Rani Chandra

Rani Chandra, Lady Rani (born 1993) was a teenage girl who lived on Bannerman Road. She assisted Sarah Jane Smith and her friends in combating alien menaces and protecting the Earth from natural threats originating from space. Rani had an impressive interest in the field of journalism, and was happy to be in the presence of Sarah Jane, a seasoned expert in reporting and investigating strange occurrences on the planet, and began learning journalism from Sarah.

She enjoyed Sarah Jane's tutelage and developed a strong fondness toward Clyde Langer that hinted at a possible affection for him, though she was wary to acknowledge this and did not make it readily apparent to him or her friends.

Following Sarah Jane's passing, Rani followed in her footsteps and grew her career as a journalist. Her work took her all over the world, writing articles for Metropolitan, New York Record, Time, Vice and New Statesman, among others.

Before Sarah Jane Smith
Rani was born in 1993 under the astrological sign of Aries. (TV: Secrets of the Stars) She grew up in Danemouth, England and made friends with Samuel Lloyd. When her grandfather Ram Vermas died, she was there to support her grandmother (PROSE: Death of the Doctor) and mother when they washed the walls and started crying. (TV: Death of the Doctor)

Meeting Sarah Jane Smith
In 2009, Rani and her parents, Haresh and Gita Chandra, moved from Danemouth into 36 Bannerman Road in Ealing, London, the house formerly occupied by Alan and Maria Jackson. Rani quickly became mixed up in alien adventures after meeting Sarah Jane. Rani was stalked by the evil entity that manifested itself as Odd Bob the Clown. She and the others collectively managed to stop the entity from rising to full power. (TV: The Day of the Clown)

Although Sarah Jane was initially hesitant, Rani quickly ingratiated herself and became a vital member of Sarah Jane's group. Along the way, she learned about many of Sarah Jane's adventures, and even becoming familiar with the Doctor and his TARDIS. (TV: The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith)

After this Rani helped Sarah Jane stop the Ancient Lights, as they attempted to take over the world through Martin Trueman. She was temporarily taken over by the lights due to her star sign. (TV: Secrets of the Stars)

In 2009 Rani found the third component of Janksia's three artefacts, which made Janksia's space ship able to take off. She fell under the influence of the artefact and tried to protect it from non-Persopolisians. Janksia attempted to take the three devices, realising that his ship taking off would destroy most of southern England but not caring. He fell into a garbage compactor which crushed him to death. Rani was released from the object's influence. (AUDIO: The Time Capsule)

In the same year the Victorian house of the Burden family swapped places with the O'Brain's house from 2009. Rani helped to place the house into correct time again. (AUDIO: The Ghost House)

Adventures with Sarah Jane, Luke and Clyde
Rani picked up an alien pendant from a boy in Park Vale School. She realised that the pendant allowed the user to control others. Scared by its power, Rani left it in Sarah Jane's attic while Sarah Jane was away for the weekend. However, when Paul Langer found it, she and Luke, unable to contact Sarah Jane, had to contact Maria Jackson and her father for assistance in order to stop him from being taken over by the Berserker pendant's alien power. (TV: The Mark of the Berserker)

Sarah Jane was trapped in the past in the village where her parents had died. The Trickster was at work. Clyde and Rani found the puzzle-box given to Sarah Jane and it protected them from the changes that the Trickster's interference caused to modern Earth. They used this as an advantage to eventually stop him and free his Graske slave Krislok. (TV: The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith)

Rani's mother was kidnapped by Bane fugitive Mrs Wormwood. She and Sarah Jane rescued the two of them from an attack from the enemy Bane agents. Rani and Sarah Jane then accompanied the Brigadier to the Black Archive to find the Tunguska Scroll which would lead them to the mind of the evil entity that the Bane were looking for, Horath. However, Mrs Wormwood double crossed them and teamed up with rogue Sontaran Commander Kaagh to take over the universe, with Luke in tow. Rani confronted Wormwood and Kaagh at the entrance to Horath's domain. Sarah Jane rescued Luke, and Kaagh threw Mrs Wormwood and himself into the alternate reality just before it sealed itself forever. (TV: Enemy of the Bane)

