K-9 and Company
Encyclopedia
K-9 and Company was a proposed television spin-off of the original programme run of Doctor Who
(1963–1989). It was to feature former series regulars Sarah Jane Smith
, an investigative journalist played by Elisabeth Sladen
, and K-9
, a robotic dog
. Both characters had been companions
of the Fourth Doctor
, but they had not appeared together before. A single episode, "A Girl's Best Friend", was produced as a pilot for a proposed programme, but was not taken up. "A Girl's Best Friend" was broadcast by BBC1
as a Christmas special on 28 December 1981. The story was released on DVD on 16 June 2008 as a double pack with K-9's first Doctor Who story "The Invisible Enemy". Although a full series of K-9 and Company was not produced, the two characters did re-appear two years later in The Five Doctors
, an episode of Doctor Who broadcast in 1983 celebrating the show's twentieth anniversary.
Following the successful revival of Doctor Who in 2005, Sarah Jane Smith and K-9 would be re-introduced to the show in the second series
episode "School Reunion
", which aired in 2006. In addition to subsequent appearances by both characters in the main programme, this became the basis for another series featuring the two characters, The Sarah Jane Adventures
, which debuted in 2007. K-9 appears only occasionally in the first and second series, and becomes a regular character in series three. Another unrelated programme, not produced by the BBC and without Sarah Jane, K-9, began airing in 2010.
to get Elisabeth Sladen
back into the TARDIS
. He had wanted her to have the contract eventually awarded to Janet Fielding
in late 1980. John Nathan-Turner's preferred plan for the transition from Baker to Davison was to have Sarah Jane be along for the ride from Logopolis
to the second story of series 19. However, Sladen had no interest in returning simply to reprise a role and function identical to the one she had left years before.
Meanwhile, Nathan-Turner was trying to figure out what to do about K-9. The robot dog was very popular among children but was difficult to deal with technically and, in story terms, made the TARDIS crew almost overwhelmingly formidable. He decided that a child-orientated spin-off series with K-9 might be just the thing. However, such a series would require a human as the lead, and his prime candidate for this role was Sladen. He pitched the part to the actress as a departure from what she had previously done: she would be returning as Sarah Jane Smith, but she would do so as the heroine and not just a sidekick. This offer Sladen accepted.
, Christmas notwithstanding. Sarah is thus left disappointed by the prospect of another holiday without family. Fortunately, Lavinia's ward, Brendan Richards, breaks her moment of reflection on her aunt's sudden disappearance. After picking him up from the train station, they return to the house and discover a large crate that has been waiting for Sarah for a number of years. When they open it, they discover a mechanical dog named K-9. Upon activation, it tells Sarah that it is a gift from the Doctor.
Brendan's curiosity about K-9 is matched only by Sarah's renewed concern over Lavinia's absence. They thus split up and follow their new-found obsessions. Sarah goes into town to question the locals, and Brendan stays behind to test the capabilities of Sarah's new "pet". In town, Sarah discovers that Lavinia has become disliked by some because of her blunt letters to the local newspaper editors about a growing practice of witchcraft in the area. Brendan, meanwhile, is attacked while using K-9 to analyse soil samples in Lavinia's garden. His attackers, George Tracey and his son, Peter, are tied in to the local coven
. Unfortunately, both attackers flee before Brendan can get a good look at them.
Since Tracey is actually Lavinia's gardener, he is naturally called in the next morning to investigate the damage the scuffle with Brendan caused to the garden. After Brendan attempts to brag about the pH balance of the soil, Tracey sharply comments that gardening is more about respect for nature than scientific theory. Otherwise, though, he doesn't betray his more sinister intent towards Brendan. Later that night, he sends his son out to kidnap the sleeping Brendan from the house.
This time, Brendan's attacker is successful, stealing him out from under Sarah, who is elsewhere in the house, reading up on the local practice of witchcraft.
Sarah is now increasingly suspicious of Tracey, believing he would have the opportunity to commit the crime, even if she can't yet put her finger on the motive. She therefore finds a way to hide K-9 in Tracey's house. K-9 quietly monitors the household, until he eventually listens in on a conversation that implicates Tracey as a member of a coven. He also discovers that Tracey intends to kill Brendan in an act of ritual murder.
When Tracey leaves his cottage, Sarah is able to retrieve K-9, who alerts his new mistress to the impending crime. Unfortunately, she has no way to enlist the aid of the local police or, really anyone else in the town, because she can't substantiate her claim of overhearing the conversation without also then having to explain who and what the anachronistic K-9 actually is.
Realising that she and K-9 are effectively on their own, she tries to figure out how to stop the sacrifice. Her first order of business is determining the when of it. Using Lavinia's books on witchcraft, she and K-9 deduce it must occur at midnight on the winter solstice
, now just a few short hours away. The where of it is more elusive, however, causing the duo to drive around the shire looking at all the churches. As the last few minutes before midnight tick away, they finally realise that there's an abandoned chapel on Lavinia's property. Rushing home, K-9 and Sarah are briefly upset at missing something that was right under their noses all along.
They arrive just in time for K-9 to use his blaster to stop the coven's Priest and Priestess from plunging a knife into Brendan's chest. Now stunned, the group's ringleaders are easily apprehended by the police.
