The Doctor In The TARDIS

Sarah Jane Smith was a journalist who travelled with the Doctor in his third and fourth incarnations and was also acquainted with his tenth and eleventh. Together with her friends she met and battled aliens that came to Earth.

At age 23, when working for Metropolitan magazine, Sarah posed as her aunt, a famous virologist, in order to infiltrate a UNIT-controlled facility where some scientists had gone missing. She met Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and UNIT's unpaid scientific advisor, the Third Doctor. Suspicious of the Doctor's activities, Sarah Jane stowed away in the Doctor's TARDIS and traveled back in time with him to 13th century England, to defeat a Sontaran known as Linx, who had kidnapped the scientists.

Along with another human companion, Harry Sullivan, Sarah Jane and the Doctor traveled off on other adventures in time and space. The Doctor, in his new incarnation, had less interest in Earth, yet he seemed to have a closer relationship with Sarah Jane herself. She was present on the planet Skaro during the creation of the Daleks by Davros and the Doctor's attempt to change or prevent it.

Finally, after many trips with him, the Doctor received a summons to return to Gallifrey, his home world; as a human, she could not accompany him. The Doctor attempted to deposit her near her flat in South Croydon, but mistakenly left her in Aberdeen, Scotland, instead.

As a companion, Sarah Jane was confident, inquisitive and possessed a sharp mind and a sharp tongue. She was also something of a feminist; she was infuriated when the Third Doctor asked her to make coffee and she often verbally sparred with fellow companion Harry Sullivan over his chauvinistic and unintentionally patronising attitude towards her. Her feminism was more practical than fanatical, and did not get in the way of forming close friendships with Harry, or later with the Doctor himself. She shared a strong rapport with the Doctor, and her subsequent life has been shaped by her finding him a tough act to follow; she stops short of saying that she had fallen in love with the Doctor, though several of her exchanges with him after their reunion, in addition to the context of one of her conversations with Rose, strongly implies that she indeed had developed feelings for him. Despite the passage of time she maintained her can-do personality, and since reuniting with him, remained a close friend of the Doctor.

Rani once pointed out to the Tenth Doctor that Sarah Jane doesn't like being called just "Sarah", though he replied that "she does by me." Indeed, during her years traveling in the TARDIS the Doctor, along with a few other individuals such as Harry, and even Mike Yates, referred to her numerous times simply as "Sarah". To date, the Doctor remains the only person to still regularly call her this without her objection.

Sarah received training in evasion tactics from her UNIT days, which she never forgot, she stated "U.N.I.T training, never forgot it, just getting a bit older". She gained superb leadership skills from her time with the Doctor and was very good with her Sonic lipstick. She was intelligent and very knowledgeable about many types of aliens.

Having Sarah Jane back was brilliant because it really cemented the link between old and new more than anything else had up to this point. I always love throwbacks to the classics and this is one of the biggest we have had so far. The scenes between her and Ten were excellent and Lis Sladen slipped back into the role so easily. It was brilliant to watch.

I thought she was brilliant, and I'm not surprised they gave her her own show  8)

Having her back was brilliant. They absolutely nailed the character and she was exactly Sarah Jane, and that was something I was worried about beforehand. Giving her her own show was a brilliant idea and it was great to have her back fully in that.

Having her back was brilliant and I loved the instant chemistry that she had with ten. Generally I don't think too highly of this season and I am not to keen on this story as a whole, but it's worth watching to see just how great she is as a character and alongside the others.

I thought she was excellent throughout the whole story and I can totally see the appeal of RTD giving her her own show. They got it spot on, I thought.