Manning played Jo Grant to Jon Pertwee’s Third Doctor, a young, fresh-faced junior operative for UNIT (United Nations Intelligence Taskforce) in the series. “I think we framed one that was for 70 pence.” The new show probably cut better checks than the old show, for which she would still receive royalties for the occasional airing: “Sometimes the checks aren’t worth cashing,” she once said. The reprisal went very well, and Sarah Jane got her own spinoff, made for younger Doctor Who fans, The Sarah Jane Adventures. Sladen went through a dry spell from 1996 to 2006 where she wasn’t on TV, until the new Who producers asked her back to reprise her role as Sarah Jane. In her post- Who era, she appeared in various radio plays, small TV roles and a kids’ educational series on BBC Two called Numbertime. Before Comic-Con was cool, Sladen came to the United States frequently in the 1980s with Fourth Doctor Tom Baker for Doctor Who conventions.Īfter her character departed the old series in 1976, Sladen actually stopped attending fan events because she thought it would be impolite to the new cast. She worked with more Doctors than any other companion, appearing in both the old series and the new reboot (the show was off the air from 1989 to 2005, with the exception of one TV movie special in 1996). She had every right to be so.Sarah Jane Smith, a plucky investigative journalist who is probably the most beloved companion of all time, was played by the beautiful Elisabeth Sladen until her untimely death in 2011 from cancer. It was the fact she only wanted to return home after making sure the Doctor recovered, and the Doctor kept failing to get her home, that made her angry. True, some other companions may have handled it better, but Tegan handled it far better than what could have been done. She'd been taken to another planet, she'd met the Master, she saw the Doctor regenerate into a younger man, and had the Mara take over her mind. Considering all the things Tegan had seen before she made the decision to stay on the TARDIS, it's amazing she didn't go insane. As a human being, she certainly shows a whole bunch of human emotions, although I don't agree with Turner's view that Tegan should have anger and bossiness thrown together all at once. She feels he is the only one that will get her back to Heathrow. Now seeing Tegan is with people she doesn't know, the only assurance she has of getting home safely is by the Doctor himself. Tegan decides to stay with him on Logopolis and help him while the Doctor had strongly told Nyssa, Tegan and Adric to stay aboard the TARDIS. When the Fourth Doctor tells her what has happened to her Aunt, he pats her on the shoulder and realizes he has to deal with the situation at hand. So here we have Tegan in the TARDIS, not even aware of what has happened to her Aunt until much later on Logopolis. Her Aunt has an encounter with the Master, and well, the result was not pretty. Mistaking the TARDIS as a police call box, Tegan opens the door and walks in slowly. She is about to start her new career, when she and her Aunt Vanessa get a flat tire and stop on the side of the road. The introduction to Tegan was actually well done in Logopolis. It was then decided Matthew Waterhouse would be the one to go. But Nyssa was originally a one off character, and was going to depart, and through the insistence of Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton stayed. The original idea was that Tegan may or may not stick around, after helping the Doctor through his regeneration. She got the part, and so Tegan was created. The story goes that Janet fit that bossy Australian personality, and so she came in and auditioned. He made the decision to have Tegan as a bossy Australian, with a high-strung personality. One thing he did though, was create the character of Tegan. John Nathan-Turner also was able to keep the show running until 1989, so he did everything he could to keep it alive. I loved all the efforts John Nathan-Turner put into Doctor Who when he became the producer, but some of his ideas were a bit questionable.
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