Death of the Doctor (TV story)

Death of the Doctor was the third story of Series 4 of The Sarah Jane Adventures. It saw the return of Josephine Grant and the appearance of the Eleventh Doctor.

Synopsis
When the Doctor is declared dead, old companions Sarah Jane and Jo Grant meet for the very first time, and join forces to discover the truth. As an interstellar conspiracy gathers around UNIT HQ, Clyde finds that he holds the fate of the Time Lord in his hand – quite literally!

Part 1
Sarah Jane and the gang are talking to Luke on a webcam, when suddenly UNIT arrive on Bannerman Road outside Sarah's house. When she goes out, she is informed by officer Tia Karim that her friend, The Doctor, is dead. Inside Sarah Jane doesn't believe UNIT, Colonel Karim tells the gang that the alien undertakers, The Shansheeth will be organizing the funeral. That makes Sarah Jane more suspicious untill Mr. Smith tells here the Shansheeth are called the Galactic Undertakers. That night Sarah Jane is telling Luke the news and tells him she thinks he is still alive although Luke thinks that the idea is crazy. The next day Sarah Jane goes to the funeral, as well as Rani and Clyde but just as he is getting into the private car Artron energy appears on his hand and gives him a static electric shock. Some time later the gang arrive at Mount Snowden, where the UNIT base is hidden.

When the gang arrive they bump into the Groske, a blue, tame version of the Graske. One of the Groske follows them and tells Clyde he "Smells like Time." That makes Clyde looks down at his hand and he sees Artron energy again. The gang are taken to the funeral parlour where the funeral is taking place. When there the Shansheeth play music to help the mourners remember The Doctor. The thoughts are ruined by the entry of Jo Jones (née Grant) dropping the flowers she brought. Her and her grandson Santiago pick up the carnage. Jo then sits next to Sarah Jane, Santiago behind Rani and Clyde. Sarah Jane and Jo soon start talking and make friends, as do Santiago, Clyde and Rani. After the remberance the gang is in a bed room where Jo agrees with Sarah Jane's theory that the Doctor is still alive. After that Clyde, Rani and Santiago leave the room where the Groske tells Clyde that he "Smells like Time". Clyde gives chase but The Groske jumps into a ventelation shaft. Meanwhile the Blue Shansheeth is trying to find out who had the most fond memories of The Doctor and the Red, Yellow and Green Shansheeth agree its Sarah Jane and Jo. They begin to play music through the vents putting Sarah Jane and Jo into a trance. Clyde, Rani and Santiago follow the Groske into the vent where they lose him but over hear the Shansheeth going over their plot to steal Jo and Sarah Jane's memories but in doing that killing them. Just then the Artron energy on Clyde's hand starts up alerting the Shansheeth with a bright, blue light. Clyde, Santiago & Rani shuffle their way backwards out of the vent. Sarah Jane and Jo hear the clatter of the vents and break their trance. They run into the corridors and bump into the others. Clyde tells Sarah Jane and Jo that this is a trap and they are the prize.

Just then Clyde freezes and starts talking in a different voice, A voice that knows Clyde, Rani, Jo & Sarah Jane. Clyde regains control of his normal voice to realise that he has someone elses hand. Suddenly Clyde and The Eleventh Doctor trade places using the residuel Artron energy on Clyde's hand leaving Clyde stuck on a red, a wasteland-like planet. After The Doctor explains who he is and what has happened The Shansheeth arrive and tell the gang the death warrent had been sent out early. Then they shoot the Doctor with a laser beam implanted on their claws. The Doctor is left lying on the floor dying, unable to regenerate.

Part 2
The Doctor dissapears, and him and Clyde keep swapping places. The Doctor, Jo, Santiago and Sarah Jane run away from the Shansheeth, and then find safety. The Doctor, Jo and Sarah swap places with Clyde and go to the alien planet, where they talk. The Doctor says that he visited Jo before he regenerated and told Jo that he had been into her future and seen her thirteenth grandchild. The Doctor has a machine allowing them to swap places.

Clyde and Rani talk with Santiago, who reveals he hasn't spoken to his parents in six monthes. Colonel Karim meanwhile is with the Shansheeth, and they are plotting to use Jo and Sarah Janes memories of the TARDIS to create a new TARDIS Key, so the Shansheeth can stop death across the universe by interfering with the timelines and so that Colonel Karim, in return, shall visit the stars because she has nothing left for her on Earth.

