Elisabeth Clara Heath-Sladen (1 February 1946 – 19 April 2011) was an English actress best known for her role as Sarah Jane Smith in the British television series Doctor Who. She was a regular cast member from 1973 to 1976, alongside both Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker, and reprised the role many times in subsequent decades, both on Doctor Who and its spin-offs, K-9 and Company and The Sarah Jane Adventures.

 

Early life

Elisabeth Clara Heath-Sladen was born 1 February 1946 in Liverpool, England. Sladen was the only child of Tom Sladen, who fought in World War I and served in the Home Guard during World War II, and Gladys (née Trainer).

She developed an interest in performing at an early age, beginning dance lessons when she was five, and dancing in one production with the Royal Ballet. She was a primary school contemporary of future politician Edwina Currie, appearing in at least one school production with her. She went on to secondary school and attended Aigburth Vale High School for Girls.

Career

Early career

Sladen attended the Elliott-Clarke Drama School. In 1964, she made her first film appearance in Ferry Cross the Mersey as an uncredited extra. Sladen then joined the Hillbark Players, for their open-air production of Much Ado About Nothing, playing Hero.

After two years at drama school, Sladen began work at the Liverpool Playhouse repertory company as an assistant stage manager. Her first stage appearance at the Playhouse, was as a maid in Twelfth Night. A few months later, she played a corpse in The Physicists. However, she was scolded for giggling on stage due to her future husband Brian Miller whispering the words "Respiration nil, Aston Villa two" in her ear while he was playing a doctor. Sladen was such a good assistant stage manager that she did not get many acting roles, a problem that was solved when she accidentally made a mistake on one occasion. An earlier interview indicated that she deliberately made mistakes on several occasions. As a result, she began to get on-stage roles again.

Sladen eventually moved into weekly repertory work, travelling to various locations in England. Sladen and Miller moved to Manchester, in 1966, spending three years there. They married on 8 June 1968. She appeared in numerous roles, most notably as Desdemona in Othello, her first appearance as a leading lady. She also got the occasional part on Leeds Radio and Granada Television, eventually appearing as a barmaid in 1970 in six episodes of the long-running soap opera Coronation Street.

In 1969 she and her husband appeared in the play "How the Other Half Loves"; when in the Autumn of 1970 the play moved to London, the couple relocated to there. Her first television role in London was in a two-part story of Z-Cars.These two episodes of Z-Cars have since been wiped and are listed as missing episodes by the BBC's archive library. She then appeared as a terrorist in an episode of Doomwatch, followed by guest roles in Z-Cars (again), Public Eye, Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em and Special Branch.

Sarah Jane Smith

In 1973, Doctor Who actress Katy Manning, who was playing the Third Doctor's assistant Jo Grant opposite Jon Pertwee, was leaving the series; Z-Cars producer Ron Craddock gave Sladen an enthusiastic recommendation to Doctor Who producer Barry Letts.Sladen arrived at the audition not knowing it was for the new companion role, and was amazed at Letts's thoroughness. She was introduced to Pertwee, whom she found intimidating at the time. As she chatted with Letts and Pertwee, each time she turned to look at one of them the other would signal a thumbs-up. The role of Sarah Jane Smith was originally given to comic actress April Walker, but allegedly during rehearsals for debut story The Time Warrior doubts over the pairing of Walker and Pertwee surfaced and the part was re-cast to Sladen.

She stayed on Doctor Who for three-and-a-half seasons, alongside Pertwee as the Third Doctor and Tom Baker as the Fourth. She returned to the character of Sarah Jane Smith on several occasions. In 1981, new Doctor Who producer John Nathan-Turner asked her to return to the series to ease the transition between Tom Baker and new Doctor Peter Davison. She declined but accepted his second offer of doing a pilot for a spin-off series called K-9 and Company, co-starring K-9, the robot dog from Doctor Who. However, the pilot was not picked up for a series. Two years later Sladen appeared in the 20th anniversary special The Five Doctors.

She reprised the role in the 1993 Children in Need special Dimensions in Time, and in the 1995 independently produced video Downtime alongside former co-star Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and Deborah Watling as Victoria Waterfield. This was her last on-screen appearance as Sarah Jane Smith for some time.

Sladen played Sarah Jane in several audio plays. Two of them were produced for BBC Radio, The Paradise of Death (Radio 5, 1993), and The Ghosts of N-Space (Radio 2, 1996), together with Jon Pertwee and Nicholas Courtney. In 1997 Sladen won Hall Of Fame Actress in Cult TV Awards Big Finish Productions produced two series of Sarah Jane Smith audio adventures set in the present day, released in 2002 and 2006. Miller appeared in the story Ghost Town. Her daughter Sadie appeared in the audios.

