Lis Sladen previews The Sarah Jane Adventures

Back in July SFX went on set for The Sarah Jane Adventures (during the filming of series finale “The Gift”) and talked to the cast about what it was like working with David Tennant on the mid-season story in which he guest stars. You can read all about it in issue 189, on sale Wednesday 21 October. In the meantime, here’s a little bit of a preview of the first four stories, by the prenaturally ever-young Lis Sladen.

Episodes one and two
“Prisoner Of The Judoon” by Phil Ford.

“I love one and two, because I’m evil Sarah Jane, and I absolutely relished it – it’s great! I said to Phil Ford, ‘Why did you think I could do that?’ and he said, ‘It’s something you did or said last year’, so I thought ‘Oh… They do listen!”

Episodes three and four
“The Mad Woman In The Attic” by Joseph Lidster

“Three and four my husband [Brian Miller] is in, which is brilliant. That was in the rain on Barry Island. If you’ve ever been on Barry Island, with or without rain, you would remember it. I got a chest infection on Barry Island! You look at it and you don’t see the terrible weather we had - it was a nightmare for poor Alice [Troughton, the director], it really was. And for the lighting guy. And of course this year we’re in HD for the first time. It’s a different kind of look and it looks so expensive – it’s wonderful, I’m so thrilled with it.”

Episodes five and six
“The Wedding Of Sarah Jane Smith” by Gareth Roberts

“A great story. It’s by my lovely Gareth – he’s lovely because he knows Sarah so well, he knows Doctor Who so well. He puts little things in sometimes, where I look up from a read-through and maybe only he and I and Russell and someone else will spot them! It’s really nice to have those little moments.”

Episodes seven and eight
“The Eternity Trap” by Phil Ford

“The haunted house one is incredibly scary - I mean I even screech in it when something happens! Danny [Anthony, who plays Clyde] went to the loo and he wouldn’t look in the mirror - when he came back out from washing his hands, he flew out!”

The third season of The Sarah Jane Adventures starts airing on BBC One on Thursday 15 October, with the second episode following the next day.

Click here for some exclusive news from the press screening of The Sarah Jane Adventures
Click here to read SFX's exclusive Tom Baker interview
Click here to discover which Doctor Who star has turned into a film noir detective

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