Rani, Santiago and Clyde try to get through the ventilation shafts, and they are heated up so it is possible the children may boil. The Doctor, Jo and Sarah Jane come to the rescue, but the two companions are kidnapped, strapped up and the Memory Weave is used on them. Their minds are scanned and they begin remembering the TARDIS, these memories generate a new TARDIS Key as the Shansheeth and Colonel Karim make their intentions clear. The Doctor, Rani, Clyde, Santiago and a Groske come to the room Sarah Jane and Jo are in and tell them to remember other experiences. Sarah Jane and Jo both remember past encounters with the Doctor and all the creatures and enemies they met. Jo remembers all the countries she has been to as Sarah Jane remembers her battles with aliens. The memory weave overloads and explodes, the room is on fire.

Sarah Jane and Jo enter the Doctors coffin and shut themselves inside to survive the explosion. Later, they are taken to Sarah Janes house, alive and well. Jo and Sarah Jane are with the Doctor inside the TARDIS, Jo mentions the Time Lords and the Doctor says a foreshadowing (that if he ever were to die, the universe would shiver). He then allowed them to leave, and demateralised. Jo and Santiago left for Norway, and the trio are left behind, where Sarah Jane tells them of Tegan Jovanka, Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright, Harry Sullivan, Ben Jackson, Polly and a Dorothy. They say that with friends like themselves, the Doctor would never die.

Cast

 * Sarah Jane Smith - Elizabeth Sladen
 * Clyde Langer - Daniel Anthony
 * Rani Chandra -Anjli Mohindra
 * Mr. Smith - Alexander Armstrong
 * Luke Smith - Tommy Knight
 * The Doctor - Matt Smith
 * Jo Grant - Katy Manning
 * Santiago Jones - Finn Jones
 * Tia Karim - Laila Rouass
 * Tenth Doctor - David Tennant (archive footage)
 * Fourth Doctor - Tom Baker (archive footage)
 * Third Doctor - Jon Pertwee (archive footage)
 * Second Doctor - Patrick Troughton (archive footage)
 * First Doctor - William Hartnell (archive footage)
 * Maria Jackson - Yasmin Paige (archive footage)
 * Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart - Nicholas Courtney (archive footage)
 * Harry Sullivan - Ian Marter (archive footage)
 * John Benton - John Levene (archive footage)
 * Rose Tyler - Billie Piper (archive footage)
 * Hieronymous - Norman Jones (archive footage)
 * Alpha Centauri - Stuart Fell (archive footage)
 * Ortron - Frank Gatliff (archive footage)
 * Sutekh - Gabriel Woolf (archive footage)
 * Eldrad - Judith Paris (archive footage)
 * Broton - John Woodnutt (archive footage)
 * Davros - Michael Wisher (archive footage)
 * Styggron - Martin Friend (archive footage)
 * The Master - Roger Delgado (archive footage)
 * Kronos - Marc Boyle (archive footage)
 * Shirna - Cheryl Hall (archive footage)
 * Bok - Stanley Mason (archive footage)
 * Azal - Stephen Thorne (archive footage)
 * Marshal of Solos - Paul Whitsun-Jones (archive footage)
 * Izlyr - Alan Bennion (archive footage)
 * King Peladon - David Troughton (archive footage)

Crew
to be added

Time Lords

 * The Doctor says he can regenerate 507 times and change to any colour of skin.
 * Jo says she should leave before the Doctor "gets in trouble with the Time Lords", he does not tell her that the Time Lords are dead.

Individuals

 * Liz Shaw is mentioned as being stranded on a Moon Base.
 * The Brigadier is mentioned as being stranded in Peru, an ongoing mission.
 * Jo has 7 children and 12 grandchildren with a 13th on the way.
 * Tegan Jovanka is mentioned to be fighting for aboriginal rights.
 * Ben Jackson and Polly Wright are mentioned to be running an orphanage in India.
 * Harry Sullivan is said to be working with vaccines and has saved thousands of lives.
 * Ian and Barbara Chesterton are mentioned to be professors at Cambridge and haven't aged since the sixties.
 * A possible former companion of the Doctor's called Dorothy is mentioned indirectly and is said to have raised billions of pounds through her charity "A Charitable Earth". Whether this refers to Dodo Chaplet, Ace, or someone else is not known.
 * Oddly enough, Sarah Jane does not mention any of the companions that she met during her adventures involving the Tenth Doctor, those being Rose Tyler, Jackie Tyler, Mickey Smith, Jack Harkness, Martha Jones, and Donna Noble. While there are explanations for most of these (Rose and Jackie are in another dimension, which Sarah Jane may not know; Jack has not been seen since the events of TW: Children of Earth; and Donna had her memories of the Doctor wiped for her own safety), it's fairly likely she would be able to find something on Mickey and Martha, especially since Martha worked for UNIT in the past.

