History Creator / ElisabethSladen

In 2006, ''Doctor Who'' showrunner Creator/RussellTDavies made Sladen an offer she couldn't refuse, and Sarah Jane Smith at long last returned to ''Doctor Who'' proper in the episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E3SchoolReunion "School Reunion"]]. (PromotedFanboy Creator/DavidTennant, who had grown up loving Sarah Jane, could hardly contain his glee.) Sarah Jane was given the proper "goodbye" she had been waiting three decades for, and as fanboys and fangirls everywhere wept, the episode was paving the way for yet another generation of children to adore Lis Sladen. Her appearance alongside K-9 in the episode served to end speculation that had divided fandom as to whether or not the revived series was indeed a continuation of the original show. The success of the episode all but singlehandedly spawned ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'', an ostensibly LighterAndSofter SpinOff centered on Sarah Jane as she protects the world from an attic located in a rather lovely house on 13 Bannerman Road, [[UsefulNotes/OneLondonThirtyThreeBoroughs Ealing]], London, with the help of a gang of intrepid [[RecruitTeenagersWithAttitude teenagers]]. The show managed to gain incredible critical and commercial success -- and not just among its target audience.

At the time of her death, Sladen had completed filming of the first half of Series 5 of ''The Sarah Jane Adventures''. The production hiatus was ''not'' (as originally reported) due to her health issues as these were not known (even by Sladen) at the time, but due to budget. Upon her death, UK media reported that the BBC was considering continuing the series without her, like how Series/{{Taggart}} continued on without Taggart himself, but it was rapidly realized this was unacceptable and the BBC announced soon after that ''Sarah Jane Adventures'' was cancelled. The six episodes Sladen completed aired in October 2011, bringing the series to a close. Ironically, the last episode to air during Sladen's lifetime was titled "Goodbye Sarah Jane Smith".

She got her start in primary school, although at the time her interest was ballet; in fact, she danced in one production with the famed Royal Ballet. Eventually, however, her sights turned to acting, and she made her first stage appearance as a corpse at the Liverpool Playhouse. She was subsequently scolded for [[{{Corpsing}} giggling while onstage]] because the actor playing a doctor - one Brian Miller - [[MeetCute whispered "respiration nil, Aston Villa two" in her ear]]. Incidentally, she [[RomanceOnTheSet married]] that young actor in 1968; they had one daughter, Sadie Miller.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': 86 episodes / 27 stories[[labelnote:show list]]"[[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E1TheTimeWarrior The Time Warrior]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E2InvasionOfTheDinosaurs Invasion of the Dinosaurs]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E3DeathToTheDaleks Death to the Daleks]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E4TheMonsterOfPeladon The Monster of Peladon]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E5PlanetOfTheSpiders Planet of the Spiders]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E1Robot Robot]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E2TheArkInSpace The Ark in Space]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E3TheSontaranExperiment The Sontaran Experiment]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E4GenesisOfTheDaleks Genesis of the Daleks]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E5RevengeOfTheCybermen Revenge of the Cybermen]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E1TerrorOfTheZygons Terror of the Zygons]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E2PlanetOfEvil Planet of Evil]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E3PyramidsOfMars Pyramids of Mars]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E4TheAndroidInvasion The Android Invasion]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E5TheBrainOfMorbius The Brain of Morbius]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E6TheSeedsOfDoom The Seeds of Doom]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E1TheMasqueOfMandragora The Masque of Mandragora]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E2TheHandOfFear The Hand of Fear]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWho20thASTheFiveDoctors The Five Doctors]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E3SchoolReunion School Reunion]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E12TheStolenEarth The Stolen Earth]]"/"[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E13JourneysEnd Journey's End]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime The End of Time]]"[[/labelnote]](1973-76, 1983, 2006-10) -- Sarah-Jane Smith

* ''Series/ChildrenInNeed'': "[[Recap/DoctorWho30thASDimensionsInTime Dimensions in Time]]" (1993) -- Sarah-Jane Smith

* ''Series/K9AndCompany'': "A Girl's Best Friend" (1981) -- Sarah-Jane Smith

* ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'': 54 episodes / 27 stories[[labelnote:show list]]"[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS1E1E2RevengeOfTheSlitheen Revenge of the Slitheen]]", "[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS1E3E4EyeOfTheGorgon Eye of the Gorgon]]", "[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS1E5E6WarriorsOfKudlak Warriors of Kudlak]]", "[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS1E7E8WhateverHappenedToSarahJane Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?]]", "[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS1E9E10TheLostBoy The Lost Boy]]", "[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS2E1E2TheLastSontaran The Last Sontaran]]", "[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS2E3E4TheDayOfTheClown The Day of the Clown]]", "[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS2E5E6SecretsOfTheStars Secrets of the Stars]]", "[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS2E7E8TheMarkOfTheBerserker The Mark of the Berserker]]", "[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS2E9E10TheTemptationOfSarahJaneSmith The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith]]", "[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS2E11E12EnemyOfTheBane Enemy of the Bane]]", "[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS3E1E2PrisonerOfTheJudoon Prisoner of the Judoon]]", "[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS3E3E4TheMadWomanInTheAttic The Mad Woman in the Attic]]", "[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS3E5E6TheWeddingOfSarahJaneSmith The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith]]", "[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS3E7E8TheEternityTrap The Eternity Trap]]", "[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS3E9E10MonaLisasRevenge Mona Lisa's Revenge]]", "[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS4E1E2TheNightmareMan The Nightmare Man]]", "[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS4E3E4TheVaultOfSecrets The Vault of Secrets]]", "[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS4E5E6DeathOfTheDoctor Death of the Doctor]]", "[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS4E7E8TheEmptyPlanet The Empty Planet]]", "[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS4E9E10LostInTime Lost in Time]]", "[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS4E11E12GoodbyeSarahJaneSmith Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith]]", "[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS5E1E2Sky Sky]]", "[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS5E3E4TheCurseOfClydeLanger The Curse of Clyde Langer]]", "[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS5E5E6TheManWhoNeverWas The Man Who Never Was]]"[[/labelnote]] (2007-11) -- Sarah-Jane Smith