Rani and the gang also had to deal with a minor Slitheen incursion, when a lone member of the Slitheen family, disguised as galactic ambassador Ranius, attempted to steal K9. However, they managed to send him back to where he came from. (TV: From Raxacoricofallapatorius with Love)

Rani helped Captain Tybo catch Androvax, a Veil who was the Judoon's most wanted criminal. At the same time her parents had gone to a Genetic Systems lab in order to expand her mother's business. They were searched by Judoon and survived. They later told Rani about the experience but she pretended to not believe them. (TV: Prisoner of the Judoon)

When the Judoon were holding Clyde Langer in prison for crimes against joke telling Rani convinced Captain Tybo to let Clyde go by providing Tybo with food. (GAME: Teeth and Eating)

She received an email from her old friend Samuel Lloyd. He tricked her into going back to her old home town and investigating a Fun Fair park, where she found an alien called Eve. Eve was a time sensitive alien, and the last of her kind. Using her abilities, she showed Rani her future. The vision showed an alternate future of her as an old lonely woman living in 13 Bannerman Road in the year 2059. After it was revealed Sarah Jane, Luke and Clyde had followed Rani, she took Eve out of the ride she hid in, but Eve only wanted to play and forced Rani and four homeless people to have fun. With Eve's power growing out of control, Sarah Jane learned that doing this would kill Eve, so she and Clyde got Eve to her mother ship where Rani was freed from Eve's power. (TV: The Mad Woman in the Attic)

On a class trip to Snowdonia, Rani saw a shadowy figure who looked exactly like her. It turned out that this shadowy figure was one of the Shadow People who were born to imitate and serve other creatures. The shadowy figure could only exist among other creatures. It was scared that if Rani and her friends leave it would stop existing, so it didn't want to let them go. Sarah Jane convinced the figure to let them drive away. Rani waved goodbye to the figure before they left. (AUDIO: The Shadow People)

Rani helped to find out the mystery about the lost memories of people who lived in Wolfenden. Sarah Jane did not want to take Rani and Clyde to Wolfenden in the first place, but Rani and Clyde went there on their own. The people's memories did not come back, but thanks to Rani, Sarah Jane, Luke and Clyde the people of Wolfenden knew that the alien Mrs Hendrick had stolen their memories. (AUDIO: The White Wolf)

Rani, Luke and Clyde found out that Sarah Jane was dating a man named Peter Dalton whom Sarah Jane had met in a shoe shop. Mr Smith and K9 revealed that the trio secretly put a tracking device on Sarah Jane's car. A few days later, Rani and Clyde broke into Peter's house, suspecting that he wasn't quite human. They found out that he did not live there. They told Sarah Jane this, but Sarah Jane told them that he had a flat in London nearer his firm. When Sarah Jane announced she was to be married, Rani was asked to be the bridesmaid for Sarah Jane, despite previously spying on Sarah Jane. The Tenth Doctor appeared at the wedding, and demanded that the wedding was to be stopped. Rani was teleported along with Clyde, Luke and the Doctor to nowhere in a time trap. Thanks to the TARDIS' power and Clyde manipulating it, as well as Peter withdrawing the Trickster's agreement, they were able to escape and the Trickster exploded into nothing. Rani was allowed to look inside the TARDIS when the Doctor visited Bannerman Road. (TV: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith) Rani then helped to defeat Erasmus Darkening, (TV: The Eternity Trap) the Mona Lisa, (TV: Mona Lisa's Revenge) the Umorgus, (AUDIO: Deadly Download) the Slitheen and Slitheen-Blathereen. (TV: The Gift)

When other members of the Slitheen-Blathereen family kidnapped Sarah Jane, Rani was forced to help to grow Rakweed so that Sarah Jane was released. (GAME: Plants) The Rakweed was later destroyed by Clyde. (GAME: Sound)

Later, Rani and Mr Smith sent a Blathereen back to Raxacoricofallapatorius with a Rakweed plant, a Baaraddelskelliumfatrexius Beast and a Poppito tree so that they would not invade Earth. (GAME: Plant and Animal Habitats)

