A Girl's Best Friend (TV story)

A Girl's Best Friend was a single-episode story produced in 1981 as a pilot for a potential Doctor Who spin-off called K9 and Company.

The BBC chose not to commission a new series, but did televise the episode as a holiday season special. It was only the second story of this kind in the Doctor Who franchise, preceded by more than a decade by "The Feast of Steven", a Christmas Day "break" from The Daleks' Master Plan.

This was the only attempt at a spin-off series during the original run of Doctor Who to reach production. It would be more than a quarter-century before this was attempted again.

It is common for this episode to be referred to only by the series title, K9 and Company, including its initial release on home video and in the Target Books novelisation.

Synopsis
Sarah Jane Smith is looking forward to spending a quite Christmas with her aunt Lavinia in the sleepy village of Moreton Harwood. When she arrives, she finds her aunt missing and a surprise gift from an old friend is waiting to be opened.

Sarah, K9 and her aunt's ward, Brendan Richards are caught up in the affairs of a mysterious cult, who practise the black arts and are preparing for a human sacrifice.

Plot
to be added

Cast

 * Sarah Jane Smith - Elisabeth Sladen
 * Brendan Richards - Ian Sears
 * K9 Mark III - John Leeson
 * Bill Pollock - Bill Fraser
 * George Tracey - Colin Jeavons
 * Vince Wilson - Nigel Gregory
 * Peter Tracey - Sean Chapman
 * Aunt Lavinia - Mary Wimbush
 * Juno Baker - Linda Polan
 * Howard Baker - Neville Barber
 * Henry Tobias - John Quarmby
 * Lily Gregson - Gillian Martell
 * P.C. Carter - Stephen Oxley

Crew

 * Director - John Black
 * Producer - John Nathan-Turner
 * Special Sounds - Dick Mills
 * Writer - Terence Dudley

The Doctor

 * The Fourth Doctor sent K9 to Sarah in 1978. He had been in an unopened box in her flat in Croydon for three years.
 * K9 plays on the running gag regarding the Doctor's name and the title of the parent series when Brendan asks, "Who is the Doctor?" and K9 replies, "Affirmative."

K9

 * K9 announces himself as "Mark III", referencing the previous two versions of K9 (last seen in The Invasion of Time and Warriors' Gate, respectively) and in particular differentiating himself from the version last seen with Romana.

Story notes

 * This is the first official Doctor Who spin-off; the second is Torchwood, the third is The Sarah Jane Adventures, and the fourth K9.
 * The Sarah Jane Adventures debuted with its pilot episode, SJA: Invasion of the Bane, only three days after the twenty-fifth anniversary of the original broadcast of this pilot.
 * The story features The Army Game actor Bill Fraser as Bill Pollock. He had also recently appeared with Tom Baker and K9 Mark II in DW: Meglos.
 * The Winter Hill transmitter in the North West region suffered a power blackout at the time this story was screening (most likely resulting in lower than expected ratings).
 * The theme music was composed by Ian Levine. Supposedly, it was meant to be an orchestral score but was altered to be electronically performed with John Leeson "singing" in character as K9.
 * Running fifty minutes, this was the first time a Doctor Who-related production had exceeded thirty minutes in length.
 * The original outline by John Nathan-Turner proposed that K9 Mark III was in fact sent by and under the control of the Master, but this element never made it to the screen.
 * There is some significance in the names writer Terence Dudley gave his characters. One couple is named Baker, the name of Fourth Doctor actor Tom Baker.
 * Sarah Jane's Aunt Lavinia was played by Mary Wimbush, the voice of Julia Pargetter in BBC Radio 4's soap opera The Archers and Bertie Wooster's long-suffering Aunt Agatha in Jeeves and Wooster. She later starred in Russell T Davies' children's drama Century Falls. Aunt Lavinia had been mentioned since Sarah's debut story in Doctor Who (DW: The Time Warrior), but had never before appeared on-screen.
 * Ian Sears, who played Brendan, carried on acting throughout the 1980s and later became a director, producer, writer, and film editor.
 * Peter is seen polishing his crash helmet with Mr. Sheen, a proprietary brand of furniture polish often used by motorcyclists. This is an unusual example of a product's brand name being clearly visible in a BBC drama.
 * This story had the working titles of Sarah and K9 and One Girl and Her Dog.
 * It is not made clear how Brendan, a schoolboy from the 1980s, could be familiar with the components used to create K9, the original version of whom originated in the 51st century.
 * Although Brendan's age is never stated in dialogue, he is said to be fourteen years old in the subsequent novelisation, DWN: K9 and Company.

