Sci-Fi Storm

BBC Cymru Wales announced that Brian Minchin will join Steven Moffat as Executive Producer on Doctor Who, replacing the departing Caroline Skinner.

Minchin is certainly no stranger to Moffat’s predecessor, Russell R. Davies (or the Who universe) – he’s worked with Davies on the recent Wizards vs. Alien as well as The Sarah Jane Adventures, Torchwood: Children of Earth and Torchwood: Miracle Day, and also previously worked as as script editor on Doctor Who. He’s also worked with Toby Whithouse (who has also written for Doctor Who and Torchwood) on the UK Being Human and the upcoming The Game.

This video aired on the CBBC last year, but I hadn’t seen it until now…it’s a moving tribute to Elisabeth Sladen called “My Sarah Jane”, featuring bits from the stars of Doctor Who and The Sarah Jane Adventures, along with clips of Sarah Jane Smith.
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It seems like Russell T. Davies is a bit tired of Torchwood – but he isn’t necessarily done yet. In an interview with The Guardian mostly about the new funding model involving the Starz cable network in the U.S. (and we may see more of it), he mentions that he might be tired of doing Torchwood. “In theory I could have handed it over to a bunch of strangers and said good luck to them – and if there was another series I might do that because I think there’s only so long you can spend doing Torchwood. I start the series and I think, I’m never doing this again…”

But then, thinking about the end of the show, “It’s hugely exciting and I’ve got to do this again. I’ve got one more story that I can tell – just one more that has Gwen right at the centre of it – that would be fantastic. So I’m my own worst enemy.”

He also spoke briefly about creating another children’s show after the passing of The Sarah Jane Adventures star Elisabeth Sladen. “We loved her,” Davies says of the actor, adding that the team couldn’t bear to do any kind of spin-off that didn’t have her in it: “It just wouldn’t be comfortable.” But the production team would like to create another show for children. “That’s the best audience that you’ll ever work for. Make a good kids’ show and they’ll remember it when they’re 80.”

Torchwood: Miracle Day will air on Starz starting on July 8th, and sometime later in July on BBC1.

The BBC is confirming today that there are no plans to film any additional episodes of The Sarah Jane Adventures after the sudden passing of its star, Elisabeth Sladen, two weeks ago. However, they will air six episodes that had already been filmed at some point on CBBC, at a date to be determined.

Apparently Brit tabloid The Sun had claimed that production would continue – which would not be unheard of. After all, fans of British SF know that Blake’s 7 went two extra years after the title star left the show. This situation felt different, though.

The shocking news took over Twitter but it appears to have been confirmed now by the BBC: Actress Elisabeth Sladen, who was best known for the role of Sarah Jane Smith on Doctor Who opposite two Doctors and not one but two spin-offs, has passed away today at the age of 63. The cause has not been confirmed yet, but reports suggest that she had been battling cancer. Our thoughts are with her husband Brian and daughter Sadie.

It remains to be seen what the BBC does about Sarah Jane Adventures, which I believe was already in production on a 5th series.

Russell T Davies added (via BBC reporter Lizo Mzimba): “I absolutely loved Lis. She was funny and cheeky and clever and just simply wonderful…The universe was lucky to have Sarah Jane Smith; the world was lucky to have Lis.”

Sarah Jane occupied most of my memories of Doctor Who when I was a kid. I first discovered the show early in Tom Baker’s run but I also saw a number of the Jon Pertwee episodes as well. She will be sorely missed.

The BBC has now released a full statement, with some nice words from those who worked with her.

I may continue updating this article as more information or more thoughts arrive.

Note – this should be spoiler free, but it does talk about a line in the Sarah Jane Adventures episode that aired today in the UK (part 2 of “Death of the Doctor”), so if you don’t want to be spoiled about a line irrelevant to the plot, don’t read on.

So it seems the entire Whodom universe got its knickers in a twist about a throwaway line, although that was helped by things that Russell T. Davies said in the days leading up to it.
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It’s a question as old as time – just how many times can the Doctor regenerate? We know the canonical answer – 12 – which dictates that there can only be 13 Doctors, and then he’s dead. But we also know that there are ways around it (the Time Lords offered the Master another regeneration, and he’s cheated it several times already). And, of course, it’s science fiction – they can just come up with something new. But it sounds like we will get a definitive answer – at least for the Doctor – in an upcoming episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures.

The two-part episode “Death of the Doctor” (to air as episodes 5 and 6), airing towards the end of this month in the U.K. (no U.S. airings are scheduled yet), is being written by Russell T. Davies and will feature Matt Smith as the 11th Doctor, and the return of Jo Grant (Katy Manning), one of the Third Doctor’s companions. And among some teaser lines provided by Digital Spy (who saw a sneak peak), “The Doctor doesn’t have to be white. And he can regenerate more than 12 times – a lot more!”