When a story about Hank Carter and the Wraith Warriors was written in a journal with Psionic Paper, these figures began to appear in the real world. Carter started to control the writer Gregory P. Wilkinson and later Rani who was continuing the book. Carter made them write what he wanted, which became real as soon it was written into the book. With Sarah Jane's help Rani and Gregory became free of the control of Carter. They continued their own story, writing that the Wraith Warriors attacked Carter and pushed him back to his own dimension, which happened directly after they wrote it. Then they burned the journal to make sure that Carter could never appear again. (AUDIO: Wraith World)



One day the Krulius converted aliens into digital bio-data and uploaded them into the internet. Clyde and Rani helped Mr Smith to find all the aliens in the internet and send them back to where they came from. Only the Krulius wasn't sent back to Dothon. He appeared inside Sarah Jane's attic and teleported Sarah Jane and himself away. Sarah Jane defeated the Krulius and returned to Rani and Clyde. (COMIC: Monster Hunt)

Later, Rani met the Krulius again and she was teleported to his star ship by clicking on an unusual link on the internet. She escaped the Krulius and met some Urglanic Shapeshifters who were imitating Clyde's appearance. Soon Rani realised that these creatures weren't Clyde. She ran to the teleportation chamber on the star ship and teleported herself to Sarah Jane's attic. Then she told Sarah Jane that the Krulius had returned. (COMIC: Return of the Krulius)

Meanwhile, the Krulius prepared for a war against Sarah Jane Smith and her gang. He came with an army of aliens to Bannerman Road and attacked Sarah Jane's house. Rani helped to fight the Krulius and his army off. The army had to return to the space ship. (COMIC: Defending Bannerman Road)

Luke's departure
On the night of 9 September, 2010, Rani became trapped in a nightmare by the Nightmare Man, but helped to defeat him along with Luke and Clyde. On the following day, she said her goodbyes to Luke as he parted for Oxford University, one year earlier than expected. (TV: The Nightmare Man)

After Luke
Sarah Jane, Clyde and Rani once again met Androvax. With help from Mister Dread, they saved the former's species and world from complete hyperdimensional cataclysm. During the adventure, she told her mother about the Bannerman Road gang's battles against aliens but Gita's mind was subsequently wiped by Dread. (TV: The Vault of Secrets) When an old Nadloon circus comedy cruiser crashed in the Thames Rani helped to recover it. (COMIC: Defending Bannerman Road) She attended the Eleventh Doctor's funeral at UNIT Base 5. There she met another one of the Doctor's past companions Jo Jones (née Grant) and her grandson Santiago Jones. However, it was later revealed the Shansheeth, alien undertakers, faked the funeral to obtain the Doctor's companions to help them steal the Doctor's TARDIS. With the Doctor's help, Sarah Jane and Jo were saved. (TV: Death of the Doctor)

Rani, Sarah Jane and Clyde went to the Pharos Institute again to study a fossilised Silurian egg. (TV: SJAF 6)

When a pair of robots came searching for their king's heir, Gavin, Rani and Clyde were the only two people left on Earth, the robots having displaced all other humans to isolate the heir; Clyde and Rani were left on Earth because the Judoon had forbidden them from leaving the planet and the robots didn't want to incur their displeasure. Rani helped convince Gavin that he was needed on another planet and he agreed. Gavin created them Lady Rani and Lord Clyde; he then left with the robots who returned all the humans. (TV: The Empty Planet)

Rani, along with the rest of the Bannerman Road gang, were sent to different points in history by the Shopkeeper in order to retrieve Chronosteel and save the Earth. Rani ended up in the apartments of Lady Jane Grey in the Tower of London on 19 July 1553, then the eighth day of the latter's nine-day reign. Queen Jane assumed Rani to be lady-in-waiting who had been sent to her. As such, the Queen addressed her by the courtesy rank, Lady Rani, being unaware of the heir ennoblement by Gavin and that she held the substantive rank of Lady in her own right. Rani became the Queen's friend and saved her life after Lady Matilda tried to kill Jane so that she would not be executed by Mary I. Rani comforted Jane and told her that she would be remembered and respected for hundreds of years to come. Rani took Matilda's dagger, which was Chronosteel, and used it to return to 2010 after bidding farewell to Jane and Mistress Ellen. Her Chronosteel, along with Clyde and Sarah Jane's, saved the planet. Rani later did research on Jane Grey, discovering that she was happy in her final moments, as she was certain of her remembrance. (TV: Lost in Time)