Ratings

 * 8.4 million viewers

Filming locations

 * Cirencester in the Gloucestershire countryside.
 * Pebble Mill studios in Birmingham
 * Sheepscombe, Gloucestershire
 * Wishanger Farm, Wischanger, Gloucestershire
 * Parish Church, North Woodchester, Gloucestershire
 * Barnsley House, Barnsley, Gloucestershire
 * Cheltenham Road, Bisley, Gloucestershire
 * Miserden Park Estate, Miserden, Gloucestershire
 * Miserden Nurseries, Gloucestershire
 * Miserden, Gloucestershire
 * Bear Inn, Bisley, Gloucestershire (Title sequence; Sarah typing on a typewriter)

Production errors

 * When Sarah Jane and K9 go out to look for Brendan in Sarah's car. Sarah leaves her aunt's house when it is dark and arrives at the Church in the dark, but the intervening driving scene is in daylight.

Continuity

 * At the time of her first meeting with the Doctor, then in his third incarnation, Sarah Jane was impersonating her aunt Lavinia to gain access to a top secret UNIT scientific research facility. (DW: The Time Warrior)
 * K9 is referred to as "Mark III" in this story because he is actually the third robot dog of the same configuration owned by the Fourth Doctor. The first K9 chose to stay with Leela on Gallifrey (DW: The Invasion of Time) whereas K9 Mark II was forced to stay with Romana in E-Space due to being damaged by time winds (DW: Warriors' Gate).
 * K9 joined the Doctor after Sarah had left (DW: The Invisible Enemy), so she had not met any version of the robot dog prior to this.
 * DW: The Five Doctors features Sarah Jane and includes a brief scene establishing that she still owns K9, providing a link to this special.
 * Sarah Jane would retain possession of K9 Mark III for more than twenty-five years, though he eventually ceased to function. (BFSJS: Comeback, DW: School Reunion) He was repaired by the Tenth Doctor, only to sacrifice himself shortly afterwards. (DW: School Reunion)
 * Sarah Jane and K9 reappear in EDA: Interference - Book One and meet the Eighth Doctor and his companion Sam Jones.
 * Sarah Jane and K9 would later meet the Tenth Doctor and his companions Rose Tyler and Mickey Smith in Deffry Vale High School in 2007. (DW: School Reunion)
 * Sarah once more has a problem driving due to tractors. (DW: Planet of the Spiders)
 * Upon discovering K9, Sarah Jane says "Doctor, you didn't forget." The last words that she said to him before leaving the TARDIS were "Don't forget me." (DW: The Hand of Fear)
 * Brendan's computer skills would eventually lead to his working in Silicon Valley in San Francisco. (BFSJS: Comeback)

For Sarah Jane Smith

 * This story occurs after DW: The Hand of Fear
 * This story occurs before: VD: Housewarming

For K9 Mark III

 * This story occurs after DWAN: Just a Small Problem
 * This story occurs before VD: Housewarming

Home video releases

 * A Girl's Best Friend was released on BBC Video on 7 August 1995.
 * It was released along with DW: The Invisible Enemy (in which K9 was introduced) on DVD as part of the K9 Tales box set on 16 June 2008.

Novelisation

 * Main article: K9 and Company (novelisation)


 * A Girl's Best Friend was novelised as K9 and Company, written by Terence Dudley and published as part of Target's The Companions of Doctor Who series.