Night of the Spectre (unproduced TV story)

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Night of the Spectre was to have been the final of four Halloween specials for The Sarah Jane Adventures, but due to the death of Elisabeth Sladen, it was never produced. Unlike the other Halloween specials that were to be live broadcasts, Night of the Spectre was to be animated. But it eventually became the only approved Halloween special of SJA as the previous live specials were later scrapped. This animated adventure would only require a single day of voice recording from Elisabeth Sladen to reduce strain on her, if she was recovering from treatment. Yasmin Paige and Joseph Millson had also agreed to record their dialogue for this story.

It would have seen the return of Alan and Maria Jackson, who last appeared in The Mark of the Berserker. The story would revolve around Alan getting married again which leads to Sarah Jane and Luke travelling to West Massachusetts to be reunited with Maria and Alan for the special occasion as it was the home of Alan's bride (Lauren Proctor). The day of their wedding would take place on the 1st November at Ravens' Fall.

Lauren's family would have a generational tradition of getting married in the old white clapboard church. The night before the wedding, Luke and Maria would get into the Halloween spirit alongside Sable, who is Laura's 14 year old daughter. The story would eventually lead to Sarah Jane, Luke, Maria and Sable encountering an enemy called the Spectre.

This would have eventually been succeeded by the second half of Series 5 and then a sixth series. (DWMSE 32)