The gang met Ruby White, another alien hunter. Sarah Jane was not feeling herself and Rani suggested she take a holiday. They befriended Ruby, but the next day received a message from Sarah Jane saying she was moving away. Clyde was very upset because it felt like his dad leaving him and he initially blamed Rani. Luke popped up and blamed her too. Helped by K9, they learned they'd been deceived.... Ruby was a Qetesh with a separate stomach draining Sarah Jane's emotions. They found Sarah Jane being held captive by Ruby and, using Mr White, caused a massive meteorite shower simulation across the planet causing the human race at large to experience fear, overloading Ruby who was sent back into space. Rani and Clyde made amends. (TV: Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith)

Sky and subsequent adventures
In 2011, Rani was very surprised by the fact Sarah Jane had a baby one day, called Sky which caused power fluctuations around Bannerman Road. She and Sarah Jane investigated a crash site for a supposed meteor the previous night, where she meet Professor Rivers again. When they found that Clyde and Sky had been taken to a power plant by Sky's mother, Miss Myers, she saw Sky's transformation from baby to a pre-teen. Rani had to teach Sky, who knew next to nothing as she was only a "newborn", what it was to be a girl. She and Clyde deactivated the core of the power station, preventing the entire Metalkind species from being brought to Earth, which would have caused Sky to detonate and destroy them all, as per her purpose. When Miss Myers and the Metalkind had left Earth at the supposed cost of Sky's electrical powers, the gang returned to Bannerman Road where Rani and Clyde saw that Sky had not fully lost her abilities. (TV: Sky)

Rani, along with the other people important in Clyde's life, was put under Hetocumtek's curse making her turn against Clyde and tell him he was to stay away from her. The curse on her was later broken with the help of Sky (unaffected due to being an alien) who urged her and Sarah Jane to remember what Clyde meant to them. She and the rest of the gang reunited with Clyde and together defeated Hetocumtek, lifting the curse. Rani helped Clyde look for his new friend but they later learned that she had already left London on a haulage truck. (TV: The Curse of Clyde Langer)

As she was one of the top three journalists in the United Kingdom, Sarah Jane was been invited to the rehearsal of the launch of the SerfBoard by Joseph Serf. She took Sky and Luke who had just come back from university. Sarah Jane found out through Mr Smith that the real Serf had died in a skiing accident in 2007. She organised an interview with the hologram Serf while Rani, Clyde and Mr Smith analysed a Serf Board finding it be nothing more than a low standard computer. Luke and Sky who had used K9's whistle to alert Rani and Clyde via Mr Smith to get the pen Harrison was using to torture the Skullion slaves he forced to control Serf. Clyde and Rani arrived at the launch in disguise and managed to retrieve Harrison's pen. Luke and Sky took control of Serf whilst Sarah Jane and her new friend Adriana took the Skullions to the roof of the building. Mr Smith had alerted the Skullion species to send a spaceship to Earth to pick up the Skullions. Harrison took his pen back and began to kill the Skullions; fortunately, Luke and Sky used Serf to hypnotise the audience at the launch to destroy Harrison's pen which they did. He told Rani and Clyde to go to the roof where a Skullion spaceship appeared and took the freed Skullions home. Harrison had also been beamed up by the Skullion spaceship, where Luke hoped that the Skullions would put him to work. Sarah Jane gave Adriana a card for U.N.I.T. saying that Adriana was just what they needed and she would ensure that Adriana was paid well. Sarah Jane and her gang then returned home. Clyde drew a picture of Sky entitled "Sky's Room" which Luke stuck up in her room. (TV: The Man Who Never Was)

Rani got close to the android Adam. Adam felt alone and tried to activate the other Difference Golems. He let them come to live by putting parts of his mind into the robots, whom he called his children. Soon Adam realised that each time he gave them the spark of life he was diminished by the process. Sometimes he even seemed to forget who he was. Rani convinced Adam that he couldn't keep up dividing a brain like that. She was the only one who called Adam a him instead of an it. Adam thanked her for that and said that it meant very much for him. After Rani had told Adam that this was the best for him the part of Adam which contained his consciousness was brought back to the future. (AUDIO: Children of Steel)

