agent Davey.

[35] In December 2007, the BBC released a statement that Julie Gardner would be replaced by Piers Wenger as executive producer for Doctor Who in January 2009, but that she would continue to executive-produce Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures through 2008.

[38] The episode that introduced Sky also featured a return appearance by the Shopkeeper, but the fact that the second half of the series was never produced left his story arc, as well as other ongoing plot points, unresolved.

A special edition of Doctor Who Magazine, The Sarah Jane Companion Volume 3, published in August 2012, detailed the plotlines of the three unfilmed stories.

The latter episode also guest stars Katy Manning as Jo Jones (née Grant), reprising the role she played alongside the Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) between 1971 and 1973.

In an issue of Doctor Who Magazine, Sophie Aldred was read an email from Russell T. Davies, in which he declared his plans to bring Ace into a story had the show continued,[42] and she was alluded to at the end of The Death of the Doctor when the fates of Harry Sullivan, Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright, Ben Jackson, Polly, Tegan Jovanka, and Ace are revealed.

The Sarah Jane Adventures was first seen by its original British audience in the form of a 60-minute New Year's Day special in 2007, titled "Invasion of the Bane", which was co-written by Russell T Davies and Gareth Roberts.

Creator Russell T Davies has commented upon the exceptional broadcast situation, saying "Sarah Jane Adventures is slightly unusual in that it was commissioned before we'd written the script.

[51] On 19 April 2020 a special 13-minute webcast mini episode entitled Farewell, Sarah Jane aired on Doctor Who's social media channels as a tribute to Elisabeth Sladen.

As such, a memorial service was held, attended by Luke, Clyde, Rani, Sky and Maria, accompanied by their friends and families (among them several of the Doctor's former companions).

Rani, however, stays behind, and, in her final conversation with Mr. Smith, expresses her hopes that Sarah Jane is travelling with the Doctor (who was absent), since her death would have broken both his (or her) hearts, according to Jo Grant) once again.

[54][55][56][57] On 19 July 2022, it was announced that Big Finish Productions would produce an audio spin-off of The Sarah Jane Adventures set to release in April 2023, which features Rani Chandra (Anjli Mohindra) as the protagonist.

[58] The audio spin-off is set 15 years after the events of the series with the first three stories featuring Clyde Langer (Daniel Anthony) as well as Gita Chandra (Mina Anwar), Rani's mother.

[62] At the end of the first series, Abi Grant of The Daily Telegraph wrote: "With the debate about the future of children's TV still rumbling on, this is what the BBC does best, and despite lacking the production values of Doctor Who, it's still top tea-time programming.

[64] Review website DVD Talk called the series "wonderful", "thoughtful" and "imaginative children's entertainment" that was highly recommended.

What SJA gets absolutely right is that Sarah Jane remains immediately recognisable as this tenacious reporter of old, but with an added maternal touch that enchants its target audience.

"[69] However Eric Profancik from DVD Verdict stated that the second series suffered from "poor scripts and horrible acting", criticising it for having "simple plots, too many conveniences and having corny humour.

"[70] Series three is described by Guy Clapperton of review site ScreenJabber.com as being slightly braver than its predecessors,[71] while Bullz-eye.com described it as "a sweet, fun little show, with some neat ideas" with "its heart very much in the right place.

Character Options have been awarded a licence to produce The Sarah Jane Adventure play sets, action figures, and a 'Sonic Lipstick' toy.

The final two books, released in November 2011 after Sladen's death, were read by Daniel Anthony and Anjli Mohindra, respectively, though not as their characters.

The Sarah Jane Adventures merchandising revived the concept of the novelisation, which had been part of the Doctor Who franchise from the 1970s to the 1990s (principally under the editorship of author and former Who script editor Terrance Dicks).

[169] The series format was based upon the short "alien files" clips previously produced for the CBBC's The Sarah Jane Adventures website.