Finally able to celebrate Christmas, Sarah receives a call from her Aunt Lavinia. She's surprised that Sarah was worried about her, since she left instructions for her business partner to send Sarah a cable. As he turned out to be the High Priest of the coven, Sarah merely laughs and tells her aunt that she has a story to tell her about why that message never reached her. Meanwhile, K-9 tries to connect with the human holiday in his own way, teaching himself to sing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas
".
on Gallifrey
, while K-9 Mark II was forced to stay with Romana
in E-Space due to being damaged by time winds. Commonly assumed to be a gift of the Fourth Doctor
, this fact was confirmed in the 2006 episode "School Reunion
" when the Tenth Doctor
responded to Sarah Jane's comments on his apparent regeneration with the line "half a dozen times since we last met", indicating that this was the first time the two had met since the Doctor was in his Fourth incarnation. K-9 reveals that the Doctor left him on Earth for Sarah Jane in 1978. When K-9 tells Sarah Jane that he is a gift from The Doctor, a leitmotif
of the Doctor Who theme music
plays briefly.
K-9 Mark III is still functioning and residing with Sarah Jane in The Five Doctors
.
When K-9 reveals that he is a gift from the Doctor, Sarah Jane remarks, "Oh, Doctor, you didn't forget." Their parting words in The Hand of Fear
were admonishments not to forget each other, as later reprised nearly verbatim in The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith
.
The episode's setting is stated in dialogue and a newspaper masthead as being 18–25 December 1981, and Sarah Jane's experiences with the Doctor and UNIT are in her past, indicating that the Third and Fourth Doctor serials took place more or less contemporaneously to their original broadcast dates. Depictions of Sarah Jane's childhood in Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?
and The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith
support this. But see UNIT dating controversy
.
There appears to be a continuity error in a section where Sarah and K-9 go out to look for Brendan in Sarah's car. Sarah leaves her aunt's house when it is dark and arrives at the Church in the dark, but the driving scene that takes place between the two is in daylight.
The newspaper in which Aunt Lavinia's disappearance is reported is the Wiltshire and Gloucestershire Standard.
Continuing Doctor Whos tongue-in-cheek references to the Doctor's name, Brendan asks, "Who is the Doctor?" to which K-9 responds, "Affirmative."
Lavinia describes Sarah Jane as being "never in one place long enough to lick a stamp." Sarah Jane describes Lavinia with the same words, twenty-seven years later, in The Sarah Jane Adventures
episode, "The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith
". Similarly, Lavinia Smith's spinsterhood, lack of biological children of her own, and her eagerness to care for orphans (i.e., Sarah Jane and Brendan), are traits passed on to Sarah Jane.
In the 2002 Big Finish
audio drama, Sarah Jane Smith: Comeback
, Sarah Jane (voiced by Sladen), states that Lavinia has recently died and Brendan is living in San Francisco, and mentions Juno Baker. The canonicity of the story is uncertain. Lavinia's death is implied periodically in The Sarah Jane Adventures: Sarah Jane laments in 2007's "Invasion of the Bane
" that she is "all alone". Clyde refers to "the money her aunt left her" in 2009's "The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith
"; neither Lavinia's nor Brendan's absence from Sarah Jane's aborted wedding is addressed.
with Mr. Sheen
, a proprietary brand of furniture polish often used by motorcyclists. This is an unusual example of a product's brand name being visible in a BBC drama.
previously appeared with Tom Baker
and K-9 Mark II in the Doctor Who story Meglos
.
, composed by long-term Doctor Who enthusiast and record producer, Ian Levine
, with his musical partner Fiachra Trench
. Both the theme music and title sequence have been ridiculed by some fans. Levine, who was also the unofficial continuity consultant for Doctor Who in the 1980s, said in an interview with Dreamwatch Bulletin
that the music was intended to be an orchestral score, but was instead arranged directly from his electronic demonstration arrangement by Peter Howell
(who also arranged the 1980s version of the Doctor Who theme music
) without Levine's knowledge.
Despite these above-average ratings, the show did not go to series. The proximate cause for this was a changeover in channel controllers at BBC One
. Bill Cotton
, who had approved the pilot, vacated his position soon thereafter. He was replaced by Alan Hart, who simply disliked the idea and the resulting product. Further episodes were therefore not commissioned. The show was repeated once on BBC2 during the Christmas period of 1982.
The pilot episode was novelised in the late 1980s as the last in the Target Books
series called The Companions of Doctor Who.
The story was released on video in the UK on 7 August 1995 as Doctor Who: K-9 and Company. It first appeared in the US in August 1998. Neither version is currently available. It was released on DVD on 16 June 2008 alongside The Invisible Enemy in the Doctor Who: K9 Tales (The Invisible Enemy / K9 And Company) box set.
In Doctor Who Magazine
's The Mighty 200 fans gave K-9 and Company 51.55% likeness. The title sequence came first in TV's Top 5 worst title sequences as part of David Walliams
' Awfully Good TV.
