Companions: Fifty Years of Doctor Who Assistants (12 page)

Jo’s first meeting with Jones is not the most auspicious, and she ends up messing up his experiments through a mix of absent mindedness and clumsiness – much like when she first met the Doctor. She is quickly charmed by Jones and a very strong romance develops between them – she simply cannot get enough of his company, and will not stop talking about him. She is completely enthralled by his stories of the Amazon and she confesses to him that when she first got assigned to the Doctor she expected to be holding test tubes and telling the Doctor how brilliant he was – but it did not quite work out that way. In some ways she treats Jones much like she does the Doctor. Jones insists she does nothing, just stay at the Nuthutch safely, but she goes to collect samples of the giant maggots for him to run tests on. He is furious, but still goes after her and comes to her rescue when she is trapped by several of the huge creatures. Later, when Jones is infected by the chemical waste, Jo maintains a vigil, and is still there when Jones finally recovers – he kisses her hand in appreciation.

When it is time to return to UNIT, Jo explains to the Doctor that she is not going with him, but is staying with Jones to explore the Amazon. Jones is very happy about this and reveals they will probably get married along the way – this comes as a surprise to Jo but she readily accepts the offer. Before leaving, Jo and the Doctor talk one last time, and she says she hopes to see him again. He tells her to save him a piece of wedding cake, suggesting that they will indeed meet again. He gives her a blue crystal from Metebelis Three as a wedding gift, and leaves, heartbroken. Jo is very sad to be leaving the Doctor but also overjoyed about her forthcoming adventures with Cliff Jones.

Many months later, in
Planet of the Spiders
, the Doctor hears from Jo when she returns the blue crystal to him in the post as it was offending the natives of the Amazon. In
The Sarah Jane Adventures
story
Death of the Doctor
Jo reveals that after she returned from the Amazon she called UNIT to speak to the Doctor, only to learn that he had left and never returned (which suggests this is some point after
Terror of the Zygons
). Jo continues to wait for him, but he never returns to see her.

We discover in the interceding thirty-plus years that Jo and her husband continue a life of political and environmental activism; she lives in huts, climbs trees, tears down barricades, flies kites on Mount Kilimanjaro and sails down the Yangtze River in a tea chest. At one point she even chains herself to Robert Mugabe. By 2010 she and Cliff have seven children, twelve grandchildren and a thirteenth on the way.

In
Death of the Doctor
when she is invited to the Doctor’s funeral at a UNIT installation at the base of Mount Snowdon she brings one of her grandchildren, Santiago. They arrive late, interrupting the service, and much like her initial meeting with the Doctor, the first thing Jo Jones does is trip, smashing a vase of flowers she brought with her to commemorate the Doctor. Despite the sombre atmosphere, she is thrilled to meet the vulture-looking Claw Shansheeth, having not seen any aliens in such a long time. At the funeral she finally meets Sarah Jane Smith, who joins the Doctor shortly after Jo leaves. They have both heard of each other; Sarah, no doubt, from the Doctor and Jo, presumably from someone at UNIT. She is surprised to learn that Sarah has met the Doctor again and is a little hurt, explaining that the Doctor never returned to see her. Sarah’s explanation that it was an accident the first time only makes Jo even sadder. Discovering that Sarah and the Doctor have seen each other several times since 2007 obviously affects her. Neither is willing to accept the Doctor’s death believing that, should the Doctor die, somehow they would just
know
. As it turns out the Doctor is indeed alive, and Jo is finally reunited with a very young looking Eleventh Doctor – who she thinks looks like a baby. The Doctor responds that it is odd for him too, since when he last saw Jo she had been either twenty-two or twenty-three and now she looks as if someone has baked her.

On the Wasteland of the Crimson Heart, Jo sits watching the banter between the Doctor and Sarah. This only serves to emphasise how useless she must have been for him to never have returned. She is also saddened to hear that the Doctor now travels with a married couple since she only left him because she got married. They have a heart to heart, and she asks him if she was stupid since he never came back to see her: ‘I thought... he wouldn’t just leave, not forever. Not
me
. I’ve waited my whole silly life.’ The Doctor admits he could not keep up with Jo’s life; she moved about so much that he could never hope to find her, but before his last regeneration he had tracked her down, and watched her entire life. Their peace made, she visits the TARDIS one last time (she loves the new look console room and, despite numerous modifications, notes that it still smells the same). Jo admits she is very tempted to carry on travelling with him, but doesn’t want him getting into trouble with the Time Lords (not aware that the Time Lords are all dead). Finally able to say goodbye, Jo returns to her life of activism, but not before suggesting to Sarah that she try and find herself a fella.

