New Timeslot, School Reunion Details

The new series will be returning to its 7.00pm timeslot for the third episode, according to Programme Information released by the BBC Press Office today (Thursday 13 April).'School Reunion is previewed as one of Saturday 29 April's highlights. The preview (note: PDF document) includes the story synopsis, in the breakout box below.

There is also a full interview (again a PDF) which features a discussion with Elisabeth Sladen about returning to the series. "'I had a phone call from my agent who said Russell T Davies wanted to take me for a meal with Phil Collinson to talk about Doctor Who,' recalls Elisabeth.'Of course, he didn't know anything more than that and I had no idea what I was going along to. 'You kind of have the weight of the old programme on your shoulders,' she muses. 'I'm representing someone I don't want to let down. I couldn't have done it if I thought that I couldn't look after her… but I had great faith in the production team,' says the actress, whose credits include Coronation Street, The Bill and Peak Practice. 'On the day of the meeting I thought, ‘How am I going to turn these people down? The agent's going to go mad with me!' Happily, it was very soon into the introductions that I realised we were thinking about Sarah Jane in exactly the same way. So I decided to throw caution to the wind. Toby Whithouse has written a beautiful script, and Russell has put his gold dust on it.' The first day of production at the readthrough was quite an overwhelming experience for Elisabeth, however, when compared to the old days on Doctor Who. 'The read-through was quite different; I mean, there were so many people there! It was quite daunting!' she laughs. 'Ours had been quite low-key, but people I hadn't seen for years were there. What was so glorious about the actual set was the fact that the atmosphere of working on the programme generated the same excitement, the same involvement, the same enjoyment and also the same difficulties, really. On the old programme, it was curtain up at 7:30am in the studio and we worked through to 10 at night. If you didn't get every scene in by then to make a programme, you didn't have one! They have a hell of schedule now to get in what they do.There's the same time constraint, but the actual way of making it work is totally different.' ... 'People respond to how the characters behave with each other. It's very much a programme about relationships and trust. I spoke to a fan some time ago who told me he was quite isolated when he was young,' reminisces Elisabeth. 'But just for half an hour every Saturday, he could sit down and watch someone who was also a loner, who succeeded, who made things work and who wasn't like other people.And it was such enjoyment for him – it meant a lot. For children [watching Doctor Who], fear is probably coming into their lives for the first time. But it's good fear – responsible fear.' How did Sarah Jane react when she saw the 10th Doctor, David Tennant, for the first time? 'I don't think she realises it's him to start with,' Elisabeth says with a smile.'But there's this kind of frisson there – she senses there is something odd. She comes in as her perky, pushy, normal self, but there are all sorts of different motions going on: ‘How amazing that it's you! How bloody awful that you never got in touch with me!'' she laughs.'‘Who is this person now that you're going around with in time and space?'' says Elisabeth, referring to the Doctor's new companion, Rose. 'There are a lot of questions to be answered and she allows herself to become emasculated a little bit. But she has to get on with the adventure at hand as well as deal with the personal issues, which I think knocks her for six.'" (Thanks to Steve Tribe)