This weekend's countdown begins toward the Monday debut of the hour-long special The Sarah Jane Adventures. The episode, broadcast Monday 1 January from 4.50 to 5.50pm on BBC1/CBBC, is the pilot episode for a limited-run series that will air later in the year and brings Elisabeth Sladen back to the screen in the title role of Sarah Jane Smith, the role she was last seen as in the last Doctor Who season's episode "School Reunion".

Joining Sladen in the episode is Samantha Bond, best known as Miss Moneypenny in the Pierce Brosnan "James Bond" films and for her role in the series "Distant Shores," as Mrs. Wormwood, and Jamie Davies as Wormwood's henchman, Davey. Sarah Jane's young sidekicks in the episode are Yasmin Page as Maria, Porsha Lawrence Mavour as Kelsey and Thomas Knight as Luke. K9 (possibly voiced by John Leeson) is to be seen briefly in the special but will not be in the series to follow.

The episode is entitled Invasion of the Bane, and is written by Gareth Roberts and Russell T Davies. Davies and Julie Gardner executive produce; Phil Collinson and Matthew Bouch are the producers.

Below is the episode's press release, as well as a collection of photos from the episode, presented here as a teaser for the Monday airing; click on each for a larger version. (As always, all photos are copyrighted to the BBC and used solely to promote the episode.)
Elisabeth Sladen -- Doctor Who's former sidekick -- is back as Sarah Jane Smith in a brand-new, fast-paced children's drama, created by Russell T Davies and from the makers of Doctor Who. The Sarah Jane Adventures ensures that children never look at fizzy drinks in the same way again...

Sarah Jane is fascinated by Bubbleshock, a strangely addictive organic drink that is taking the world by storm. She is almost oblivious to the arrival of her new neighbour, Maria, a young girl starting a new life with her father. Maria becomes intrigued by the strange goings on at Sarah Jane's house but, before she can investigate, she's whisked away by her new friend, Kelsey, to the brightly coloured, but sinister, Bubbleshock factory.

As Sarah Jane tries to find out what the mysterious Mrs Wormwood is doing at the factory, Maria and Kelsey embark on a tour which leads them into the path of a monstrous creature and a strange young boy with no name or past. When Sarah Jane and Maria discover the secret ingredient of Bubbleshock, they realise they are the only ones who can stop Mrs Wormwood and her evil plans for the human race.

An article on the January 1 debut of upcoming spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures in The Sun on Friday features comments by series star Elisabeth Sladen, reprising the title role of Sarah Jane Smith.

Amongst other things, Ms Sladen comments on her wardrobe hopes for the show: “The costume designer will be buying my outfits for the series very soon and I fancy a bit more black leather for Sarah Jane to wear.

"I think the outfits will be a combination of new and retro. But I definitely won’t be wearing heels like I did in the Seventies as I do a lot of running around in the series, so it’s flatties for me.”

Ms Sladen also shares her thoughts on such topics as remeeting old monsters, further appearances in Doctor Who, and the "amazing" positive reception of Sarah Jane's return.

You can read the full article here.

(NB: Although the story is available online, it has not been included in every print edition of the newspaper.)

BBC Norfolk have a new video interview with Elisabeth Sladen, talking about the forthcoming The Sarah Jane Adventures special ("The Invasion of the Bane") to be seen on New Year's Day.

The interview briefly discusses how the new series came about in early January this year (she initially thought she was being approached for Torchwood!), that the series is set in the present day, but a little after "School Reunion" (her most recent appearance in Doctor Who), how she has a house that isn't quite what it seems, and that K9 will be in this special but it isn't certain about other episodes as he has another very important job to do [previously reported from her appearance onBreakfast, 8th December]. She also commented on how protective of the character she is, and pleased that there were still some surprises in store for her.

On the show itself, she believes the format is very inventive, and she has no idea what will appear in the series now that the special is rounded off. However, she is most proud of the show having the biggest explosion to date in any of the three Doctor Who shows!