If Jo was an ideologist, then Sarah was a realist. Jo, although independent, is very much a girl with an eye for the men and developed a very familial relationship with the Doctor. He was the affectionate uncle, she the doting niece. With the arrival of Sarah a new shift occurred. For the first time since Jamie, the Doctor made a new friend – someone who became his best friend.

Sarah Jane Smith – Elisabeth Sladen
(
The Time Warrior
to
The Hand of Fear
,
K9 & Company: A Girl’s Best Friend
and
The Five Doctors
)

It is important to note from the outset that, certainly according to Sarah, her full name is
not
‘Sarah Jane’. The only time she is seen to use ‘Jane’ is when introducing herself as ‘Sarah Jane Smith’. We later learn that her family seem to always call her ‘Sarah Jane’, including her Aunt Lavinia (
K9 & Company: A Girl’s Best Friend
) and her parents (
SJA: The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith
), which might suggest why she later calls herself ‘Sarah’ – a sign of her independence or maybe to distance herself from her loss. The Doctor, occasionally, refers to her as ‘Sarah Jane’, a term of affection from him (used, most notably, moments before he ‘dies’ in his lab). Once her time with the Doctor comes to an end, Sarah takes to calling herself ‘Sarah Jane’ again, and doesn’t allow anyone, except the Doctor, to call her ‘Sarah’. It seems that ‘Sarah’ is a name that she associates with the Doctor and the Doctor only. It says much about her mindset, and the influence he has on her life.

Sarah was just a baby when her parents died and was raised by her father’s sister, Lavinia Smith. When Sarah first meets the Doctor she is only twenty-three-years-old (it is later revealed that she was born in 1951, dating
The Time Warrior
[at least in regards to her] as 1974). Although later still, in
Pyramids of Mars
, she states categorically that she comes from 1980, suggesting that she travels with the Doctor for over six years.

Sarah is a journalist working for
The
Metropolitan
magazine and investigating the strange disappearance of scientists. She poses as her Aunt Lavinia to get into the UNIT-controlled research base. There she meets the Doctor, who is still working for UNIT – his friendship with the Brigadier the only thing keeping him on Earth. He finds her story amusing, concluding that ‘Miss Lavinia Smith’ must have been only five when she wrote a paper on the teleological response of the virus. Sarah, accepting she has been found out admits the truth, and introduces herself. A strong believer in Women’s Lib, Sarah is incensed when the Doctor promises not to give her away as long as she makes the tea. Sarah initially finds the Doctor patronising and believes him to be a spy. She doesn’t trust him; quite certain that he is hiding something. It is only when she stows away in the TARDIS that she discovers the truth. She is immediately transported to Medieval England and finds her way to Irongron’s castle. Sarah refuses to accept the authenticity of her surroundings – convinced that she has walked into some kind of pageant or film set – and will take none of Irongron’s bile.

When she is confronted by Linx, a Sontaran warrior, she begins to accept the truth. Linx determines that Sarah is from the future. Sarah is rescued by Hal the Archer who takes her to the castle of the Earl of Wessex. She impresses all of them with her fire and her plan to kidnap the Doctor, who she now believes is working for Irongron. Once back at Wessex castle, the Doctor explains the truth (that Linx is kidnapping scientists from the future to fix his crashed spaceship) and Sarah admits she
might
have been wrong. She is bewildered when the Doctor explains he is a Time Lord and his people are keen to stamp out unlicensed time travel (‘intergalactic ticket inspectors’). Before leaving the Middle Ages, the Doctor states to Hal that he is not a magician at all, but Sarah is no longer sure of this.