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': 86 episodes / 27 stories[[labelnote:show list]]"[[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E1TheTimeWarrior The Time Warrior]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E2InvasionOfTheDinosaurs Invasion of the Dinosaurs]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E3DeathToTheDaleks Death to the Daleks]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E4TheMonsterOfPeladon The Monster of Peladon]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E5PlanetOfTheSpiders Planet of the Spiders]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E1Robot Robot]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E2TheArkInSpace The Ark in Space]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E3TheSontaranExperiment The Sontaran Experiment]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E4GenesisOfTheDaleks Genesis of the Daleks]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E5RevengeOfTheCybermen Revenge of the Cybermen]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E1TerrorOfTheZygons Terror of the Zygons]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E2PlanetOfEvil Planet of Evil]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E3PyramidsOfMars Pyramids of Mars]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E4TheAndroidInvasion The Android Invasion]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E5TheBrainOfMorbius The Brain of Morbius]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E6TheSeedsOfDoom The Seeds of Doom]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E1TheMasqueOfMandragora The Masque of Mandragora]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E2TheHandOfFear The Hand of Fear]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWho20thASTheFiveDoctors The Five Doctors]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWho30thASDimensionsInTime Dimensions in Time]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E3SchoolReunion School Reunion]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E12TheStolenEarth The Stolen Earth]]"/"[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E13JourneysEnd Journey's End]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime The End of Time]]"[[/labelnote]](1973-76, 1983, 1993, 2006-10) -- Sarah-Jane Smith

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': 86 episodes / 27 stories[[labelnote:show list]]"[[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E1TheTimeWarrior The Time Warrior]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E2InvasionOfTheDinosaurs Invasion of the Dinosaurs]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E3DeathToTheDaleks Death to the Daleks]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E4TheMonsterOfPeladon The Monster of Peladon]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E5PlanetOfTheSpiders Planet of the Spiders]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E1Robot Robot]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E2TheArkInSpace The Ark in Space]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E3TheSontaranExperiment The Sontaran Experiment]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E4GenesisOfTheDaleks Genesis of the Daleks]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E5RevengeOfTheCybermen Revenge of the Cybermen]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E1TerrorOfTheZygons Terror of the Zygons]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E2PlanetOfEvil Planet of Evil]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E3PyramidsOfMars Pyramids of Mars]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E4TheAndroidInvasion The Android Invasion]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E5TheBrainOfMorbius The Brain of Morbius]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E6TheSeedsOfDoom The Seeds of Doom]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E1TheMasqueOfMandragora The Masque of Mandragora]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E2TheHandOfFear The Hand of Fear]]"[[/labelnote]](1973-76, 1983, 1993, 2006-10) -- Sarah-Jane Smith

* ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'': 54 episodes / 27 stories (2007-11) -- Sarah-Jane Smith

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': 86 episodes / 27 stories (1973-76, 1983, 1993, 2006-10) -- Sarah-Jane Smith

The first new companion to be introduced into the series after her death, Clara Oswald, was named in tribute to the actress.

[[TearJerker The fandom's collective hearts were almost audibly broken when, after fighting cancer, she died suddenly on 19 April 2011,]] barely two months after Creator/NicholasCourtney fell to the same disease. She is survived by her husband and her daughter, and will be missed by millions of fans worldwide. The BBC dedicated the premiere of Series 6 of ''Doctor Who'' to her, and produced a special tribute to her: ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycxBiGX8T64 My Sarah Jane: A Tribute to Elisabeth Sladen]]''. Tom Baker cried muchly at the announcement of her death and has openly cried just ''mentioning her'' in interviews since then.

[[TearJerker The fandom's collective hearts were almost audibly broken when, after fighting cancer, she died suddenly on 19 April 2011,]] barely two months after Creator/NicholasCourtney fell to the same disease. She is survived by her husband and her daughter, and will be missed by millions of fans worldwide. The BBC dedicated the premiere of Series 6 of ''Doctor Who'' to her, and produced a special tribute to her: ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycxBiGX8T64 My Sarah Jane: A Tribute to Elisabeth Sladen]]''. Tom Baker cried muchly at the announcement of her death.

It has since been confirmed that, just prior to her death, Sladen had agreed to reunite with Tom Baker for a series of audio dramas for Big Finish Productions, with Davies giving the necessary approval, but her health never recovered. According to ''Magazine/DoctorWhoMagazine'' there was also a proposal for Baker to appear (as a character other than the Doctor) in a possible Halloween special episode of ''Sarah Jane''. Tom, who isn't a man to show much emotion, has ''openly cried'' when talking about her in interviews since her death.

It has since been confirmed that, just prior to her death, Sladen had agreed to reunite with Tom Baker for a series of audio dramas for Big Finish Productions, with Davies giving the necessary approval, but her health never recovered. According to ''Magazine/DoctorWhoMagazine'' there was also a proposal for Baker to appear (as a character other than the Doctor) in a possible Halloween special episode of ''Sarah Jane''.

Elisabeth Clara Heath Sladen (1 February 1946 -- 19 April 2011), frequently and fondly called "Lis", was a widely beloved English actress best known for her role as perennial favourite ''Series/DoctorWho'' companion [[Characters/DoctorWhoSarahJaneSmith Sarah Jane Smith]].