As we discussed on the most recent Weekend Justice podcast and has been pounding around Twitter and the net in general: Elisabeth Sladen, who played Sarah Jane Smith, passed away this past week from cancer. She was 65 63. Sarah Jane, for the uninitiated, was widely considered to be the yardstick against which all other Doctor Who companions were measured. Sarah Jane appeared opposite both Third Doctor Jon Pertwee and Fourth Doctor Tom Baker. She wound up returning to the Who universe multiple times, most recently and notably getting her own spinoff series, The Sarah Jane Adventures.
Last night after the sixth season of the new Doctor Who kicked off, CBBC aired this tribute to Sladen (embedded after the jump). It’s rather nice and sums up a lot of what has been said and needs to continue to be said: she was fantastic and she will be missed.
Direct link for the feedreaders. Thanks to Rob for the headsup on this.
Update: Thanks to Wayne in the comments for setting us straight about her age–Wikipedia, while Always Right, is sometimes wrong.
thanks… don’t think they aired that in Canada either… btw, according to the very end of the tribute and several reports published on the net, she was only 63, with her birthdate in 1948
Wayne: Thanks–one of the dangers of Wikipedia, which other than this, is Always Right.