Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? (TV story)

Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? was the fifth story of Series 1 of The Sarah Jane Adventures, it made up episodes 7 & 8 of the regular series. It saw the introduction of the Trickster, a recurring villain of the programme.

Synopsis
One day, Sarah Jane Smith exists. The next, only Maria Jackson knows of her. Andrea Yates takes her place, but Maria knows that Andrea has done something to remove Sarah Jane from the space/time continuum. Maria must uncover the identity of the "Trickster" if the human race is to survive.

Part 1
Sarah Jane Smith and Alan Jackson pick up Clyde, Luke and Maria and stop off in a park where Clyde practises his skateboarding. Alan, disappointed at what he sees, attempts to teach Clyde, by showing off his own skills. Maria, takes several photos of everyone. When taking one of Sarah Jane she becomes very cold and cryptically whispers that someone just walked over her grave. As they leave a black cloaked, hood figure peers out from behind a bush. Back in Sarah's attic, Sarah Jane tells Maria, Luke and Clyde about a meteorite on course with Earth, but reassures them that Mr Smith will be able to deflect it away the following day. After sending Clyde home and Luke to make tea, Sarah Jane gives Maria an alien puzzle box, that was given to her by a Verron Soothsayer, who told her to give it to the person she trusts the most and just to 'remember'. Sarah Jane states that she chose Maria, and sent Luke away so he wouldn't be offended. Maria attempts to open it that night in bed, but becomes annoyed and falls asleep holding it, as a mysterious cloaked figure approaches Sarah Jane's house. He holds out a hand and the lights in Sarah's house go out and her car disappears. Meanwhile the puzzle block glows blue in Maria's hand. The next day, she tells her dad if she was going to Sarah Jane's; Alan appears to have no recollection of Sarah-Jane, but Maria takes this as a joke. He also mentions a woman called Andrea, and thinks Maria's joking when she asks who Andrea is. She crosses the road and finds a strange woman in Sarah Jane's house who seems knows her. Her dad names the woman as Andrea. After checking the photos from before and finding Sarah Jane is not in them, but instead Andrea, Maria finds that Sarah Jane, Luke and Mr. Smith have all disappeared, and she alone remembers them.

Maria searches her contacts and discovers that Sarah Jane, Luke and Clydes' numbers have all vanished. She remembers the impending meteor, however no one will listen, and Clyde is only an acquaintance rather than her best friend. When her father begins to worry about her, Maria decides to search for information on Sarah Jane in the library. She finds a newspaper article from 1964 stating that a thirteen-year-old Sarah Jane Smith drowned after falling from a pier, where she was playing with her friend, who happens to be Andrea Yates. As Maria watches, the names of the deceased and the survivor switch, though a bemused Alan claims he saw nothing. After claiming to her dad she was lying about a woman called Sarah Jane to stop his worrying, she decides to go and confront Andrea. Maria becomes angry when Andrea can't seem to recall her best friend's death, and shouts "I'm gonna work out how time got changed, I'm gonna find Sarah Jane, I'm gonna bring her back, and nothing is gonna stop me!!!" Andrea throws her out and the panic stricken woman rushes to the attic and finds a second puzzle box. The cloaked figure reappears and reminds Andrea of himself and what she agreed. She can't bear her memory and begs him to help her. He offers to make Maria disappear. Andrea dreads the thought of knowing she would have erased Maria, but the figure promises she will forget, as the whole World will. After Andrea accepts, he dispatches a Graske, who chases Maria. Maria comes to a dead end under a tunnel, and despite her attempts to dodge the gun, the Graske shoots a clip attached to a cord at Maria, and the clip catches on to her breast pocket. The Graske teleports Maria away just after Alan picks up the first puzzle box, which Maria had dropped. When Chrissie comes round he discovers his ex-wife cannot remember their daughter. Meanwhile Maria escapes from the Graske and finds herself on a beach promenade near two girls. She grabs a newspaper and sees the date, knowing July 13th 1964 to be the day of the accident. When Maria asks the two girls where she is, they introduce themselves as Andrea Yates and Sarah Jane Smith.

Part 2
After failing to dissuade Andrea from taking Sarah Jane to the pier, Maria is recaptured by the Graske and is taken to join Sarah Jane on a white misty plain, known as Limbo. The mysterious figure summons Sarah and explains that he has removed Sarah Jane from Earth's timeline so the meteorite will destroy it and create the chaos on which he feeds. He removes his hood to reveal an featureless face, and a mouth with sharp, pointed teeth. He tells her how wonderful she is and that her life was so important to the Earth, but he found just the right time to 'snuff it out'. As he leaves he also mentions that he will proceed to remove the Doctor from time as well, to ensure nothing can interfere with his plan, much to Sarah Jane's dismay.

Chrissie becomes angry at Alan, for apparently making up that they ever had any children and Alan begins to realise that what Maria said was true. Alan accompanies Chrissie to Andrea's birthday party. Recalling Maria's suspicions, he questions Andrea, who tries to change the subject but eventually breaks down and takes him to the attic where she tearfully reveals the truth. When she was on a school trip in July 1964 she and Sarah had left the school group to explore on their own. After getting into the locked pier they larked around for a bit before leaning over the railings. Andrea leans on an open gate and tumbles down managing to grab a hold on an overhanging girder. Sarah Jane attempted but was unable to save her. A hoarse voice offered to switch the girls' places, and she, terrified, accepted. The two girls immediately swapped places, and Sarah Jane fell, with Andrea safe. The figure appeared and gave her the puzzle box, then removed himself from Andrea's memory, promising to always be with her. She initially forgot about her friend's entire existence, but Maria’s questions made her remember. The figure appears in the mirror though Alan cannot see him, and offers to remove him. Andrea apologises both for removing Maria and for what she is about to do. She grabs Alans puzzle lock, as a Graske appears. Alan is chased into the street by the Graske but knocks it down on his skateboard and ties it up. He then uses its snare device to bring back Maria.