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
(1963–1989). It was to feature former series regulars Sarah Jane Smith
Sarah Jane Smith
Sarah Jane Smith is a fictional character played by Elisabeth Sladen in the long-running British BBC Television science-fiction series Doctor Who and its spin-offs K-9 and Company and The Sarah Jane Adventures....
, an investigative journalist played by Elisabeth Sladen
Elisabeth Sladen
Elisabeth Clara Heath-Sladen was an English actress best known for her role as Sarah Jane Smith in the British television series Doctor Who. She was a regular cast member from 1973 to 1976, alongside both Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker, and reprised the role many times in subsequent decades, both on...
, and K-9
K-9 (Doctor Who)
K-9, or K9, is the name of several fictional robotic canines in the long-running British science fiction television series, Doctor Who, first appearing in 1977...
, a robotic dog
Robot dog
Robotic dogs are robots designed to resemble dogs in appearance and behavior, usually incorporating canine characteristics such as barking or tail-wagging...
. Both characters had been companions
Companion (Doctor Who)
In the long-running BBC television science fiction programme Doctor Who and related works, the term "companion" refers to a character who travels with, and shares the adventures of the Doctor. In most Doctor Who stories, the primary companion acts as both deuteragonist and audience surrogate...
of the Fourth Doctor
Fourth Doctor
The Fourth Doctor is the fourth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC British television science-fiction series Doctor Who....
, but they had not appeared together before. A single episode, "A Girl's Best Friend", was produced as a pilot for a proposed programme, but was not taken up. "A Girl's Best Friend" was broadcast by BBC1
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
as a Christmas special on 28 December 1981. The story was released on DVD on 16 June 2008 as a double pack with K-9's first Doctor Who story "The Invisible Enemy". Although a full series of K-9 and Company was not produced, the two characters did re-appear two years later in The Five Doctors
The Five Doctors
The Five Doctors is a special feature-length episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, produced in celebration of the programme's twentieth anniversary. It had its world premiere in the United States, on the Chicago PBS station WTTW and various other PBS member stations...
, an episode of Doctor Who broadcast in 1983 celebrating the show's twentieth anniversary.
Following the successful revival of Doctor Who in 2005, Sarah Jane Smith and K-9 would be re-introduced to the show in the second series
Doctor Who (series 2)
The second series of British science fiction series Doctor Who began on 25 December 2005 with the Christmas special "The Christmas Invasion". Following the special, a regular series of thirteen episodes was broadcast, starting with "New Earth" on 15 April 2006...
episode "School Reunion
School Reunion (Doctor Who)
"School Reunion" is the third episode in the second series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It first aired on 29 April 2006. The episode's narrative takes place some time after the events of "The Christmas Invasion"...
", which aired in 2006. In addition to subsequent appearances by both characters in the main programme, this became the basis for another series featuring the two characters, The Sarah Jane Adventures
The Sarah Jane Adventures
The Sarah Jane Adventures is a British science fiction television series, produced by BBC Cymru Wales for CBBC, created by Russell T Davies and starring Elisabeth Sladen...
, which debuted in 2007. K-9 appears only occasionally in the first and second series, and becomes a regular character in series three. Another unrelated programme, not produced by the BBC and without Sarah Jane, K-9, began airing in 2010.
Programme origins
The programme has its roots firmly in the desire of Doctor Who producer John Nathan-TurnerJohn Nathan-Turner
John Nathan-Turner was the ninth producer of the long-running BBC science fiction series Doctor Who, from 1980 until it was effectively cancelled in 1989...
to get Elisabeth Sladen
Elisabeth Sladen
Elisabeth Clara Heath-Sladen was an English actress best known for her role as Sarah Jane Smith in the British television series Doctor Who. She was a regular cast member from 1973 to 1976, alongside both Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker, and reprised the role many times in subsequent decades, both on...
back into the TARDIS
TARDIS
The TARDISGenerally, TARDIS is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s...
. He had wanted her to have the contract eventually awarded to Janet Fielding
Janet Fielding
Janet Fielding is an Australian actress, known for her role in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who as Tegan Jovanka, a companion of the Fourth Doctor, played by Tom Baker, and the Fifth Doctor, played by Peter Davison. She was born in Brisbane...
in late 1980. John Nathan-Turner's preferred plan for the transition from Baker to Davison was to have Sarah Jane be along for the ride from Logopolis
Logopolis
Logopolis is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 28 February to 21 March 1981. It was Tom Baker's last story as the Doctor and marks the first appearance of Peter Davison in the role...
to the second story of series 19. However, Sladen had no interest in returning simply to reprise a role and function identical to the one she had left years before.
Meanwhile, Nathan-Turner was trying to figure out what to do about K-9. The robot dog was very popular among children but was difficult to deal with technically and, in story terms, made the TARDIS crew almost overwhelmingly formidable. He decided that a child-orientated spin-off series with K-9 might be just the thing. However, such a series would require a human as the lead, and his prime candidate for this role was Sladen. He pitched the part to the actress as a departure from what she had previously done: she would be returning as Sarah Jane Smith, but she would do so as the heroine and not just a sidekick. This offer Sladen accepted.