Later Rani helped to convince the Veritas that Sarah Jane's lies to keep the existence of aliens hidden from humans were only made to protect the humans. She was also shown what her mother had felt during her encounters of the aliens. She felt her mother's terror. Rani had to rethink her decision about hiding the existence of aliens infront of her mother, but came to the conclusion that she needed to do it to protect Gita. (AUDIO: Judgement Day)

Journalistic career
After becoming a journalist, Rani worked all over the world. (AUDIO: Hysteria) Beyond just Metropolitan and New York Record, (PROSE: Wester Drumlins, here we come...) she wrote for Time, Vice and New Statesman. (AUDIO: Hysteria)

Rani was reporting on Project Refreeze at the North Pole when she received the news that Sarah Jane had passed away. She attended her memorial on a "bright, cold Spring day", where she discussed Sarah Jane with other guests, and helped fight the Jackals of the Backwards Clock to foil the Trickster's revenge plot. After the service, Rani, Luke and Clyde journeyed back to 13 Bannerman Road to honour Sarah Jane's request to close down the house. After closing down the attic, Rani left to continue an article that would "bring down the government", but not before giving a final goodbye to Mr Smith. (WC: Farewell, Sarah Jane) Rani inherited some technology, including a hologram device (AUDIO: Hysteria) and the sonic lipstick, and 13 Bannerman Road itself, though she chose not to live there due to the memories.

Rani did bring down the government, exposing the Prime Minster as being made of plastic. (AUDIO: Here Today)

By 2021, Rani had written for the Metropolitan and New York Record and had won awards for her investigative journalism. She responded to Maxwell Grey's request for information on Wester Drumlins, offering to write a history of the location for his blog, Into The Unknown. (PROSE: Wester Drumlins, here we come...) During her investigation, she contacted Larry Nightingale about his sister Kathy's disappearance. Larry encouraged her investigation but advised her to keep her distance from Wester Drumlins itself. (PROSE: A Warning to the Incurious) She concluded the urban legends surrounding Wester Drumlins were real and warned in her article for Into The Unknown that the evil there was ongoing, (PROSE: The Very Real Mystery of Wester Drumlins) as a group of Weeping Angels had been trapped under the building. (TV: Blink) After Larry Nightingale disappeared, Rani dictated an article to Maxwell as she did not have access to her laptop. She warned readers about a coming battle in the mystery of Wester Drumlins on 19 March and gave them some advice. She apologised for having to "pull a Captain-Marvel-in-Endgame" on them as she had to go to Egypt on a matter of life and death. (PROSE: The Angels are Coming)

In 2022, people who had known the Doctor began disappearing, including Clyde and Luke, (AUDIO: Hysteria) due to a psychic virus infecting the Thirteenth Doctor, (AUDIO: Salvation) eventually leaving only Rani and two others. (AUDIO: Hysteria) Rani contacted Cleo Proctor, a member of the The Blue Box Files podcast, (AUDIO: SOS) and arranged to meet her, appearing at their meeting via hologram. She urged Cleo to keep the podcast going and remember the Doctor and the TARDIS but was interrupted by attacking robots, (AUDIO: Hysteria) who were attempting to capitalise on the situation. (AUDIO: Salvation) Rani disappeared shortly after meeting Cleo and Jordan. (AUDIO: Interrogation) All the disappeared were eventually restored by Cleo and the Doctor making them remember via a broadcast of the podcast. (AUDIO: Salvation)

By 2023, Rani was running her own podcast with Samira Rustami documenting her investigating unusual stories, (AUDIO: Here Today) called Rani Takes on the World. (AUDIO: The Witching Tree)

Later life
By 2059, Rani had a large family, with one son, Shuresh, and three grandchildren, two grandsons and one granddaughter, and lived in 13 Bannerman Road. At some point in 2059, she visited Washington, DC with Luke and met Maria Jackson there. She kept a picture of Sarah Jane Smith, Clyde, Luke, K9 and herself from 50 years prior on her desk in the attic. (TV: The Mad Woman in the Attic)

Alternate timeline
In an alternate timeline, Ship removed Sarah Jane, Luke and Clyde from time due to Rani in her anger and arrogance wishing that they would leave her alone. By 2059, Rani was an old woman who lived in 13 Bannerman Road. She was known as "the Mad Old Woman of Bannerman Road" and the children of the area swapped stories about her, one of which stated that she ate children.