In later years, Sladen had also participated re-visiting several classic Doctor Who serials on DVD in doing audio commentaries and interviews (in the stories she starred in), but as of 2008 she stated in an interview that she was no longer doing them due to "contractual reasons with 2entertain".

Following the successful revival of Doctor Who in 2005, Sladen guest starred as Sarah Jane in "School Reunion", an episode of the 2006 series, along with David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor. Sladen worked a lot of the characterisation herself – in the lead-up to the broadcast of "School Reunion" she was quoted in the Daily Mirror as saying: "Sarah Jane used to be a bit of a cardboard cut-out. Each week it used to be, 'Yes Doctor, no Doctor', and you had to flesh your character out in your mind — because if you didn't, no one else would." She also spoke favourably of the characterisation in the new series. Sladen won best guest appearance in the annual Cult TV Awards

Following her successful appearance in the series, Sladen later starred in The Sarah Jane Adventures, a Doctor Who spin-off focusing on Sarah Jane, produced by BBC Wales for CBBC and created by Russell T. Davies. A 60-minute special aired on New Year's Day 2007, with a 10-episode series commencing broadcast in September 2007, and a second 12-episode series was broadcast in late 2008. The programme won a Royal Television Society 2010 award for Best Children's Drama. Sladen also read original audio stories on CD for The Sarah Jane Adventures, which were released in November 2007: The Glittering Storm and The Thirteenth Stone. This was the first time that BBC Audiobooks had commissioned new content for exclusive release on audio. Further pairs of audio stories were released every year until 2010, all read again by Sladen.

Sladen appeared in the final two episodes of Doctor Who’s 2008 series (season 4) finale "The Stolen Earth" and "Journey's End" and was credited in the title sequence of both episodes. Her final appearance in Doctor Who was a cameo in the concluding part of "The End of Time", Tennant's last episode as the Doctor. Just before her death, Sladen had also been interested in being involved in the Doctor Who Fourth Doctor Big Finish series.

Other work

While Sladen was in Doctor Who, she attended various public events to publicise the programme. Following her departure, she largely stopped attending related events as she felt it could be seen as bad manners to the new cast.

After Doctor Who, she returned to Liverpool with her husband and performed in a series of plays. This included a two-hander with Miller in Mooney and his Caravans. Notable appearances following that include a two-year stint as a presenter for the children's programme Stepping Stones, a lead role with Miller playing her husband in ITV drama Send In the Girls, a BBC Play for Today, a role as a stand-up comic's spouse in Take My Wife, and a small part in the movie Silver Dream Racer as a bank secretary in 1980, only her second film appearance.

In 1981, former Doctor Who producer Barry Letts cast her as the female lead in the BBC Classics production of Gulliver in Lilliput. The character of Lady Flimnap was written for Sladen, and she said it was her favourite role. She continued to appear in various television adverts and in another Letts production, Alice in Wonderland (playing the Dormouse).

After the birth of her daughter Sadie in 1985, Sladen went into semi-retirement, placing her family first, but finding time for the occasional television appearance.

In 1991, she starred as Alexa opposite Colin Baker in The Stranger audio adventure The Last Mission for BBV Audio. Sladen also appeared in a Bernice Summerfield audio drama, Kate Orman's Walking to Babylon. Following the audio production of The Paradise of Death in 1993, Sladen restarted her regular public appearances in the United Kingdom. In 1995, she played Dr Pat Hewland in 4 episodes of Peak Practice. In 1996, she played Sophie in Faith in the Future, and appeared in 15 episodes of the BBC schools programme Numbertime, which was repeated annually for around ten years. This was her last television acting appearance until the 2006 Doctor Who episode "School Reunion". In 2008–09, Sladen appeared in a panto production of Peter Pan at the Theatre Royal Windsor, playing Mrs. Darling and a beautiful mermaid.

Sladen's last fan event was at the British Film Institute on 12 October 2010, where there was a special showing of The Death of the Doctor, followed by a Q&A session. Her last public appearance was at the EA British Academy Children's Awards on 28 November 2010.

Autobiography

Elisabeth Sladen: The Autobiography was released posthumously on 7 November 2011 by Aurum Press Ltd.The book was launched at 'The Doctor Who Experience', Kensington Olympia on 26 November 2011, in the presence of Brian Miller, Sadie Miller, Tom Baker and Terrance Dicks. The BBC released an audio CD version of the book, read by fellow Doctor Who alumna Caroline John, on 1 December 2011.

Personal life

Sladen married actor Brian Miller in 1968 in Liverpool. Their daughter, Sadie Miller, appeared alongside Sladen in the 1993 documentary, Thirty Years in the TARDIS, wearing a replica of the Andy Pandy overalls Sladen wore in The Hand of Fear.

Death

Sladen died early on 19 April 2011, after having been diagnosed with cancer in early February. Sladen's death was widely reported—on the BBC 1 Ten O'Clock News; as one of the rolling headlines of the BBC News channel for the day; featuring prominently on many commercial television news reports; on the front page of the Daily Mirror, The Sun and the Liverpool Echo; and in the obituary features of almost every UK newspaper. The Doctor Who, Series 6, Episode 1, "The Impossible Astronaut", was aired on the following Saturday; and it opened with a screen dedicating the episode to her memory. Directly after, a special programme called My Sarah Jane: A Tribute to Elisabeth Sladen was aired on CBBC.

The Hand of Fear was also shown on BBC Four as a tribute.At the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, during the film clips of people who had died in the past year, Sladen was the final person to be shown. Singer-songwriter Talis Kimberley wrote a tribute song titled Goodnight, Sarah-Jane. Tom Baker paid tribute to Sladen on his official website.

Filmography

Television Year Title Role Network Release Notes 1968 ITV Playhouse Hotel maid ITV   Season 2, Episode 18 If Only the Trains Come. 1970 Coronation Street Anita Reynolds ITV   Played Anita Reynolds for 6 Episodes 1971 Z-Cars Valerie Hollingsworth BBC One   Season 7, Episode 30 and 31 Who Were You With?: Part 1 and Who Were You With?: Part 2 1972 Doomwatch Sarah Collins BBC One   Season 3 Episode Say Knife, Fat Man. Z-Cars Rose BBC One DVD clip Season 8, Episode 7 Day Trip. Clip on DVD The Time Warrior. Public Eye Policewoman ITV DVD Season 6, Episode 3 Many a Slip 1973 Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em Judy BBC One DVD Season 1, Episode 5 The Hospital Visit Special Branch Policewoman ITV DVD Season 3, Episode 12 Hostage 1973–1976 Doctor Who Sarah Jane Smith BBC One VHS & DVD 80 Episodes, Season 11 – Season 14 1977–1980 Stepping Stones Presenter ITV   Co-presenter for four series 1978 Send in the Girls Beverley ITV   Season 1, Episode 5 Beware the Gentle People 1979 Take My Wife Josie Hall ITV   Appeared in all 6 Episodes. 1980 Betzi Countess Bertrand ITV   TV Movie. In Loving Memory Mary Bennett ITV DVD Season 2, Episode 1 The Outing. Play for Today ' Jo BBC One   Season 11, Episode 9 Name for the Day. 1981 K-9 and Company Sarah Jane Smith BBC One VHS & DVD TV Movie. 1982 Gulliver in Lilliput Lady Flimnap BBC One VHS TV Movie. 1983 Doctor Who:The Five Doctors Sarah Jane Smith BBC One VHS & DVD Special feature-length episode. 1985 Dempsey & Makepeace Mrs. Barrett ITV DVD Season 2, Episode 3 Love You to Death 1986 Alice in Wonderland Dormouse BBC One   TV Movie. 1989 The Bill Mrs. Preston ITV DVD Season 5, Episode 6 Life and Death 1993 Doctor Who: Dimensions in Time Sarah Jane Smith BBC One   Charity Special. 1994 Men of the World Lorraine BBC One   Series 1, Episode 3 Lost in France. 1995 Downtime Sarah Jane Smith   VHS Spin off of Doctor Who that was released directly onto VHS. 1996 Peak Practice Dr. Pat Hewland ITV DVD Appeared in Season 4, Episode 1,3,7 and 9. Faith in the Future Sophie ITV   Season 2, Episode 8 Body Language. 2006 Doctor Who Sarah Jane Smith BBC One DVD & Blu-ray Series 2, Episode 3 "School Reunion". 2007–2011 The Sarah Jane Adventures Sarah Jane Smith CBBC DVD & Blu-ray 53 episodes, and a 5-minute special for Comic Relief. 2008 Doctor Who Sarah Jane Smith BBC One DVD Series 4 Episode 12 "The Stolen Earth"/Series 4 Episode 13 "Journey's End" 2010 Doctor Who Sarah Jane Smith BBC One and BBC HD DVD & Blu-ray The End of Time Part 2. Sarah Jane's Alien Files Sarah Jane Smith CBBC   Appears in Every episode title screen and appears as the presenter in Episode 1 and 4. Personal appearances Year Title Role Network Release Notes 1976 Nationwide Interviewee BBC One DVD The Hand Of Fear Edition dated 13 May 1976 Multi-Coloured Swap Shop Interviewee BBC One DVD The Hand Of Fear Season 1, Edition 1 dated 2 October 1976 1993 30 Years in the Tardis Interviewee BBC One   29 November 1993. Expanded Documentary released on VHS. 1994 More Than 30 Years in the Tardis Interviewee UK Gold VHS Expanded Documentary. VHS Release. 1994 Late Night Live Interviewee Meridian     1996 The Secrets of Dr Who Tape 1 Interviewee Slow Dazzle Worldwide Cassette Tape Free with The Official 1997 Calendar: Doctor Who: Heroes & Villains 1997, Tape 1 – The Liz Sladen interview 1997 In-Vision Introductions Introducer UK Gold   Introducing her Dr Who stories & "More Than 30 Years in the Tardis" 2000 Myth Makers Vol. 50: Elisabeth Slade Interviewee   VHS & DVD   This Is Your Life – Tom Baker Interviewee BBC One     K9 Unleashed Interviewee   VHS & DVD Documentary 2002 Chronotrip Interviewee   VHS Documentary Big Finish Magazine CD 2 Interviewee Big Finish CD Free to Big Finish subscribers 2003 Osirian Gothic Interviewee   DVD The Pyramids Of Mars Documentary Serial Thrillers Interviewee   DVD The Pyramids Of Mars Documentary The Story of Doctor Who Interviewee BBC One     Doctor Who @ 40 Weekend Interviewee UK Gold   22/23 November 2003 2004 Ultimate Sci-Fi Top 10 Interviewee Sky One   TV mini-series. Episode "Top 10 Robots". 2005 Doctor Who Confidential Interviewee BBC Three   Season 1, Episode 3,4 and 12. 2006 Genesis of a Classic Interviewee   DVD Genesis of the Daleks Documentary Blue Peter Interviewee BBC One DVD The Sarah Jane Adventures Season 1 Filmed at BBC Television Centre Doctor Who Confidential Interviewee BBC Three   Season 2, Episode 3. BBC Breakfast Interviewee BBC One   Edition dated 27 April 2006. Totally Doctor Who Interviewee BBC One   Season 1, Episode 13. Changing Time Interviewee   DVD The Hand Of Fear Documentary Built for War Interviewee   DVD The Sontaran Experiment Documentary Blue Peter Interviewee BBC One   Filmed at BBC Television Centre BBC Breakfast Interviewee BBC One   Edition dated 8 December 2006. 2007 Are Friends Electric Interviewee   DVD Robot Documentary Beginning the End: Making 'The Time Warrior Interviewee   DVD The Time Warrior Documentary Planetary Performance Interviewee   DVD Planet Of Evil Documentary CBBC Interview Interviewee CBBC   Filmed at BBC Television Centre Blue Peter Interviewee BBC One   Filmed at BBC Television Centre A Darker Side Interviewee   DVD Planet Of Evil Documentary released onto Home video. Celebration Interviewee   DVD The Five Doctors Documentary Teaching Awards 2007 Award presenter BBC Two   Filmed at the London Palladium. Dated 21 October 2007 TMI Interviewee BBC Two   Filmed at the BBC television Centre. 2008 GMTV Interviewee ITV 1   Edition dated 27 June 2008. Doctor Who Confidential Interviewee BBC Three   Season 4, Episode 12. The Alan Titchmarsh Show Interviewee ITV 1   Edition dated 29 September 2008. TMI Interviewee BBC Two   Filmed at the BBC television Centre. National Television Awards Award acceptance ITV 1   Filmed at the Royal Albert Hall. Dated 29 October 2008 2009 Doctor Who Confidential Interviewee BBC Three   Season 4, Episode 15. Clash Judge BBC One   Episode 3. Dated 21 July 2009 Doctor Who Greatest Moments Interviewee BBC Three DVD Dreamland Season 1, Episode 2 "The Companions". Doctor Who Greatest Moments Interviewee BBC Three DVD Dreamland Season 1, Episode 4 "Donna ". The Wright Stuff Guest Panelist Channel 5     2010 Sam & Mark's TMi Friday Interviewee CBBC   Filmed at the BBC television Centre. Dated 8 October 2010 Sidekick Stories Interviewee BBC Four     The Wright Stuff Guest Panelist Channel 5     Tributes Year Title Network Notes Air Date 2011 My Sarah Jane: A Tribute to Elisabeth Sladen CBBC Archive footage 23 April 2011 BAFTAs BBC One Archive footage 22 May 2011 Review 2011:We Remember BBC News Archive footage 31 December 2011 Film Year Title Role Notes 1965 Ferry Cross the Mersey Uncredited   1980 Silver Dream Racer Bank Secretary   Radio and CD audio drama Year Title Role Author Radio Station/Production Company Release/Air Date 1976 Exploration Earth: The Time Machine Sarah Jane Smith Bernard Venables BBC Radio 4 4 October 1976 Doctor Who and the Pescatons Sarah Jane Smith Victor Pemberton BBC Audio July 1976 (LP Release) 1993 The Paradise of Death Sarah Jane Smith Barry Letts BBC Radio 5 27 August 1993 - 24 September 1993 1994 Sir Colin's New Clothes Cast member Chris Allen BBC Radio 4 30 March 1994 1996 The Ghosts of N-Space Sarah Jane Smith Barry Letts BBC Radio 2 20 January - 24 February 1996 1998 Bernice Summerfield -Walking To Babylon Ninan-ashtammu Kate Orman Big Finish Productions 20 January - November 1998 2001 The Actor Speaks: Elisabeth Sladen Interviewee & monologues Sadie Miller & Mark J Thompson MJTV November 2001 2002 Sarah Jane Smith: Comeback Sarah Jane Smith Terrance Dicks Big Finish Productions 31 May 2002 Sarah Jane Smith: The TAO Connection Sarah Jane Smith Barry Letts Big Finish Productions 8 August 2002 Sarah Jane Smith: Test Of Nerve Sarah Jane Smith David Bishop Big Finish Productions 5 September 2002 Sarah Jane Smith: Ghost Town Sarah Jane Smith Rupert Laight Big Finish Productions 10 October 2002 Sarah Jane Smith: Mirror, Signal, Manoeuvre Sarah Jane Smith Peter Anghelides Big Finish Productions 7 November 2002 2003 Doctor Who: Zagreus Miss Lime Alan Barnes & Gary Russell Big Finish Productions 20 January - November 2003 2005 Doctor Who at the BBC: A Time Travelling Journey Through the BBC Archives' Narrator Michael Stevens AudioGO Ltd 19 January 2005 Doctor Who at the BBC, Volume 2' Narrator Michael Stevens AudioGO Ltd 29 April 2005 Doctor Who at the BBC, Volume 3 Narrator Michael Stevens AudioGO Ltd 24 October 2005 2006 Sarah Jane Smith: Buried Secrets Sarah Jane Smith David Bishop Big Finish Productions January 2006 Sarah Jane Smith: Snow Blind Sarah Jane Smith David Bishop Big Finish Productions February 2006 Sarah Jane Smith: Fatal Consequences Sarah Jane Smith David Bishop Big Finish Productions March 2006 Sarah Jane Smith: Dreamland Sarah Jane Smith David Bishop Big Finish Productions April 2006 2007 Doctor Who at the BBC: The Tenth Doctor' Narrator Andrew Pixley BBC Audiobooks 17 September 2007 The Glittering Storm Narrator Stephen Cole BBC Audiobooks 5 November 2007 The Thirteenth Stone Narrator Justin Richards BBC Audiobooks 5 November 2007 2008 The Time Capsule Narrator Peter Anghelides BBC Audiobooks 13 November 2008 The Ghost House Narrator Stephen Cole BBC Audiobooks 3 November 2008 2009 Doctor Who and the Planet of the Spider Narrator Gary Russell BBC Audiobooks 4 June 2009 The White Wolf Narrator Terrance Dicks BBC Audiobooks 3 September 2009 The Shadow People Narrator Scott Handcock BBC Audiobooks 3 September 2009 2010 Doctor Who at the BBC: A Legend Reborn' Narrator Andrew Pixley BBC Audiobooks 4 February 2010 Wraith World Narrator Cavan Scott & Mark Wright BBC Audiobooks 7 October 2010 Deadly Download Narrator Jason Arnopp BBC Audiobooks 7 October 2010