Plot
Sarah Jane Smith visits her Aunt Lavinia, who was occasionally mentioned but never seen in Doctor Who. When she arrives at her aunt's house, though, she finds that her learned relative has left early for a lecture tour in AmericaUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Christmas notwithstanding. Sarah is thus left disappointed by the prospect of another holiday without family. Fortunately, Lavinia's ward, Brendan Richards, breaks her moment of reflection on her aunt's sudden disappearance. After picking him up from the train station, they return to the house and discover a large crate that has been waiting for Sarah for a number of years. When they open it, they discover a mechanical dog named K-9. Upon activation, it tells Sarah that it is a gift from the Doctor.
Brendan's curiosity about K-9 is matched only by Sarah's renewed concern over Lavinia's absence. They thus split up and follow their new-found obsessions. Sarah goes into town to question the locals, and Brendan stays behind to test the capabilities of Sarah's new "pet". In town, Sarah discovers that Lavinia has become disliked by some because of her blunt letters to the local newspaper editors about a growing practice of witchcraft in the area. Brendan, meanwhile, is attacked while using K-9 to analyse soil samples in Lavinia's garden. His attackers, George Tracey and his son, Peter, are tied in to the local coven
Coven
A coven or covan is a name used to describe a gathering of witches or in some cases vampires. Due to the word's association with witches, a gathering of Wiccans, followers of the witchcraft-based neopagan religion of Wicca, is also described as a coven....
. Unfortunately, both attackers flee before Brendan can get a good look at them.
Since Tracey is actually Lavinia's gardener, he is naturally called in the next morning to investigate the damage the scuffle with Brendan caused to the garden. After Brendan attempts to brag about the pH balance of the soil, Tracey sharply comments that gardening is more about respect for nature than scientific theory. Otherwise, though, he doesn't betray his more sinister intent towards Brendan. Later that night, he sends his son out to kidnap the sleeping Brendan from the house.
This time, Brendan's attacker is successful, stealing him out from under Sarah, who is elsewhere in the house, reading up on the local practice of witchcraft.
Sarah is now increasingly suspicious of Tracey, believing he would have the opportunity to commit the crime, even if she can't yet put her finger on the motive. She therefore finds a way to hide K-9 in Tracey's house. K-9 quietly monitors the household, until he eventually listens in on a conversation that implicates Tracey as a member of a coven. He also discovers that Tracey intends to kill Brendan in an act of ritual murder.
When Tracey leaves his cottage, Sarah is able to retrieve K-9, who alerts his new mistress to the impending crime. Unfortunately, she has no way to enlist the aid of the local police or, really anyone else in the town, because she can't substantiate her claim of overhearing the conversation without also then having to explain who and what the anachronistic K-9 actually is.
Realising that she and K-9 are effectively on their own, she tries to figure out how to stop the sacrifice. Her first order of business is determining the when of it. Using Lavinia's books on witchcraft, she and K-9 deduce it must occur at midnight on the winter solstice
Solstice
A solstice is an astronomical event that happens twice each year when the Sun's apparent position in the sky, as viewed from Earth, reaches its northernmost or southernmost extremes...
, now just a few short hours away. The where of it is more elusive, however, causing the duo to drive around the shire looking at all the churches. As the last few minutes before midnight tick away, they finally realise that there's an abandoned chapel on Lavinia's property. Rushing home, K-9 and Sarah are briefly upset at missing something that was right under their noses all along.
They arrive just in time for K-9 to use his blaster to stop the coven's Priest and Priestess from plunging a knife into Brendan's chest. Now stunned, the group's ringleaders are easily apprehended by the police.
Finally able to celebrate Christmas, Sarah receives a call from her Aunt Lavinia. She's surprised that Sarah was worried about her, since she left instructions for her business partner to send Sarah a cable. As he turned out to be the High Priest of the coven, Sarah merely laughs and tells her aunt that she has a story to tell her about why that message never reached her. Meanwhile, K-9 tries to connect with the human holiday in his own way, teaching himself to sing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas
We Wish You a Merry Christmas
"We Wish You a Merry Christmas" is a popular secular sixteenth-century English carol from the West Country of England. The origin of this Christmas carol lies in the English tradition where wealthy people of the community gave Christmas treats to the carolers on Christmas Eve such as 'figgy...
".
Continuity
K-9 is referred to as "Mark III" in this story because it is presumably the third to be owned by the Doctor. As chronicled in the main series, the first K-9 chose to stay with LeelaLeela (Doctor Who)
Leela is a fictional character played by Louise Jameson in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Leela was a companion of the Fourth Doctor and a regular in the programme from 1977 to 1978...
on Gallifrey
Gallifrey
Gallifrey is a fictional planet in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who and is the homeworld of the Doctor and the Time Lords...
, while K-9 Mark II was forced to stay with Romana
Romana
Romana, short for Romanadvoratrelundar, is a fictional character in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
in E-Space due to being damaged by time winds. Commonly assumed to be a gift of the Fourth Doctor
Fourth Doctor
The Fourth Doctor is the fourth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC British television science-fiction series Doctor Who....
, this fact was confirmed in the 2006 episode "School Reunion
School Reunion (Doctor Who)
"School Reunion" is the third episode in the second series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It first aired on 29 April 2006. The episode's narrative takes place some time after the events of "The Christmas Invasion"...
