So he put the phone down. No goodbye – just hung up! I wonder what I missed out on …
* * *
If I’d been the sort of person to dwell on these things – and I certainly wasn’t – I think I would have felt quite content with how the 1970s were ending for me. Consistent work in some high-profile television programmes, a few adverts as well, and the possibility of a role in a film coming up – that wasn’t bad. And I’d done it all without stepping anywhere near a science-fiction programme. I’d managed to maintain a career and successfully put some distance between me and Who. Yes, I missed Tom, and Ian – although I occasionally bumped into him in Ealing – but I was actually quite proud of making a clean break. I’d never seen an episode before I joined the show and I hadn’t watched one since. It wasn’t exactly sour grapes because I’d never been a fan.
Which is why I surprised so many people with what I did next …
Chapter Thirteen
Affirmative, Mistress!
ON DAY one of filming School Reunion back in the summer of 2005, I found myself sitting down next to the Tenth Doctor during a break. Believe it or not, this was actually the first time David Tennant and I had had a moment to ourselves since I’d first arrived in Cardiff. On any production, there are so many people buzzing around all the time – crew, cast, friends – that private moments are genuinely rare. He was such easy company and straightaway confessed that he’d been a big fan of Sarah Jane. Wanting to keep it that way, I said, ‘Whatever you do then, don’t watch K-9 and Company.’
‘Too late,’ he laughed. ‘I’ve seen it!’
‘Gosh,’ I said, ‘you must really be a fan if you’ve seen that and you still want to work with me.’
Because it had been such a crushing disappointment: K-9 and Company should have been my first leading television role and on paper it had all the potential to become a Sarah Jane Adventures for the 1980s. That was the plan at the time but it didn’t work out like that. In retrospect I should never have got involved, and I very nearly didn’t, but John Nathan-Turner, of whom more below, could be extremely persuasive. The rotter!
* * *
The world of Who never stays still. JNT had replaced Philip Hinchcliffe’s successor, Graham Williams, at the start of 1980. He arrived in all-guns-blazing mode and you’d hear all kinds of stories – he was thinking of dropping the sonic screwdriver, K-9, and even the TARDIS! I think he just wanted to shake things up a bit, although he eventually got his way with the dog. Not all his ideas were about breaking with the past, though. In the summer of 1980 I received a message asking if I’d go and see him. What on earth for? I wondered, but in the end decided, Why not?
So I pootled along to Threshold House: I have so many happy memories of that building, it’s a shame they don’t use it any more. Even the stroll up to the front door seems like a trip down memory lane, all those familiar shops and restaurants.
John’s reputation was as a bit of a showman, so I was already primed for the flamboyant gestures and shirts as loud as his voice.
What I wasn’t prepared for was his offer:
‘Lis, I want you to come back as Sarah Jane.’
‘You’re joking!’
It was as if I was trying to talk myself out of it.
‘We’re deadly serious,’ John said. ‘You were the most popular companion. We want to put you and Tom back together. The Dream Team – the fans would love it!’
Ah, ‘the fans’. How often I’d hear those words from John over the years.
I shook my head. ‘I don’t think so, John.’
‘You don’t have to make your mind up now,’ he boomed, still smiling confidently. ‘Take a few days. Talk to Brian, talk to your agent.’
‘Look, I’m sorry, I don’t need to discuss it with anyone. I had such a good innings with Tom, I can’t risk going back and it not working – that would be so upsetting to me and, yes, the fans – I don’t want to go there.’
Think about it from Tom’s point of view, I told myself. He’s been there for years, he’s in his own groove, he’s moved the Doctor on, I’m sure – although I’d not seen it – I’d just be an anchor from the past. I was genuinely worried that maybe I wouldn’t fit in any more. What if he took it the wrong way? What have they brought her back for? It’s my show!
No, I thought, it’s the right decision.
Before I’d departed on a high – I couldn’t allow anything to soil that memory.
When I left his office, I honestly thought I’d never hear from John again. Luckily, or unluckily, for me, he’s not the sort of man who takes ‘no’ for an answer.
* * *
A year earlier I’m not sure I would even have gone in for the meeting, but by the time I saw JNT in summer 1980 I’d already been re-admitted to the Whoniverse.
And I liked it.
In late 1979 I’d received a request from my agent asking me to attend a Who fan event. It wasn’t the first invite I’d received for something like that and usually I just responded, ‘Thanks, but no thanks.’ I wasn’t in the show any more – to me it seemed rude to be making public appearances when there were others who were more entitled.
So what made me say ‘yes’ to this one?
Well, enough time had passed, I was going to be the ‘star’ guest and Ian Marter would also be there. Brian could come, too – if he could get out of his play in Richmond.
Oh, and the event was to be held in Los Angeles!
Lucy Chase Williams – who has written a book on Vincent Price and is such a together, organised lady – and Amy Krell, now a producer, were arranging their first Doctor Who American convention, ‘Whol’, and they wanted me as their star guest – and people say there are no female Doctor Who fans! I think the US Public Broadcast Service channel had recently begun to achieve good ratings for its Who episodes and, being a little behind the UK, I was still in the show over there. On top of that, VHS recorders had started to become more commonplace – fans were taping episodes and trading them with others. It’s much easier to get a buzz going when you can all see the same thing.
Lucy and Amy couldn’t have been more welcoming. They met us at the airport and drove us to our hotel on Rodeo Drive. We got a tour of the downstairs convention rooms, dinner, and you just knew you were in safe hands. I don’t know what they’d heard about Ian and me but I’d never seen so much booze around! I had a room where I would be able to relax between sessions, which was so thoughtful. ‘Anything you want, Lis, you just ask,’ said Lucy. Music to my ears …
So far it was just like a holiday – I almost forgot I was there to work.
I had genuinely no idea what to expect. Autograph hunters are one thing, but usually they’re stepping into your territory. Bumping into you in the street, hanging around a location shoot or queuing at the stage door, that sort of thing. Today, though, I was stepping into their world.
Even as Lucy led me through towards the convention rooms I was convinced this had been a wasted journey.
I left the show in 1976. No one here will care who I am. I’m just going to be the mad aunt nobody wants to sit near at the wedding.
I couldn’t have been more wrong.
It started in the morning when Lucy handed me a copy of the Hollywood Reporter – the movie business’s trade paper. There it was, in black and white: ‘Lis Sladen from Doctor Who, will be appearing at …’