En route back to Earth Sarah gets herself a new haircut, presumably in the TARDIS since it is stated clearly that they have only just left the Middle Ages. Faced with a largely deserted London in
Invasion of the Dinosaurs
she is not entirely convinced that they have returned to her own time. After being arrested for looting they have their mug-shots taken. Sarah is amused by the Doctor’s frivolity and soon joins him in making light of the situation. It is the first real sign of affection she shows for him. To help discover the truth behind the strange appearances of dinosaurs in London, Sarah makes use of her own journalistic contacts, despite the danger. She has great interpersonal skills and twists people around her little finger with ease, notably Yates, Benton and General Finch, with a mix of easy charm and forthright cheek. She does, however, have a tendency to allow her enthusiasm to blind her to what is staring her straight in the face – like Sir Charles’ duplicity. The idea that the world is a bad place is something that is alien to her; she is a constant optimist and loves the chaos of life. Sarah is quite happy to remain on Earth, but the Doctor entices her with tales of Florana and so the stowaway becomes a chosen companion.

But they never make it to Florana, even though Sarah has her water wings ready (‘I can sink anywhere’). Instead the TARDIS lands on the barren plains of Exxilon and she encounters her second alien species (
Death to the Daleks
). At first she is understandably both scared and untrusting of them until she meets Bellal, a friendly Exxilon who wins her over with his gentleness. Conversely she is less fearful of the Daleks, thinking them mere machines, until the Doctor shows her otherwise. Here we also learn that Sarah’s natural defence mechanism for dealing with her fear is to make jokes. During their time on Exxilon the Doctor and Sarah draw closer together – a consequence of his determination to save her from being sacrificed by the high priests. When the Doctor realises he must go to the ancient Exxilon city (from which he may not return) the two travellers share a tender moment – more tender perhaps because he is still mourning the loss of Jo.

Sarah’s gradual acceptance of aliens continues when they land on Peladon and she meets a whole host of aliens, most notably the Martian Ice Warriors and Alpha Centauri, whom she initially finds repellent until she, once again, learns that not all aliens mean her harm. It is in
The Monster of Peladon
that Sarah once again demonstrates her strong sense of self when, on seeing how Queen Thalira is constantly undermined by the men around her, she teaches her about Women’s Lib and how she needs to stand up for herself. It is also on Peladon that Sarah is, for the first time, confronted by the idea that her travels are far from safe when it appears the Doctor has died. She finds it very hard to accept, not because she is stranded on an alien world, but because of her emotional attachment to the Doctor. She finds herself having to carry on without him, working with the Ice Warriors and making the most of a bad situation. She cries over the Doctor’s supposedly dead body which wakes him up. This is not the last time she thinks him dead.

Although travelling with the Doctor, Sarah still manages to hold down her job whenever they return to Earth, and is often found to be working on a story. She develops a very good friendship with Mike Yates, mostly off screen, so much so that he calls her in to help when he suspects dodgy goings-on at the monastery he lives in following his dismissal from UNIT after the events of
Invasion of the Dinosaurs
.

On Metebelis Three, in
Planet of the Spiders
she faces the Doctor’s apparent death. She is also convinced that he can help the human colonists of Metebelis Three (the ‘two-legs’) against the giant spiders that rule there – she doesn’t know how, but she has complete faith in the Doctor. She is at the monastery when K’anpo, an old Time Lord hermit and former guru of the Doctor’s regenerates – an event that helps her to deal with what happens to the Doctor. For three weeks the Doctor goes missing, having returned to Metebelis Three to face his biggest fear. Sarah continues to return to UNIT HQ, but despite the Brigadier’s reassurances, she succumbs to the belief that the Doctor has died and will not return. Just then, the TARDIS materialises and the Doctor staggers out – his body all but destroyed by the radiation of the cave in which the Great One of the spiders resides. Sarah attempts to comfort him, but her ministrations prove fruitless. Before he dies in her arms, he feels her tears fall on his face: ‘A tear, Sarah Jane? Where there’s life, there’s...’ he says, giving up his last breath, repeating a phrase he previously spoke to her on Peladon. Sarah is devastated, but barely has time to breathe before K’anpo arrives, floating mid-air in the Doctor’s lab. Things become too much for her, but she accepts the hope K’anpo brings and watches in amazement as the Doctor regenerates...