" when the Tenth Doctor
Tenth Doctor
The Tenth Doctor is the tenth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He is played by David Tennant, who appears in three series, as well as eight specials...
responded to Sarah Jane's comments on his apparent regeneration with the line "half a dozen times since we last met", indicating that this was the first time the two had met since the Doctor was in his Fourth incarnation. K-9 reveals that the Doctor left him on Earth for Sarah Jane in 1978. When K-9 tells Sarah Jane that he is a gift from The Doctor, a leitmotif
Leitmotif
A leitmotif , sometimes written leit-motif, is a musical term , referring to a recurring theme, associated with a particular person, place, or idea. It is closely related to the musical idea of idée fixe...
of the Doctor Who theme music
Doctor Who theme music
The Doctor Who theme is a piece of music composed by Ron Grainer and realised by Delia Derbyshire at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Created in 1963, it was one of the first electronic music signature tunes for television and after nearly five decades remains one of the most easily...
plays briefly.
K-9 Mark III is still functioning and residing with Sarah Jane in The Five Doctors
The Five Doctors
The Five Doctors is a special feature-length episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, produced in celebration of the programme's twentieth anniversary. It had its world premiere in the United States, on the Chicago PBS station WTTW and various other PBS member stations...
.
When K-9 reveals that he is a gift from the Doctor, Sarah Jane remarks, "Oh, Doctor, you didn't forget." Their parting words in The Hand of Fear
The Hand of Fear
The Hand of Fear is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 2 October to 23 October 1976...
were admonishments not to forget each other, as later reprised nearly verbatim in The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith
The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith
The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith is a two-part story of The Sarah Jane Adventures. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 29 and 30 October 2009. It is the third serial of the third series. It guest stars David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor, marking the first appearance of parent programme Doctor Whos...
.
The episode's setting is stated in dialogue and a newspaper masthead as being 18–25 December 1981, and Sarah Jane's experiences with the Doctor and UNIT are in her past, indicating that the Third and Fourth Doctor serials took place more or less contemporaneously to their original broadcast dates. Depictions of Sarah Jane's childhood in Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?
Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?
Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? is the fifth story of the British science fiction television series The Sarah Jane Adventures. It forms the seventh and eighth episodes of the show's first series...
and The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith
The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith
The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith is a story of The Sarah Jane Adventures which was broadcast on CBBC on 17 and 24 November 2008. It is the fifth serial of the second series.-Part 1:...
support this. But see UNIT dating controversy
UNIT dating controversy
The UNIT dating controversy is an ongoing debate in Doctor Who fandom, concerning exactly when the stories featuring the fictional military organisation known as United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, or more recently as the Unified Intelligence Taskforce, take place in the timeline of the...
.
There appears to be a continuity error in a section where Sarah and K-9 go out to look for Brendan in Sarah's car. Sarah leaves her aunt's house when it is dark and arrives at the Church in the dark, but the driving scene that takes place between the two is in daylight.
The newspaper in which Aunt Lavinia's disappearance is reported is the Wiltshire and Gloucestershire Standard.
Continuing Doctor Whos tongue-in-cheek references to the Doctor's name, Brendan asks, "Who is the Doctor?" to which K-9 responds, "Affirmative."
Lavinia describes Sarah Jane as being "never in one place long enough to lick a stamp." Sarah Jane describes Lavinia with the same words, twenty-seven years later, in The Sarah Jane Adventures
The Sarah Jane Adventures
The Sarah Jane Adventures is a British science fiction television series, produced by BBC Cymru Wales for CBBC, created by Russell T Davies and starring Elisabeth Sladen...
episode, "The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith
The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith
The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith is a story of The Sarah Jane Adventures which was broadcast on CBBC on 17 and 24 November 2008. It is the fifth serial of the second series.-Part 1:...
". Similarly, Lavinia Smith's spinsterhood, lack of biological children of her own, and her eagerness to care for orphans (i.e., Sarah Jane and Brendan), are traits passed on to Sarah Jane.
In the 2002 Big Finish
Big Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays based, primarily, on cult British science fiction properties...
audio drama, Sarah Jane Smith: Comeback
Sarah Jane Smith: Comeback
Sarah Jane Smith: Comeback is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It stars Elisabeth Sladen reprising her role as Sarah Jane Smith.- Plot :...
, Sarah Jane (voiced by Sladen), states that Lavinia has recently died and Brendan is living in San Francisco, and mentions Juno Baker. The canonicity of the story is uncertain. Lavinia's death is implied periodically in The Sarah Jane Adventures: Sarah Jane laments in 2007's "Invasion of the Bane
Invasion of the Bane
-Sladen and Doctor Who:Elisabeth Sladen, who previously played Sarah Jane between 1973 and 1976. In 1981, she was offered the role again to ease the transition between the Fourth and Fifth Doctors, which she declined, but agreed to star in the pilot for the spin-off series K-9 and Company, which...
" that she is "all alone". Clyde refers to "the money her aunt left her" in 2009's "The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith
The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith
The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith is a two-part story of The Sarah Jane Adventures. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 29 and 30 October 2009. It is the third serial of the third series. It guest stars David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor, marking the first appearance of parent programme Doctor Whos...
