Elisabeth Sladen Has Passed
Away
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It is with deep sadness that on the 19th April 2011
it was announced that Elisabeth Sladen,
who is best known for her role as Sarah
Jane Smith in Doctor Who and The
Sarah Jane Adventures, passed away.
Please find below articles that are dedicated to a very special
Doctor Who character and a well loved actress:
(click on the images below for
more information)
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Elisabeth
Sladen Has Passed Away
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Elisabeth Sladen
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 It
is with deep sadness that on the 19th April 2011 it was announced
that Elisabeth Sladen, the much-loved actress best known
for her role as Sarah
Jane Smith in Doctor Who and The
Sarah Jane Adventures, passed away. She
was 65.
The
Liverpool-born actress appeared began her career
as an assistant stage manager at the Liverpool
playhouse. Her first role on stage was playing
a corpse, and she made her screen debut in the
1965 film Ferry Cross the Mersey as an
extra. She has also appeared in several other hit
television shows, including Z-Cars, Public
Eye, Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em and Special
Branch. But it was her role in Doctor
Who that gained her the most recognition.
Elisabeth
Sladen first appeared as Sarah Jane Smith in the 1973/74
classic story "The
Time Warrior", which also introduced the Sontarans to
the show. Her character continued to travel with the Third
Doctor (played by Jon Pertwee) until he regenerated into
the Fourth
Doctor in the 1974 story "Planet
of the Spiders". She then stayed with the Fourth
Doctor (played by Tom Baker) until leaving the show at the
end of the 1976 story "The
Hand of Fear".
She
stayed in the show for three and half seasons and
became the most popular companion. She returned
to the role on numerous occasions over the years
including the Twentieth Anniversary special "The
Five Doctors" and even appeared in the
spin-off story "K9 & Company: A Girls
Best Friend". Then in 2006 Sarah Jane Smith
was once again reunited with The Doctor in the
first of three appearances in the revived show.
First she was in the Tenth
Doctor story "School
Reunion" before returning again in the
2008 story "The Stolen Earth/Journey's
End" and then in the 2009/2010 story "The End of Time".
Elisabeth
Sladen’s return in "School Reunion" led to
her, in 2007, to being given her own spin-off series on CBBC
- The Sarah Jane Adventures - where she would appear
alongside K9 and the show would include guest appearances
by David Tennant, Matt
Smith and Katy Manning.
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| The Sarah Jane Adventures |
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The
Sarah Jane Adventures brought Elisabeth Sladen a whole
new generation of fans who grew up to love her alien-busting
adventures. The series was hugely popular with fans young
and old and it won the 2011 RTS Award for best children’s
drama.
Tributes
for Elisabeth Sladen have flooded into the BBC from those
who worked with and of course her fans. Controller of CBBC
Damian Kavanagh has stated: ‘I'm deeply saddened
and shocked by the news of Lis' untimely death. Lis brought
joy, excitement and a sense of wonder to her many fans in
her role as Sarah Jane Smith. She was adored by our young
audience and I know all of them will miss her as much as
I will’.
The
creator of The Sarah Jane Adventures Russell T
Davies has said: ‘I absolutely loved
Lis. She was funny and cheeky and clever and just
simply wonderful. The universe was lucky to have
Sarah Jane Smith; the world was lucky to have Lis’.
Steven
Moffat, Doctor Who’s Lead Writer and Executive Producer
has said: ‘Sarah Jane Smith was everybody's hero
when I was younger, and as brave and funny and brilliant
as people only ever are in stories. But many years later,
when I met the real Sarah Jane - Lis Sladen herself - she
was exactly as any child ever have wanted her to be. Kind
and gentle and clever; and a ferociously talented actress,
of course, but in that perfectly English unassuming way’.
Keith
Jones, Director, BBC Cymru Wales, has said: ‘The Sarah
Jane Adventures has been one of the most successful children's
programmes on television in recent years - and without Elisabeth
Sladen it would not have happened. A brilliant presence on
screen and on set, she brought the excitement and energy
of the Doctor Who family of programmes, of which we are very
proud at BBC Wales, to a whole new generation. She will be
missed by all at BBC Wales who worked with her’.
It
has been revealed that Elisabeth Sladen had been suffering
from cancer for some time and she leaves behind a husband,
actor Brian Miller, and her daughter, Sadie.
After
the recent news of the death of Nicholas Courtney (who played The
Brigadier) and with the previous death of Jon Pertwee
in 1996, the show has lost another member of its family from
this era of the show. She will be sadly missed and not just
by Doctor Who fans but millions of fans, including
children, who also watched her in The Sarah Jane Adventures.
RIP
Elizabeth Sladen.
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