SJA: Death Of The Doctor Review (5/5)

Matt Smith's first season as the Eleventh Doctor proved indescribably popular, bringing in new viewers but exciting fans of the classic era also, and the character of Doctor Who himself was much-loved as a mixture of old and new. His appearance on the fourth season of The Sarah Jane Adventures had already been arranged before the Series 5 finale of Who had even aired, but it is unsurprising that this story has been amongst the most anticipated since the spin-off debuted in 2007. What a blessing it was, then, that Death of the Doctor proved everything a viewer could want, and so much more! The premise saw Sarah Jane taken to UNIT with Rani and Clyde to mourn the supposedly deceased Doctor, only for them to discover (with the help of former companion Jo Grant, brilliantly portrayed once more by Katy Manning) that the vulture aliens the Shansheeth forged a trap to open the TARDIS and stop deaths from occurring across time. When this scheme is finally revealed, you may find yourself feeling a sense of empathy towards these clearly monstrous antagonists, thinking- wouldn't I do the same if I could go anywhere, any when? On top of this, Elisabeth Sladen, Anji Mohandra and Daniel Anthony do superb jobs as always in the lead roles, with Sladen particularly getting the emotions racing as she mentions the Tenth Doctor's regeneration and Anthony getting the fun job of raising an issue with the number of times the Doctor can change (and you thought it was 12!). However, amidst the superb plot worthy of an episode of Who, realistic injections of death's effect on a relative through Sarah Jane's reaction and the believable villains, the final word must go to Matt Smith: his Doctor is on fine form here, sharing tear-jerking scenes with Jo, updating us on the situation with Amy and Rory (here's guessing the Orient Express adventure has been and gone) and generally being the Doctor everyone wanted him to. This is sheer perfection for children's television, and wouldn't be out of place on Saturday primetime either (start the protests!)!