Elisabeth Sladen: The Iconic Sarah Jane Smith and Her Connection to Ealing

Brought to you by:

Sam Habeeb

"Shadow MP Campaigner of Ealing North"

Elisabeth Sladen: The Iconic Sarah Jane Smith and Her Connection to Ealing
Credit: In My Not So Humble Opinion

Elisabeth Clara Heath-Sladen (1 February 1946–19 April 2011) was an English actress. She is perhaps best known as Sarah Jane Smith, a regular member of the cast in the British television series Doctor Who, for whom she played from 1973-1976 under both Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker, and who then over the next few decades returned many times to play the character in Doctor Who and in the spin-offs K-9 and Company (1981) and The Sarah Jane Adventures (2007-2011).

Where has Elisabeth Sladen lived?

Elizabeth has lived in Liverpool.

Did Tom Baker get along with Elisabeth Sladen?

They did wonderful work on Who and After, but beyond that, they were great friends; Tom even gave a poignant tribute to Elizabeth on his website after her death.

Early life

Elizabeth was born 1 February 1946 in Liverpool, England. Sladen was the child of Tom Sladen (1900-1994), who served during the First World War and Home Guard during the Second World War, and Gladys (1902-1978) (née Trainer).

She took up acting as a child, was taught to dance at five, and appeared in one production with the Royal Ballet. She was a contemporary at the primary school of future politician Edwina Currie, appearing in at least one school production with her. Her secondary education was at Aigburth Vale High School.

Sarah Jane Smith

In 1973, the departing actress who played assistant to Jon Pertwee and the Third Doctor was Jo Grant; producer of Z-Cars, Ron Craddock, was “very enthusiastic in recommending the actress to his friend and BBC producer of Doctor Who, Barry Letts. Sladen was unaware at the time what she was doing when auditioning for the new role of companion in Doctor Who or how thoroughly meticulous Letts is.

She also met Pertwee, whom at the time she would find intimidating. As she joked with Letts and Pertwee, each time she turned to glance at one of them, the other would give her a thumbs-up. The role of Sarah Jane Smith was originally intended for comic actress April Walker, but allegedly during rehearsals for her debut story, The Time Warrior, misgivings about the casting of Walker and Pertwee arose, and the part was instead given to Sladen. In 1981, a new Doctor Who producer called John Nathan-Turner was ringing her as part of attempting to ease over from Tom Baker into the newly appointed Doctor, Peter Davison.

In How Many Shows Did Sladen Play Sarah Jane?

Two were BBC Radio productions, The Paradise of Death (Radio 5, 1993) and The Ghosts of N-Space (Radio 2, 1996), with Jon Pertwee and Nicholas Courtney. In 1997, Sladen was voted Hall of Fame Actress in the Cult TV Awards. Big Finish Productions has produced two series of Sarah Jane Smith audio adventures set in the present day, released in 2006 and 2002. Her husband, Brian Miller, appeared in the story Ghost Town. Her daughter Sadie appeared in the audio. Sladen also contributed interviews and DVD commentaries to many of the classic Doctor Who serials she co-starred in. After the revival success of Doctor Who in 2005, Sladen guested for Sarah Jane in “School Reunion,” an episode in the 2006 series of Doctor Who opposite David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor.

The series won a Royal Television Society award for Best Children’s Drama in 2010. Sladen also made original audio plays 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 was brought back into the series for the show’s fourth series in the final episodes “The Stolen Earth” and “Journey’s End” and was included in the title sequence of both.

When Did Elisabeth Shot Her Last Scene in Doctor Who?

Her last scene in Doctor Who was shot in the closing part of “The End of Time,” the final episode in which Tennant played the Tenth Doctor. Shortly before her death, Sladen had also been keen to feature in the Doctor Who Fourth Doctor Big Finish series.

Why is Last Mission Popular?

In 1991, she portrayed Alexa opposite Colin Baker in the BBV Audio Adventure The Last Mission. Sladen appeared in Kate Orman’s Bernice Summerfield audio drama Walking to Babylon. After completing filming The Paradise of Death in 1993, Sladen returned to private life behind the camera in the United Kingdom. In 1995, she played Dr. Pat Hewland in four episodes of the ITV drama series Peak Practice. In 1996, she played Sophie in Faith in the Future, and she went on to appear in 15 episodes of the BBC schools program Number Time, which ran annually for nearly ten years. It was her final television acting appearance until the 2006 Doctor Who episode “School Reunion.”.

Autobiography

Autobiography Elisabeth Sladen: The Autobiography was published posthumously on 7 November 2011 by Aurum Press Ltd. The book was launched at ‘The Doctor Who Experience’, Kensington Olympia, on November 26, 2011, in the presence of Brian Miller, Sadie Miller, Tom Baker, and Terrance Dicks.

The BBC released an audio CD version of the book, narrated by fellow Doctor Who alumna Caroline John, on 1 December 2011. The book has been introduced to readers with a foreword by fellow Doctor Who actor David Tennant, who played the Tenth Doctor.

Personal Life

Personal life Sladen married actor Brian Miller on 8 June 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.

Television

Here is a list of Elisabeth Sladen’s work:

  • ITV Playhouse
  • Coronation Street
  • Z-Cars
  • Doomwatch
  • Public Eye
  • Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em
  • Special Branch
  • Doctor Who
  • Stepping Stones
  • Send in the Girls
  • Take My Wife
  • Betsy
  • In Loving Memory
  • Play for Today
  • K-9 and Company
  • Gulliver in Lilliput
  • Doctor Who: The Five Doctors
  • Dempsey and Makepeace
  • Alice in Wonderland
  • The Bill
  • Doctor Who: Dimensions in Time
  • Men of the World
  • Downtime
  • Doctors in the countryside
  • Faith in the Future
  • The Sarah Jane Adventures
  • Sarah Jane’s Alien Files

What did Elisabeth Sladen die of?

Elisabeth Sladen was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in February 2011 and died on 19 April 2011; she had previously fought the disease in 1999. She was 65.

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Brought to you by:

Sam Habeeb

"Shadow MP Campaigner of Ealing North"

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