Planets

 * Jo mentions Metebelis 3.
 * Jo and Sarah both reminisce their trips to Peladon, specifically their encounter with Aggedor. The Harp music reminded Jo of The Royal Palace on Peledon.
 * Jo mentions visiting Karfel.

Races and species

 * Tia Karim mentions that the Groske are just like the Graske but blue and tame. The Groske were stranded on the Earth in 2006.
 * Sarah Jane and Jo mention Drashigs, Axons, Ogrons, Daleks, Cybermen, Zygons, and Azal.

Story notes

 * Russell T. Davies thought about using Death of the Doctor as the name for the End of Time Part 2 (REF: The Writers Tale: The Final Chapter)

Ratings
to be added

Myths

 * Amy and Rory will appear. This rumour was false, but a reason was given for why they didn't appear (see Continuity)

Filming locations
to be added

Production errors
to be added

Continuity

 * Sarah Jane refers to when she last met the Doctor and correctly thinks he regenerated. (DW: The End of Time)
 * Flashbacks to DW: The End of Time and SJA: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith are shown, as well as flashbacks to the Third and Fourth Doctors. The latter being from DW: The Hand of Fear.
 * Sarah Jane notes that she arrived (DW: The Time Warrior) soon after Jo left. (DW: The Green Death)
 * Clyde is still fascinated with UNIT. (SJA: The Last Sontaran)
 * Jo is aware that the Doctor can "change his face" despite never actually ever witnessing him regenerating, as she had met the First and Second Doctors in (DW: The Three Doctors)
 * The Doctor and Amy have previously visited a Moon base. (NSA: Apollo 23)
 * Sarah Jane remembers the last time she saw the Doctor. (DW: The End of Time)
 * The Sixth Doctor serial, Timelash is referenced by Jo. In that serial it is established that the Third Doctor, Jo and Mike Yates visited the planet Karfel (the story's setting) hundreds of years before Timelash is set. Additionally, the Singing Plants and Gardens are a reference to the numerous plants on Karfel (they were a minor plot point).
 * The Doctor mentions Amy and Rory getting married. (DW: The Big Bang)
 * According to the Doctor, Amy and Rory are on a planet to celebrate their honeymoon; literally on a Honey Moon (it married an asteroid). (DW: The Big Bang)
 * The Doctor states he visited every past companion, prior to his last regeneration, not only the ones that were shown on-screen. (DW: The End of Time)
 * Flashbacks are shown of Sarah Jane and Jo's past adventures. (DW: School Reunion, Death to the Daleks, The Stolen Earth, The Time Warrior, The Masque of Mandragora, The Android Invasion, Terror of the Zygons, Genesis of the Daleks, The Monster of Peladon, Pyramids of Mars, The Hand of Fear, The Seeds of Doom, Invasion of the Dinosaurs, Robot, Planet of Evil, Planet of the Daleks, The Time Monster, Carnival of Monsters, The Sea Devils, The Daemons, Frontier in Space, The Mutants, The Curse of Peladon, SJA: Invasion of the Bane, Revenge of the Slitheen, Eye of the Gorgon, Warriors of Kudlak, Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?, The Lost Boy, The Last Sontaran, Day of the Clown, Secrets of the Stars, The Mark of the Berserker, The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith)
 * Sarah Jane "googled" TARDIS. Rose did a similar thing to find the Doctor. (DW: Rose)
 * The Doctor tells Sarah Jane "Come along, Smith.", similar to how he often tells Amy "Come along, Pond."
 * The Doctor refers to Sarah Jane and Jo as "Smith and Jones".

For Sarah Jane Smith

 * This story occurs after: SJA: The Vault of Secrets
 * This story occurs before: SJA: The Empty Planet

For the Doctor

 * This story occurs after: DW: The Big Bang

DVD releases
to be added

Blu-ray releases
to be added