"; neither Lavinia's nor Brendan's absence from Sarah Jane's aborted wedding is addressed.
Outside references
Peter is seen polishing his crash helmetMotorcycle helmet
A motorcycle helmet is a type of protective headgear used by motorcycle riders. The primary goal of a motorcycle helmet is motorcycle safety - to protect the rider's head during impact, thus preventing or reducing head injury or saving the rider's life...
with Mr. Sheen
Mr. Sheen
Mr. Sheen is a brand of cleaning materials created in Australia in the 1950s by Samuel Taylor Pty Ltd. It was the first aerosol cleaning product available on the Australian market and helped introduce the use of aerosol products into Australia. The product moved to a British company Reckitt &...
, a proprietary brand of furniture polish often used by motorcyclists. This is an unusual example of a product's brand name being visible in a BBC drama.
Production
Cast notes
Bill FraserBill Fraser
-External links:* *...
previously appeared with Tom Baker
Tom Baker
Thomas Stewart "Tom" Baker is a British actor. He is best known for playing the fourth incarnation of the Doctor in the science fiction television series Doctor Who, a role he played from 1974 to 1981.-Early life:...
and K-9 Mark II in the Doctor Who story Meglos
Meglos
* Working titles for this story included The Golden Pentangle and The Last Zolfa-Thuran.* This is one of only two multi-part stories to feature all credited cast members in all episodes, the other being The Edge of Destruction....
.
Theme music
Many Doctor Who fans remember A Girl's Best Friend most clearly for its electronic theme musicTheme music
Theme music is a piece that is often written specifically for a radio program, television program, video game or movie, and usually played during the title sequence and/or end credits...
, composed by long-term Doctor Who enthusiast and record producer, Ian Levine
Ian Levine
Ian Levine is an English songwriter, producer, and DJ. He is also a well-known fan of the long-running television show Doctor Who.Levine attended Arnold School in Blackpool from 1963 to 1970...
, with his musical partner Fiachra Trench
Fiachra Trench
Fiachra Terence Wilbrah Trench is a musician and composer from Drogheda, County Louth in Ireland....
. Both the theme music and title sequence have been ridiculed by some fans. Levine, who was also the unofficial continuity consultant for Doctor Who in the 1980s, said in an interview with Dreamwatch Bulletin
Dreamwatch
Dreamwatch was a British magazine covering science fiction and fantasy films, books and television programmes.Published monthly by Gary Leigh and then Titan Magazines , it was a leading genre entertainment magazine, competing with SFX and Cinescape in the genre magazine market.-Overview:The...
that the music was intended to be an orchestral score, but was instead arranged directly from his electronic demonstration arrangement by Peter Howell
Peter Howell
Peter Howell is a musician and composer. He is best known for his work on Doctor Who as a member of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop....
(who also arranged the 1980s version of the Doctor Who theme music
Doctor Who theme music
The Doctor Who theme is a piece of music composed by Ron Grainer and realised by Delia Derbyshire at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Created in 1963, it was one of the first electronic music signature tunes for television and after nearly five decades remains one of the most easily...
) without Levine's knowledge.
Broadcast and production
The viewing figures for the pilot were strong, achieving a viewership of about 8.4 million Britons on its premiére This meant that it attracted more viewers than the average episode of Doctor Who during John Nathan-Turner's era as producer. It was even more popular than the other seasonal special of the era, The Five Doctors, which posted a rating of 7.7. Only when one looks narrowly at Season 19 – the one which immediately followed the broadcast of K-9 and Company – can one find a period where sustained ratings in the parent show were higher than the ratings for this spin-off pilot.Despite these above-average ratings, the show did not go to series. The proximate cause for this was a changeover in channel controllers at BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
. Bill Cotton
Bill Cotton
Sir William Frederick "Bill" Cotton, CBE was a British television producer and executive, and the son of big-band leader Billy Cotton....
, who had approved the pilot, vacated his position soon thereafter. He was replaced by Alan Hart, who simply disliked the idea and the resulting product. Further episodes were therefore not commissioned. The show was repeated once on BBC2 during the Christmas period of 1982.
The pilot episode was novelised in the late 1980s as the last in the Target Books
Target Books
Target Books was a British publishing imprint, established in 1973 by Universal-Tandem Publishing Co Ltd, a paperback publishing company. The imprint was established as a children's imprint to complement the adult Tandem imprint, and became well known for their highly successful range of...
series called The Companions of Doctor Who.
The story was released on video in the UK on 7 August 1995 as Doctor Who: K-9 and Company. It first appeared in the US in August 1998. Neither version is currently available. It was released on DVD on 16 June 2008 alongside The Invisible Enemy in the Doctor Who: K9 Tales (The Invisible Enemy / K9 And Company) box set.
Reception
The pilot attracted 8.4 million viewers on its original broadcast.In Doctor Who Magazine
Doctor Who Magazine
Doctor Who Magazine is a magazine devoted to the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
's The Mighty 200 fans gave K-9 and Company 51.55% likeness. The title sequence came first in TV's Top 5 worst title sequences as part of David Walliams
David Walliams
David Edward Walliams is an English comedian, writer and actor, known for his partnership with Matt Lucas on the TV sketch show Little Britain and its predecessor Rock Profile...