That year, Eve and Samuel Lloyd's son Adam Lloyd visited her. As he was a hybrid between humans and Eve's species, he altered the timeline so that Ship never got rid of her friends. (TV: The Mad Woman in the Attic)

Personality
Rani was feisty, independent, intelligent, optimistic, stubborn, and confident with a kind heart and a sense of humour. She wanted to be a journalist when she grew up; this tendency to explore resulted in her stumbling upon Sarah Jane's life. (TV: The Day of the Clown) She admired Luke for his cleverness and Clyde for his aversion to authority. (TV: The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith) Rani confided in Sam Lloyd her knowledge of aliens and was pleased for him when he chose to leave Earth for travels in space. She befriended Eve realising she meant no harm. Rani apologised to Sarah Jane for betraying her trust when she told of her adventures to Sam. (TV: The Mad Woman in the Attic) She helped Gavin, gaining his trust and convincing him that he was important. (TV: The Empty Planet) However, she could be sceptical as she did not believe the Doctor was himself with a new face and needed a few moments to get used to the concept, (TV: Death of the Doctor) and doubted Sarah Jane's sanity until she learned it was Ruby's doing. (TV: Goodbye Sarah Jane) She initially thought of herself as a "hanger on" in Sarah Jane's gang and was once jealous of Maria, but Clyde helped to prove to her that they were valuable team members. (TV: The Mad Woman in the Attic, The Empty Planet)

History was Rani's favourite subject at school. (AUDIO: The Time Capsule)

It was implied by Luke that she developed romantic feelings for Clyde and seemed the closest to him in the gang. (TV: The Gift, The Vault of Secrets, The Empty Planet, Lost in Time, The Man Who Never Was)

Rani was a pseudo-big sister to Sky, teaching her many things as Clyde had done for Luke when he was recently created. (TV: Sky) She was close with her parents and her mother could cheer her up when she was really down. (TV: Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith et al.)

Rani worried about disappointing her parents, especially Haresh. (TV: The Mad Woman in the Attic)

She thought that Zac Efron was attractive. (TV: The Mad Woman in the Attic)

Name
The character's name is similar to that of 1980s Doctor Who villain the Rani, though the producers have stated that there is no connection between the characters, and even the Doctor has drawn no connection between the names. "Rani" is an Indian word for queen, hence the villain's usage of it as a title. Given Rani's ethnicity, the name makes sense for her as well.

Other matters

 * Rani's last name was originally going to be Rakhit.
 * Rani Chandra and Jack Harkness are the only characters whose parents, child and grandchild have all been depicted. (TV: The Day of the Clown, The Mad Woman in the Attic, Adam, Torchwood: Children of Earth)
 * Rani is the only character to have been shown living in two different homes vacated by other regular characters (except to the extent that the TARDIS or a room therein is considered a home). Throughout her tenure on The Sarah Jane Adventures, Rani lived in Maria Jackson's former bedroom at 36 Bannerman Road, Ealing, London, and her elder self is shown residing across the road in the Smiths' former house at 13 Bannerman Road. (TV: The Mad Woman in the Attic) She is, by the same account, the only character shown residing on both sides of a given street.
 * Rani's astrological sign being Aries would put her date of birth somewhere between 20 March and 21 April, a fact which is not stated in an in-universe source. She shares her astrological sign with Souad Faress, who played the older version of her in The Mad Woman in the Attack.
 * At one stage, the production team intended to write Rani out at the end of season four. A concern had developed that the show's younger castmembers were outgrowing the target audience, and so Rani would be recruited for a journalism internship in Manchester, with Anjli Mohindra making only occasional appearances from then on. This would have to led Haresh and Gita Chandra fostering a younger boy named Alfie at the start of season six.