It seems like an obvious thing: the death of Eisabeth Sladen means the end of The Sarah Jane Adventures, for how could the show continue without the titular character? And yet, there had been rumors of the show soldiering on without Sarah Jane and somehow explaining her absence.
Today, however, the BBC announced that SJA will indeed end:
The BBC confirmed today that following the death of Elisabeth Sladen there are no plans to film further episodes of The Sarah Jane Adventures.
Elisabeth Sladen first played the role of Sarah Jane in Doctor Who in 1973 and following her return to the show in 2006, played the eponymous lead in the award-winning CBBC series, The Sarah Jane Adventures, from 2007 onwards.
The full statement regarding the future of the series is below:
“Contrary to press reports today we can confirm that no new episodes of The Sarah Jane Adventures will be filmed following the tragic death of actress Elisabeth Sladen in April, 2011. As a tribute to Elisabeth the six episodes that were recorded with her last year will be broadcast on CBBC at a date to be confirmed.”
On a related note, BBC Four will pay tribute to Sladen by airing Sarah Jane’s last story in the classic Doctor Who series, fan favorite “The Hand of Fear,” over two nights next week. Episodes 1 and 2 will air starting at 7:40pm on Monday, May 9, with Episodes 3 and 4 beginning at the same time on the next night.
(If you stumble across a cool Doctor Who thing, feel free to email me with a link.)
