Elisabeth Sladen (1948 - 2011)
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I met Elisabeth Sladen at Milton Keynes in October 2007, when she was a guest at Collectormania. The first series of The Sarah Jane Adventures had just begun to be screened at that time, and a lot more episodes have been made since.
Lis was very friendly and easy to talk to. She signed a photograph for me before I had this super photo taken with her.
1973
Elisabeth Sladen was born in Liverpool in 1948. She had dance lessons at the age of five, becoming so good that she danced in one production with the Royal Ballet.
In 1963, aged fifteen, she acted in a National Youth Theatre production of Hamlet at London's Scala Theatre, with Simon Ward, Helen Mirren & Bill Kenwright also in the cast! In 1964 Elisabeth played 'Hero' with the Hillbark Players in their production of Much Ado About Nothing.
After Elisabeth left grammar school, she went to drama school for two years, before starting as an assistant stage manager at the Liverpool Playhouse, Britain's oldest repertory company. It was here that she met a young actor Brian Miller to whom she has been married for more than 40 years. They have a daughter, Sadie Miller.
Elisabeth moved to Manchester, performing in a number of stage plays, including the leading role of Desdemona in Shakespeare's Othello. She also appeared as Anita Reynolds, barmaid of the 'Flying Horse', in six episodes of Coronation Street in 1970.
Elisabeth Sladen
16 year old Elisabeth Sladen in
Much Ado About Nothing
After she moved to London in 1972, Elisabeth Sladen had several TV roles including Z Cars (1971) and Som
Michael Crawford & Elisabeth Sladen in
Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em
Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em (1973) before being cast as Jon Pertwee's assistant, Sarah Jane Smith, in the Doctor Who adventure The Time Warrior (1973). This was her first appearance in a role that was to dominate her acting life for more than thirty five years! She stayed f
Sontaran in The Time Warrior
Jon Pertwee & Elisabeth Sladen grapple with a
for more than three seasons (81 episodes in all) until 1976, by which time Tom Baker had taken over the role of The Doctor.
Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith in Doctor Who
Terror of the Zygon
Pyramids of Mars
The Time Warrior
The Time Warrior
1975
1975
1976
The Hand of Fear
1973
The Monster of Peladon
1974
1974
1976
1983
The Seeds of Doom
The Five Doctors
Planet of Spiders
In 1983 Elisabeth returned to Doctor Who as Sarah Jane
After the birth of her daughter Sadie in 1985, Elisabeth spent most of her time being a mother, but did make occasional TV appearances, including in The Bill (1989) and four episodes of Peak Practice (1996) in which she played the stuffy government official, Dr. Pat Hewland.
After several years in Liverpool concentrating on stage work, Elisabeth returned to TV to star in a pilot of the proposed, but never made, Doctor Who spin-off K-9 and Company (1981). She
She again play's an older and wiser Sarah Jane Smith who, after returning to her home village, finds a box that the Doctor sent her years previously containing the robot dog K-9 Mark 3.
Smith in the episode The Five Doctors, a 'special' to mark the 20th anniversary of the series.
Elisabeth Sladen with K-9 in K-9 and Company
Elisabeth Sladen in K-9 and Company
Elisabeth as Dr. Hewland in Peak Practice
In 2006, Elisabeth appeared as Sarah Jane Smith in her first Doctor Who episode (apart from the 1993 charity 'short' Dimensions in Time) since she left the series in 1976. She g
guest-starred with David Tennant and Billie Piper in School Reunion and was so popular that she had roles in the final two episodes of Doctor Who's 2008 series.
With School Reunion so successful (this episode was watched by 8.3 million viewers when it was first transmitted) that a new Doctor Who 'spin-off' series was created by Russell T Davies. It was called The Sarah Jane Adventures, and produced by BBC Wales. The first episode, shown on New Year's Day 2007, was an hour-long special
special called Invasion of the Bane. Thirty four more episodes have been screened since then.
David Tennant & Elisabeth Sladen in
School Reunion
Elisabeth Sladen in
Elisabeth in The Sarah Jane Adventures
Elisabeth has also appeared as Sarah Jane in the final two episodes of Doctor Who's 2008 series. Elisabeth Sladen has also recorded a number of audio
Elisabeth Sladen & Nigel Havers in
The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith
Audio book The Thirteenth Stone
books for the BBC, featuring her as Sarah Jane Smith.
Audio book Dreamland
Elisabeth was often interviewed about Doctor Who and her Sarah Jane Smith character, including appearances on Blue Peter and BBC Breakfast. Many of these interviews can be found on YouTube, and some are included in the links below.
Russell T Davies & Elisabeth Sladen
interview on BBC Breakfast
Elisabeth Sladen interview
on Blue Peter
Invasion of the Bane dvd
Elisabeth Sladen interview on
Multicoloured Swap Shop in 1976
Elisabeth Sladen on The Wright Stuff
Elisabeth Sladen signed this Sarah Jane photo for me
INTERVIEWS
I also met three of the young cast of The Sarah Jane Adventures at the NEC in Birmingham in November 2009. They each signed a 10x8 photo for me and I had my photo taken with them.
With Tommy Knight who plays Luke Smith
With Daniel Anthony who plays Clyde Langer
With Anjli Mohindra who plays Rani Chandra
Invasion of the Bane
Links
Elisabeth Sladen died on 19th April, 2011.