INSPIRATION
For all its faults, I love K-9 & Company as a concept. Thankfully it was re-explored as The Sarah Jane Adventures but I really wanted to investigate (no pun intended) what a K-9 & Company series could've been like.
I think it's been mooted elsewhere (possibly in SJA) that Sarah wrote books based on her adventures.
CAST
Our Sarah Jane figure here is the School Reunion version. I thought she'd be best as she represents that post Doctor Who/ pre SJA era. K-9 is from either that Sarah Jane figure or the S2 Rose. Her superfan-cum-Zygon is a S1 Primeval Connor, obviously turning into a classic wave 1 Zygon.
The rest of the bookshop queue is made up of Grandma Conolly, Steven from Primeval and Draco Malfoy from The Deathly Hallows.
Sarah Jane's publisher is Lester, the Downing Street security is Ryan and the Raasp warrior is a Predator (all from Primeval).
SCRIPT
The script was completed on 7 April 2012 but then rewritten into a two-parter on 6 Feb 2013. The monsters were originally called the Wrath, perhaps borrowed from the Wraath Warriors from the comic Star Beast.
SHOOTING
By the time this story came to be made, I'd stopped making the AFT in order to focus on my career but with Jodie Whitaker about to make her debut, I wanted the AFT to be part of the celebration of that.
The entire thing was shot on 5 Aug 2018 starting with the bookshop scene, Sarah Jane's hallway, the publisher's office, Whitehall Street, Sarah Jane's office and the exterior of No10.
You will perhaps recognise Sarah Jane's hallway from the 11th Doctor story The Uninvited. It was also used in Playtime, an 8th Doctor adventure.
The publisher's office is actually a set I made for The X-File's, Scully's living room.
The bookshop was originally used for the 8th Doctor section of The 11 Doctors (which will be reposted later this anniversary year.)
EDITS
Editing was completed on 25 Sept 2018.
The Raasp spaceship is the missile from a vintage Star Wars Y Wing Fighter, using footage from my AFT Silver Surfer story with some digital texturing added in photoshop.
CONTINUITY
It's early days for Sarah and K-9. She's still living at the house in Croydon as seen in The Five Doctors (rather than her Ealing home in The Sarah Jane Adventures). Her attitude to the Doctor and her time in the TARDIS suggests this is before she's whisked off to the Death Zone.
Sarah Jane's new book "The Mummy From Mars" is obviously based on Pyramids of Mars. The other books she mentions are based on Terror of the Zygons, Monster of Peladon, The Seeds of Doom and Genesis of the Daleks. Harold Sutherland is obviously based on Harry Sullivan.
The Brigadier is in Geneva at the time, as mentioned in her phone call.
TRANSMISSION
Both episodes were posted together on 25 Sept in the run-up to Jodie Whitaker's debut as the Doctor. They were re-posted here on 12th and 19th August 2023.
NEXT TIME:
Look out for a special preview this week!