The full video interview and further details are on the website.


Meanwhile, the Metro has also run an article on the show, with some additional comments from Elisabeth Sladen on the return of her character: "I thought, what can I bring to the character if she came back again? But they started telling me about this spin-off and it was just impressive what they had in mind. I thought, why am I questioning what they're doing? It's a challenge and I've just got to reach for it. How amazing."

The article also discusses the use of K9 in the series, with creator Bob Baker still pursuing a separate series using the character (K9 Adventures). On this, she adds: "I don't pretend to know what's going on behind the scenes, but if he's allowed us to use K-9 for this special then never say never."

Outpost Gallifrey has learned that the new trailer for The Sarah Jane Adventures will air on BBC1 on the following days and times:

• Monday 25 December - 8.00pm
  
• Tuesday 26 December - 11.53am
  
• Thursday 28 December - 5.05pm
  
• Friday 29 December - 11.42am

The BBC's official tie-in website for The Sarah Jane Adventures has gone live. The site reveals the series logo and includes videos of Sarah Jane's collection of alien objects, access to her desktop computer, and information on a Mr Smith.

The site's content is, however, limited to UK IPs only; readers from outside the UK are redirected to an FAQ explaining that the content is restricted to the UK "for rights reasons".

The Sarah Jane Adventures, staring Elisabeth Sladen, begins on New Year's Day at 4.50pm on BBC One.

This afternoon's Blue Peter delved into the making of the Sarah Jane Adventures pilot. As well as looking behind-the-scenes at the making of the show, presenter Konnie Huq interviewed Elisabeth Sladen, Yasmin Paige(who plays Sarah's next door neighbour Maria), and Samantha Bond (Mrs Wormwood).

Sladen discussed Sarah's character and how her behaviour has to change now she has children around on her adventures, while Paige talked about the private tutors the young cast are required to have on-set to make sure they keep up with their schoolwork. Bond spoke to Huq only in-character as Mrs Wormwood, persuading the presenter to try some of her Bubbleshock drink.

A number of clips from the show accompanied the article, providing a number of spoilers for what we can expect on New Year's Day. It was also revealed that there will be a cameo from Huq and one of her fellow Blue Peter presenters in an excerpt from the show shot specially for the Sarah Jane Adventures pilot.

(Additional reporting by Paul Hayes)

Yahoo News reports that former EastEnders actor Joseph Millson "will have a major role [in The Sarah Jane Adventures] as the single father of one of the lead characters. Soap fans will remember him as EastEnders' Jason, who once broke Lyn Slater's heart, then returned to her life and attempted to win her back, despite his ex's marriage to Garry Hobbs. Millson also recently appeared in new Bond movie Casino Royale."

Elisabeth Sladen appeared on BBC's Breakfast this morning, discussingSarah Jane Adventures. She mentioned how she became involved with the production, the differences between her original time on Doctor Who and the modern shows, and on how the series will still retain the 'good vs evil' aspects of Doctor Who but will be aimed for children, with a younger cast that she's found to be very good and a delight to work with.

She described the premise of the series from the point of view of events afterSchool Reunion, with the Doctor telling Sarah: "I took you round in time and space all these years, don't waste it girl - there's K9, go on, do what we always did". There was also a small spoiler as to why K9 won't be appearing in every episode of the series.

The article was illustrated with a clip shown from the forthcoming New Year's Day special which featured Samantha Bond as Mrs Wormwood, and also of a younger Sarah from The Hand of Fear.

The BBC has just released the first publicity photo for the upcoming Doctor Whospin-off, The Sarah Jane Adventures. Pictured left to right are Porchsha Lawrence Mavour (Kelsey), Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith), Yasmin Paige (Maria Jackson) and Thomas Knight as The Archetype/Luke. The first installment is rumoured to be airing on January 1st.

In an earlier press release, the BBC released a synopsis of the first episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures and was previously posted here on the OG News Page (protected in a Spoiler Tag for those who don't want to know in advance).