' Awfully Good TV.
Further adventures
While the pilot did not lead to a series on the BBC, the concepts introduced in A Girl's Best Friend were retained by later Doctor Who writers. Subsequent nods to the team-up continue to the present series of the programme. These references appeared in virtually every medium in which Doctor Who stories have been told. In production order, the somewhat linked narrative begun with A Girl's Best Friend was:- The Five DoctorsThe Five DoctorsThe Five Doctors is a special feature-length episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, produced in celebration of the programme's twentieth anniversary. It had its world premiere in the United States, on the Chicago PBS station WTTW and various other PBS member stations...
, in which Sarah Jane was shown to be transported to Gallifrey from just outside her home, after ignoring K-9's warnings of danger.
- The educational special "Search Out Science: Search Out Space", in which K-9 appeared with the Seventh DoctorSeventh DoctorThe Seventh Doctor is the seventh incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by the actor Sylvester McCoy....
and AceAce (Doctor Who)Dorothy Gale McShane, better known by her nickname Ace, is a fictional character played by Sophie Aldred in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
, featured the K-9 and Company theme song as incidental music while K-9 compared differently coloured Smarties to stars at various points in their lives.
- Comic strip:
- "City of Devils", written by Gary RussellGary RussellGary James Russell is a freelance writer and former child actor. As a writer, he is best known for his work in connection with the television series Doctor Who and its spin-offs in other media...
, illustrated by Vincent Danks, printed in the Doctor Who Magazine Holiday Special 1992 (Marvel, 1992). At Aunt Lavinia's request, Sarah and K9 accompany an archaeological dig in Egypt, which has uncovered a lost city of the SiluriansSilurian (Doctor Who)The Silurians are a fictional race of reptile-like humanoids in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The species first appeared in Doctor Who in the 1970 serial Doctor Who and the Silurians...
(which K9 refers to by the more accurate name 'Eocenes').
- "City of Devils", written by Gary Russell
- Short stories:
- "Housewarming", by David A. McInteeDavid A. McIntee-Biography:McIntee has written many spin-off novels based on the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who, as well as one each based on Final Destination and Space: 1999. He has also written a non-fiction book on Star Trek: Voyager and one jointly on the Alien and Predator movie franchises...
, a short story in Decalog 2 (Virgin, 1995). This Doctor-less story teamed K-9 and Sarah with Mike Yates in visit to a haunted house that turns out to be run by the MasterMaster (Doctor Who)The Master is a recurring character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. He is a renegade Time Lord and the archenemy of the Doctor....
. - "Moving On", by Peter AnghelidesPeter AnghelidesPeter Anghelides is an English author and dramatist best known for his work on various spin-offs related to the BBC television series Doctor Who.-Work:...
, a short story in Decalog 3 (Virgin, 1995), which relates how Sarah's travels with the Doctor impacted her emotionally, and how K-9 Mark III eventually broke down due to a lack of available parts. This was obliquely referenced in the Sarah Jane Smith audio play Mirror, Signal, Manoeuvre, also by Anghelides, and addressed in the 2006 episode "School ReunionSchool Reunion (Doctor Who)"School Reunion" is the third episode in the second series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It first aired on 29 April 2006. The episode's narrative takes place some time after the events of "The Christmas Invasion"...
". - "The Sow in Rut", by Robert Perry and Mike TuckerMike TuckerMike Tucker is a special effects expert who worked for many years at the BBC Television Visual Effects Department, and now works as an Effects Supervisor for his own company, The Model Unit. He is also the author of a variety of spin-offs relating to the television series Doctor Who and...
, short story in More Short TripsBBC Short TripsThe BBC Short Trips books were a series of short story anthologies published by BBC Books based on the television series Doctor Who, following a pattern established by Virgin Publishing's Decalog collections. Three volumes were published between March 1998 and March 2000, before the BBC decided to...
(BBC, 1999). This featured Brendan from K-9 and Company and also involved an encounter with ghosts, this time in and around a Lake DistrictLake DistrictThe Lake District, also commonly known as The Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous not only for its lakes and its mountains but also for its associations with the early 19th century poetry and writings of William Wordsworth...
pub called "The Sow in Rut". - "Balloon Debate", by Simon A. ForwardSimon A. ForwardSimon A. Forward is an author and dramatist most famous for his work on a variety of Doctor Who spin-offs. He currently lives and works in Penzance with his wife as a full-time writer.-Work:...
, a short story in Short Trips: CompanionsBig Finish Short TripsThe Big Finish Short Trips are a collection of short story anthologies published by Big Finish Productions based on the BBC Television series Doctor Who, beginning with the collection Short Trips: Zodiac in December 2002 and ending with the loss of their license in 2009...
(2003, Big Finish), involving Sarah writing a work of fiction about being trapped in the TARDIS. However, how she comes to know so much about the Doctor's other companions is not explained.
- "Housewarming", by David A. McIntee
- Audio dramas:
- ComebackSarah Jane Smith: ComebackSarah Jane Smith: Comeback is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It stars Elisabeth Sladen reprising her role as Sarah Jane Smith.- Plot :...
