It was shortly after New Year’s Day, 2006, when I found myself back in a restaurant with Russell. This time we were joined by Julie Gardner and my agent, Roger Carey. I remember musing with Roger in the cab about what they wanted. There were whispers of an adult spin-off called Torchwood. Our best guess was Sarah might get a cameo in that.
‘It’ll be exciting for her to grow up at last,’ I said.
We had a bit of a chit-chat and a glass of wine, the usual skirting around the subject – although it’s never a chore sitting and skirting with Russell. The time just flies in his company.
Finally he revealed why we were there. I just stared at him, absolutely non-plussed.
‘Do you think it will work?’ I said.
I’m surprised Roger didn’t kick me under the table. Agents can be funny about you talking yourself out of work.
But Russell didn’t flinch. ‘Of course it will,’ he enthused, passionate as ever.
‘Well, what would you call it?’
Deep breath … ‘The Sarah Jane Adventures!’ he announced proudly.
‘Why me?’
I can’t help myself.
‘Everyone in Cardiff loved you in School Reunion,’ Russell explained. ‘The world needs more of Sarah Jane.’
My episode hadn’t even aired yet but the end result, he said, was so phenomenal he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to bring me back for good.
Slowly it began to sink in. Over the next hour I got the whole pitch. Nothing had been written but Russell had all the details worked out. Sarah Jane would continue the Doctor’s work of protecting Earth from alien attacks. She’d have a sonic lipstick to match his screwdriver. And, yes, K-9 would be involved. The difference this time was he wouldn’t be the headline act, due to contractual issues with his creator, Bob Baker. Oh, what a shame …
Then Russell dropped the bombshell about the children.
‘Oh my God, they’ll be the spawn of the Devil at that age!’ I exclaimed. But of course they weren’t. They are truly delightful, so young but so professional. And they’re very tactile, as am I – we have lots of hugs in the morning and it’s one big happy family, even with Yasmin Paige (Maria) going, Anjli Mohindra (Rani) coming in and now Tommy Knight (who plays Luke) off at university. Danny Anthony (Clyde) even calls me ‘Mama Lis’. If anything, it’s their show – I’m sure they’re just putting up with me sometimes.
The show was, in fact, everything Russell promised. He’d begun working in children’s television and it was a real passion of his to produce serious, quality drama for that age group.
To say the offer was unexpected is beyond understatement. I don’t think I was even coherent when I told Brian that night! It was incredible, of course, but there were serious issues. This would involve a major commitment. We’d do a pilot, then hopefully a series. That could easily eat up five or six months of the year, and I’d be working flat out, full time – away from home in Cardiff. I’d as good as retired, hadn’t I? Did I really want to get back on the treadmill?
I shared a train journey with Jane Tranter, head of BBC1, shortly after The Sarah Jane Adventures began. We were chatting about how much her children liked it. Then she said, ‘We just threw you in, didn’t we?’
‘Well, yes,’ I said. ‘I was just impressed by the quality of everything so I couldn’t say no.’
‘Oh,’ Jane sounded surprised. ‘If you hadn’t liked it, wouldn’t you have done it?’
‘No, I wouldn’t.’
‘Really?’ she said. I don’t think she meets many people in this business prepared to turn down their own show.
But I was barely in the business by then. It wasn’t a case of ‘Where is my career going?’ I’d had my career – anything work-wise was a bonus now. And there was no point in agreeing to something I wouldn’t enjoy – those days were over.
Which was the frame of mind I was in when I mulled over Russell’s offer. Then I remembered how much fun I’d had in Cardiff. My leg was still not 100 per cent but despite all the pain and all the problems I’d created, I also remembered how supportive everyone had been.
And then there was the BBC itself. In my day, if you want to call it that, Doctor Who had been very successful but you always got the impression the BBC were a bit … well … embarrassed by the programme. It was popular but the decision-makers didn’t know why. ‘It’s only a children’s show,’ they seemed to say. ‘We don’t need to worry about it.’
Modern Who couldn’t have been more different. A few days before I met Russell and Julie, David Tennant’s first episode had gone out at peak time on Christmas Day. Imagine if they’d done that for Tom and me! We had to fight to get a picture in the Radio Times. Now the Corporation couldn’t be more supportive and four years later they went so far as clearing the schedules for David’s swansong.
Apart from the actual workload I couldn’t see a downside. I wondered if Brian and Sadie could help. Aside from worrying about the travelling and the time we’d be away from each other, they both agreed it seemed too good to turn down.
‘It’s your own show, Mum. And look at the people behind it!’
Sadie was right. The family pow-wow was over.
‘I’m going to do it.’
* * *
Of course, I had doubts. Even as I travelled to Cardiff for our first read-through I was plagued by genuine worries, ‘Can she exist without the Doctor? Can you make her work?’
And the read-through was a disaster. Considering I’d played this character on and off for thirty years you’d think I’d be able to rattle off a few lines, but my tongue seemed to be twice its normal size with nerves and I couldn’t get any feel for what I was saying. Afterwards, I promised Colin Teague, the director, ‘I’ll be better on the day.’
‘Thank God for that!’ he said.
When it came to recording the pilot, Invasion of the Bane, in October 2006, Colin did a lovely thing. I don’t know if it was for the kids’ benefit or mine, but we recorded everything in chronological order. That’s so rare today, but it helped immensely – we really got a sense of story.
I was a bit surprised at how rusty I was. Technically, there were things I needed to get my head around as well. The biggest shock was the scripts. On old Who we’d learned and workshopped the script during rehearsal then shot in a studio for a couple of days. Things had changed. The Sarah Jane Adventures, like Doctor Who, was now rehearse-record. That is to say, we arrive on set, do a run-through, then film it for real a few minutes later. From the moment we turn up we’re expected to have every word memorised. It’s a nightmare!
When you’re dealing with the amount of science-gook Sarah has to spout, there’s no room for adlibbing. More importantly, Jon and I (and then Tom and I) had developed so much of our characters’ relationships in those rehearsal rooms at the Acton Hilton, not on set. There’s also a purely pragmatic point. Without wishing to sound too luvvy, if you’ve learned it one way and your co-star has learned it another, by the time you come to perform it together you might be way out of pace.
On top of every night spent pacing up and down my hotel room trying to cram for the following day’s memory test, I wasn’t prepared for the added pressure of being number one on the call sheet. I was the first to be picked up, the last dropped off: the whole episode revolved around my character, there was no hiding place.
But, God, how I loved it! I’d only been in Cardiff a few days when I realised just how much I had to thank Russell for. He’d let me come back to do something I adored. I didn’t realise until I started how much I’d missed it, how much I’d really, really missed it.