Doctor Who: 10 Things You Never Knew About Series 2 Of NuWho

4. The Sarah Jane Alcoholics Anonymous Adventures

Series 2 introduced us to a plethora of new faces but it also reunited us with some old ones, too. It will always be fondly remembered for reintroducing Sarah Jane Smith back into the Doctor Who mythology as a new generation of fans met the iconic companion - as played by the late, great Elisabeth Sladen - when she came face to face with her old friend in School Reunion. She even brought K-9 along for the ride, too, and the acclaimed episode revealed that she had been putting her experiences as a former time traveller to good use, working on Earth as an investigative journalist, since parting ways with the Time Lord at the end of The Hand of Fear in 1976. She did try to launch her own spin off, K-9 and Company, back in the 80s, of course, but the less said about that, the better (Spoilers: It didn't make it passed the pilot). Ah well, she more than made up for it in the end. Still, Sarah Jane is widely regarded as the most popular companion in Doctor Who history so she was always going to return at some point or another. Here she was 30 years later and Classic Series fans couldn't quite believe their eyes. Generally speaking, she seemed to have dealt with the task of adjusting to normal life fairly well, too. She'd never married or quite been able to move on completely, of course, but fans were pleased to see that she was happy enough. Originally, though, her TARDIS departure would have resulted in more long lasting effects. The original School Reunion script (in which the episode also had the appropriate working title of Old Friends) suggested that Sarah Jane was an alcoholic but Elisabeth requested that the lines were removed because she didn't want to convey the message that one's problems can be solved by drinking them away. It makes sense, of course, and something tells us that the image of Sarah Jane swigging from a bottle of whiskey wouldn't have gone down all that well in her CBBC spin off, either. Still, she deserved a tipple (or five) after some of the stuff she got up to. Life on Earth can be a (drunken) adventure, too.