, by Terrance DicksTerrance DicksTerrance Dicks is an English writer, best known for his work in television and for writing a large number of popular children's books during the 1970s and 80s.- Early career :...
(2002, Big Finish), which starts off the Sarah Jane Smith audio series, relating her exploits as an investigative journalistInvestigative journalismInvestigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, often involving crime, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years researching and preparing a report. Investigative journalism...
. The play mentions that Lavinia has died, and starts at her funeral. Brendan is mentioned as living in San Francisco and unable to attend the funeral. It also sets the stage for her journalistic "independence" by portraying her as the sole inheritor of Lavinia's estate. Not only does she get the sprawling manor and market garden shown in A Girl's Best Friend, but she also is the heir to the royalties from Lavinia's patents. - Mirror, Signal, ManoeuvreSarah Jane Smith: Mirror, Signal, ManoeuvreSarah Jane Smith: Mirror, Signal, Manoeuvre is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It stars Elisabeth Sladen reprising her role as Sarah Jane Smith.- Plot :...
(2002, Big Finish), by Peter Anghelides, a 2002 Sarah Jane Smith audio adventure by Big Finish Productions. Although not named as K-9, an electronic device referred to only as a "pet" is found in storage at Sarah's house and further disassembled by the story's villain.
- Comeback
- "School ReunionSchool Reunion (Doctor Who)"School Reunion" is the third episode in the second series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It first aired on 29 April 2006. The episode's narrative takes place some time after the events of "The Christmas Invasion"...
", by Toby WhithouseToby WhithouseToby Whithouse is an English actor, stand-up comedian and screenwriter. His highest-profile work has been the creation of the BBC Three supernatural television series Being Human. He also created the Channel 4 television drama series No Angels , and has written for BBC One's Hotel Babylon and...
(2006), an episode of the 2006 series of Doctor Who. K-9 here is shown to still be in Sarah's possession, and in a state of disrepair. He is destroyed in the episode and replaced with K-9 Mark IV. - The Sarah Jane AdventuresThe Sarah Jane AdventuresThe Sarah Jane Adventures is a British science fiction television series, produced by BBC Cymru Wales for CBBC, created by Russell T Davies and starring Elisabeth Sladen...
(2007 ongoing), K-9 Mark IV appeared briefly in "Invasion of the BaneInvasion of the Bane-Sladen and Doctor Who:Elisabeth Sladen, who previously played Sarah Jane between 1973 and 1976. In 1981, she was offered the role again to ease the transition between the Fourth and Fifth Doctors, which she declined, but agreed to star in the pilot for the spin-off series K-9 and Company, which...
", the pilot episode of this spin-off as well as another cameo appearance saving the day, in the episode The Lost BoyThe Lost Boy (The Sarah Jane Adventures)The Lost Boy is the sixth story of the British science fiction television series The Sarah Jane Adventures. It forms the ninth and tenth episodes of the show's first series...
, but was not expected to appear often in the ongoing series. This was due to the simultaneous development of K-9 by Jetix EuropeJetixJetix was a worldwide children's television programming brand owned by The Walt Disney Company. The Jetix brand was used for blocks and channels featuring action-related and adventure-related live-action and animated programming. It was also what Disney eventually turned Fox Kids into...
(with no BBC connections). In "Invasion of the Bane", K-9 is shown to be busy sealing off an artificially-created black hole (explaining his absence from most of the subsequent series). The black hole is resolved in the second serial of the third series, and K-9 Mark IV returns to the Smith home full-time. - "Journey's EndJourney's End (Doctor Who)"Journey's End" is the thirteenth episode of the fourth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who first broadcast on BBC One on 5 July 2008. It is the second episode of a two-part crossover story featuring the characters of spin-off shows Torchwood and The Sarah Jane...
", by Russell T Davies, an episode of the 2008 series of Doctor Who. K-9 appears briefly at the end of the episode, where he assists Sarah Jane's computer Mr SmithMr Smith (The Sarah Jane Adventures)Mr Smith is a fictional extraterrestrial computer voiced by Alexander Armstrong which appears in the British children's science fiction television series, The Sarah Jane Adventures, with further minor appearances in the final two episodes of the fourth series of Doctor Who...
and TorchwoodTorchwoodTorchwood is a British science fiction television programme created by Russell T Davies. The series is a spin-off from Davies's 2005 revival of the long-running science fiction programme Doctor Who. The show has shifted its broadcast channel each series to reflect its growing audience, moving from...
to create a lasso of temporal energy, allowing the TARDIS to tow the Earth back to its original position in time and space. (Sarah Jane also appears in the preceding episode, The Stolen EarthThe Stolen Earth"The Stolen Earth" is the twelfth episode of the fourth series and the 750th overall episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The episode was written by show runner and head writer Russell T Davies and is the first of a two-part crossover story; the concluding episode is...
, but K-9 does not.)
External links
- K-9 and Company theme music
- K-9 and Company at TV.comTV.comTV.com is a website owned by CBS Interactive. The site covers television and focuses on English-language shows made or broadcast in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Japan...
- New series info from Outpost Gallifrey