Maria returns to reality, leaving Sarah Jane on her own in limbo. At Andrea's party Clyde switches on the telly, where everyone at Andrea's party learns that a huge meteorite is heading for Earth, and the missile strike failed.. Maria tells Alan to fire the snare again to return Sarah Jane, but she does not appear; Maria deduces that she returned to her home, so Sarah Jane should be in her attic. In the attic, Sarah Jane appears in the mirror and explains that she cannot return while Andrea is there. Andrea becomes angry when Sarah Jane states that Andrea was 'meant to die', arguing that she has the right to live and that she will be forgotten. Sarah Jane says she never forgot Andrea, and that witnessing her death gave Sarah Jane resolve to fight pointless deaths herself. When the figure reappears (named “the Trickster” by Alan), Andrea realises that she will die either way and throws her puzzle box at the mirror, smashing both. Back in 1964 Andrea falls to her death whispering 'remember me' to Sarah Jane just before she falls, while Sarah Jane and Luke reappear along with Alan and Maria in the attic. Maria jumps up remembering the meteor, now only metres from impact and activates Mr Smith. The party guests have fled, but Clyde and Chrissie remain and are targets for the incoming meteorite. Mr Smith activates the magnetic buffer and the meteorite diverts at the last minute. Clyde and Chrissie are relieved to see it suddenly diverted from its fall. Alan demands an explanation of his daughter’s involvement with aliens, monsters and supercomputers. The three look at each other and have no answer.

Cast

 * Sarah Jane Smith — Elisabeth Sladen
 * Maria Jackson — Yasmin Paige
 * Luke Smith — Tommy Knight
 * Clyde Langer — Daniel Anthony
 * Voice of Mr Smith - Alexander Armstrong
 * Alan Jackson — Joseph Millson
 * Chrissie Jackson — Juliet Cowan
 * Andrea Yates — Jane Asher
 * The Trickster — Paul Marc Davies
 * Krislok- Jimmy Vee
 * Young Sarah Jane— Jessica Ashworth
 * Young Andrea — Francesca Miller
 * Newsreader— Jason Mohammad
 * Voice of Krislok -- Philip Hurd-Wood

Story notes

 * Both episodes aired on the CBBC channel, and were broadcast a week later on BBC 1.

Ratings

 * Episode 1 - 406,000 (CBBC)
 * 1.2 million (BBC 1)
 * Episode 2- 633,000 (CBBC)
 * 1.1 million (BBC 1)

Myths
To be added

Filming locations

 * Clinton Road, Penarth (Bannerman Road)
 * Esplanade, Penarth
 * Penarth Pier, Penarth
 * Science Library, Cardiff University
 * Victoria Road, Penarth
 * Dinas Powys Skatepark, Cardiff Road, Dinas Powys
 * Park Place, Cardiff
 * Archer Place (Path under Bridge), Penarth
 * BBC Studios, Upper Boat, Tonteg Road, Treforest Industrial Estate, Pontypridd

Production errors

 * Sarah Jane lives on 13 Bannerman Road but a sign at the gates says '21'.
 * When Maria arrives in July 1964 on the day of the accident, a radio can be heard playing You Really Got Me by The Kinks. However the song wasn't released until August 1964.
 * A meteor would fall through the atmosphere in seconds, not make the leisurely descent.
 * Andrea says she has been dead for 40 years, and she, presumably like Sarah Jane was born in 1951 as they're the same age, and as this story is set in 2008 that would make her 57, not 53.

Continuity

 * The Graske last appeared in the interactive story DW: Attack of the Graske. Although the canonicity of the interactive story has yet to be established, Sarah does make reference to "some Graske activity" on Earth happening a couple of years before this story, a possible reference to Attack of the Graske.
 * Sarah mentions previous times she saved the Earth and thwarted alien invasions, including the Bane (SJA: Invasion of the Bane), the Slitheen (SJA: Revenge of the Slitheen) and the Gorgons (SJA: Eye of the Gorgon). The Trickster indicates that he interfered with the course of events to prevent their various schemes in the absence of Sarah Jane, preferring that the Earth be destroyed senselessly by the meteor.
 * The Church of the Tin Vagabond was previously mentioned in DW: The Satan Pit.
 * The Trickster threatens the Doctor when in Limbo. He also wonders aloud what the Universe would be like if the Doctor had never existed. This echoes some musings of the Doctors arch-nemesis, the Master, in DW: The Five Doctors, and is a plan the Trickster himself enacts in DW: Turn Left. It creates an alternate timeline where many catastrophes happen to Earth (and Sarah Jane and her friends die trying to stop one of them) before he is thwarted by an alternate reality Donna Noble and Rose Tyler. That plan is enacted by his brigade and he doesn't actually appear.
 * Sarah Jane would later claim that a Verron Soothsayer gave her the Warp star (DW: Journey's End);
 * The Trickster tells Andrea, "Waking or sleeping, I am always with you". (The Black Guardian said this to Turlough in DW: Mawdryn Undead).
 * The Verron puzzlebox later appears in The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith, also the next episode to feature the Trickster. (SJA: The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith)

Home video releases
This story was included in the Series One box set, which was released in North America on 7 October 2008; UK release is scheduled for 10 November 2008.

Novelisation

 * Main article: Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? (novelisation)


 * A novelisation written by Rupert Laight was published on 3 November 2008.