The season finale of The Sarah Jane Adventures was watched by 0.7 million viewers according to unofficial overnight figures.

Final figures are available for the first part of the series which give an average rating of around 0.75 million viewers for each episode. This is considerably higher than the average rating for this time slot, around 0.45 million.

Every episode, apart from episode One, has been first shown on the CBBC channel, where they have been getting an additional half a million viewers.

The series has also been achieving high Audience Index figures, with most episodes scoring higher than 80. The highest rating was 86 for Part2 of The Last Sontaran, and the lowest 76 for Part 1 of The Mark of The Berserker.

In addition the Sunday Repeats of Series One on BBC One have been getting ratings of around 1 million viewers.

The BBC Press Office has released details on forthcoming children's programming from the BBC for 2009. This includes the announcement thatDoctor Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures, the second series of which is currently being shown on BBC One and the CBBC Channel, will return for a third series in the autumn of 2009. The release states that the show will continue to be overseen by Russell T Davies, and that "together with her companions Rani and Clyde and her adopted son Luke, Sarah Jane once again comes face to face with a whole host of weird and wonderful alien beings."

The Guardian are among other news sources covering the story. They quote Russell T Davies as saying that it is "an honour and a delight to get a third commission".

Posted By John Bowman

Elisabeth Sladen will be joined by fellowSarah Jane Adventures actors Daniel Anthony and Thomas Knight for a signing session in London - and 50 people could attend an exclusive story-telling session by Sladen herself.

The event at the Oxford Street branch of Borders has been organised to mark the return of the Doctor Who spin-off plus the launch of four SJA novels, the complete Series One DVD, and two new audio-exclusive stories. It will be taking place on November 15 between 1.30pm and 4pm. Borders states that people must have bought a copy of the SJA DVD set, an SJA book or an SJA CD to be in the queue.

The four books - Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?, Day of the Clown, The Lost Boy, and The Last Sontaran - are being published on November 6, the Series One DVD set is released on November 10, while audio-exclusive stories The Time Capsule and Ghost House will be out on November 13 and available on CD or as a download.

The competition to attend the story-telling session is for UK residents only and open to youngsters up to and including the age of 16. Winners must be accompanied by a responsible adult. The closing date is November 11. Click here for details on how to enter and full terms and conditions. The story-telling session takes place on the same day as the signing, and the winners will also get to be first in the queue for autographs.

The Sarah Jane Adventures has been nominated for Best Drama in the 2008 BAFTA Children's Awards representing the best in children's production in film, television and online.

The series is up against The Revenge Files of Alistair Fury, Smallhill and Young Dracula. CBBChas also been nominated for Channel of the year. Children aged 7-14 are eligable to vote and can vote online at the BAFTA website.

The winner will be announced at the EA British Academy Children's Awards on Sunday 30 November 2008 at the London Hilton on Park Lane.

Unofficial overnight figures show that Part One of Day of the Clownachieved an audience of 0.5 million. The programme got a 5.3 per cent share of the audience.

The Appreciation Index for the episode was 82,one of the highest scores for the day.

Meanwhile final figures available for the premier of part Two of The Last Sontaran, show it was the highest rated programme of the week on the CBBC channel, with 0.48 million viewers.

Unofficial overnight figures show that Part Two of The Last Sontaranachieved an audience of 0.6 million. The Sarah Jane Adventuresprogramme got a 6.1 per cent share of the audience.

The average is slightly down on the previous week's, probably because the episode had already been shown on CBBC.

Final figures for the BBC1 and CBBC showings will be released by BARB next week.

The Appreciation Index for the episode was 86, putting the programme firmly in the excellent category. It was the highest figure on BBC1 for the day.

The Sarah Jane Adventures returned to BBC1 on Monday with unofficial figures showing that Part One of The Last Sontaranachieved a rating of 0.7 million. The programme got a 6.3 per cent share of the audience.

The average for the time slot is around 0.4 million viewers.

The Appreciation Index for the episode was 84, the joint highest figure on BBC1 for the day.

The BBC Press Office has released details of the new series of The Sarah Jane Adventures, including information on characters and broadcast dates.

The release confirms that the first episode of series two will be broadcast on BBC One on Monday 29th September at 4.35pm. The second episode will then follow on the CBBC digital channel at 5.15pm. This will be the pattern for the rest of the series, with episodes debuting on the CBBC channel.

The run finishes with the BBC One broadcast of episode 12 on Monday 15th December.

The official BBC website for the Doctor Who spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures has made available a newcinema trailer for series two of the programme, which is due to begin broadcasting in the UK later this month. The trailer is only available to view to broadband internet users in the UK.

The Doctor Who News Page is delighted to be able to confirm the return of a popular and much-loved character from the classic series of Doctor Who. The character appeared in many classic series stories, and will be seen in a two-part story in the next series of spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures, starring Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith.