In the papers...

[MacNimon]

It's good to see Lis getting some publicity again in the national press, in the run-up to the new series. I was surprised to find a double page centre-spread interview in todays Daily Record. While it doesn't offer anything new, it was still nice to see...

Read it here

[Dino]

Teletext normally delete their links so here's the pasted chat which contains nothing new, but very good to see a postitive write up.

Sladen's in a spin over latest role
Elisabeth Sladen By Sarah Morgan - Who are the Beeb trying to kid, telling us that The Sarah Jane Adventures is just a children's show?

Putting it on at tea time before most adults have got in from work doesn't hide the fact that it's really a grown-up programme that youngsters can enjoy - not the other way round.

Yes, we have a theory about the Doctor Who spin-off.

More than half of those who tune in grew up watching Elisabeth Sladen when she played intrepid journalist Sarah Jane Smith in the mid-70s, alongside Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker.

The show is back for a new run this week, and will be broadcast on Thursdays and Fridays.

So you won't have to wait very long to discover how each two-part adventure turns out.

Thankfully, the all-important cliffhanger will still be present, leaving viewers dangling until the concluding episode.

"I love the cliffhanger," says Sladen, who's been playing Sarah Jane on and off since 1973.

"The new Who episodes go so fast. I think the cliffhanger pleases a lot of people, and I think it's nice to return to that."

"Nothing like that is on at the moment. Who's like an express train, there's so much to fit in."

She should know. Elisabeth made a triumphant return to the Time Lord's world in the 2005 episode School Reunion and she has featured since.

"Russell T Davies is a fan of the time I was in Who. I had a meal with him and producer Phil Collinson and didn't know what they wanted," she remarks.

"I thought it would be a homage to the original series and I didn't want to do that. But where they came from was just where I thought Sarah would be. It wasn't a stretch."

But it was the fans' reaction that really surprised her.

"I did not know how it would be received but I was amazed. I thought the fans wouldn't have liked it because she wouldn't have been the same Sarah."

"It also gave us such a lovely launching pad for this series, so that when she talks about the Doctor, it is on a much more positive note. Hopeful rather than regretful."

Sladen hadn't expected a spin-off to happen either, until she was treated to a meal again by Russell T Davies.

Catch the first adventure of the new run on Thursday and Friday on BBC1 at 4.35pm.