Moderator's Note: Moved from the SJA: Season One: General Discussion section:

Aaaaggghhhh! SPOILERS FOR SEASON TWO A new family has been seen moving into MARIA'S HOUSE!!!! Hideous, tragic news! She was the main character!! Almost! I can't believe how upset I am. Of course I adore Sarah, but Maria's the audience identification figure, and the boys are just, well, boys. The autistic one and the comic relief one.

Admittedly I was worried about how utterly unbalanced things inevitably got as soon as Alan found out what was going on - as a real live adult he immediately started saving the day right, left and centre (I don't know what Sarah is exactly, but it's definitely not a real live adult) - but they could just have killed HIM off (much as I'd miss him) and kept on Maria and her mad mum.

As I've been saying ever since Eccy swanned off, whoever writes the BBC contracts ought to be fired. (Preferably in an up-against-the-wall type way.)

Moderator's Note: moved from the Matrix: Ask the Moderator section:

I've been thinking...should the spin-offs get their own section in Companions? It seems absurd that Trix, who (understandably!) no one EVER wants to talk about has her own thread, but the 'Owen is a rapist' question has to be discussed randomly all over the Torchwood board.

And if the spin-offs DO get their own section, should it be one general one like The Almost Companions, or should Luke, Tosh etc get a thread each?

As they're not companions, I'm thinking no, not unless you want to elevate Jack to Doctor status.

Alright *pout* I'll resist the temptation to give 'em all their own threads* but I'm gonna give a Spin-off Companions section a CHANCE** cos they are, at least, ALMOST Companions.

After all, ALL of Torchwood bar Owen have encountered the Doctor. TWO of him! Torchwood was CREATED to obsess over our Doctor - LINDA are NOTHING in comparison. Hell, they even had his HAND hanging around for years. And Gwen drooled over Tennant in a MOST Companion-like manner, while he seemed more interested in her genetic...multiplicity...thingamajig than in towing Earth back home.

And ALL the Bannerman Road gang bar Maria have met the Doctor. TWO of him! One of the last acts of Ten's life was to save Luke's life (though personally I think he should've let him go splat - kids have got to learn to look both ways when crossing the road the hard way, if necessary). And he has an utterly unique relationship with Clyde, not only managing to swap bodies with him, but actually telling him hitherto unsuspected secrets about regeneration (507 lives, people! Or is that 508...?)

*Come to think of it, that would almost certainly lead to Rodney demanding that the K9 bunch - Professor Gryffen, Jorjie, Starkey, and, um, the other one - getting their own sections, which would be entirely logical and also VERY WRONG.

**Of course, if no one wants to talk about 'em, this section will vanish as swiftly and silently as someone swallowed by a Crack...oh, wait, THEY always leave echoes...OK, as swiftly and silently as KELSEY.

So in K9 are the kids the companions or is K9 the companion? ;)

OF COURSE the rug-rats are the mere acolytes of our Metal Mutt, who has the privilege of being an Ex-Companion, not to mention the eponymous hero AND the creature whose constuction (oh GOD that bone) is all over the opening titles.

Though now you mention it, the brats - that Starkey one in particular - do seem to be trying to usurp the dawg's supremacy. Anyone would think HE was K9's master...

I think you need to amend your opening statement at the top there to include K9...

They're a genetically-engineered boy genius. They're a date-raping dead doctor. They're a gap-toothed ex-policewoman. They're an Asian schoolgirl who's 'into weird'. They're a bunch of misfit kids and a dopey professor. They're on Bannerman Road, underneath Cardiff and in a mansion in future london and they save the world when Himself can't be bothered...

Yes, K9 should certainly get some sort of mention but...your summary puts them a par with SJA and Torchwood! And SJA and Torchwood are REAL! Whereas K9 is TOTALLY UNCANONICAL!

You mean the TV series about K9.

Yeah, sorry, it's confusing that the series has the same name as our beloved tin mongrel - HE'S real, of course. Just not in THAT regeneration, with THOSE *shudders* ears...and the farting...

So you're saying canon is a matter of taste? Well, I guess we all knew that!

Amanda- no, it's a matter of EMILY'S taste. For better or for worse, K9 is a spinoff as much as Torchwood and SJA are.

Ooh, how unfair! It's nothing to do with MY tastes - aka the blatantly obvious fact that Torchwood and SJA wipe the floor with the Metal Mutt by a factor of several billion - it's just that they're real and the Australian Abomination ISN'T.

I mean, is there ANYTHING - bar a couple of minutes of the REAL K9 before he (understandably, given the programme he's just arrived in) tops himself - to imply the K9 series is set in the Whoniverse at all? In its only wise move the series has avoided mentioning any dates, but is there ANY future implied in Earth's (admittedly contradictory, especially if you include the books and audios) future that fits in with an unconvincing totalitarian Britain with robot cops on the streets?

Whereas Torchwood and SJA are irrevocably intertwined with The Real Thing. From Eleven crawling round ventilation shafts with Clyde to Jack rushing out of the Hub in TW: End of Days and throwing himself onto the TARDIS in DW: Utopia. And all THREE series reach their apotheosis together in Stolen Earth/Journey's End...

Oh. Except that the Companions section has subsections for the TOTALLY UNCANONICAL (even if they weren't when originally set up in TSLABYOD) novels and audios, so actual REALITY isn't particularly relevant...

...OK, you win, Rodders. I'll put your summary up...until I can think of a really subtle way of putting the Mongrel in his place. In the meantime you can try to think of an appropriate quote to go with it...I was thinking of Sarah's 'With friends like us, the Doctor will never die' but then that specifically applies to ALL of 'em not just the ones blessed with their own spin-off series.

Well, I see SJA has won the Royal Television Society Awards in the Children's Drama category, as well it should:

'The winner was emotional and incredibly engaging – a wonderful drama that stands on its own as a terrific piece of storytelling. The cultural diversity of the cast, its high production values and creative storyline made it a joy to watch and kept you intrigued.'

I'm slightly puzzled as to what on EARTH the fact a couple of the cast are vaguely brownish has to do with anything, though...

I'm slightly puzzled as to what on EARTH the fact a couple of the cast are vaguely brownish has to do with anything, though...

Some people keep score that way. Doesn't do much for making the world color-blind, but they don't seem to care.

Come to think of it, SJA isn't exactly an advert for racial integration, is it? Clyde's dad is a ghastly stereotype of a black man - a multiple-thief who despicably abandons TWO families. And Rani's dad is a ghastly stereotype of an Asian man - a bullying, obsessively-controlling Captain Bligh.

And Rani's dad is a ghastly stereotype of an Asian man - a bullying, obsessively-controlling Captain Bligh.

Not really. His relationship with Rani seems to be just fine. At least, in Season 2, the only "Captain Bligh" moment was at the beginning when he was doing his "I'm the new, tough principal" routine.

And he's the primary cook in the family; that has to count for something.

Oh, OK, so Haresh is adorable, but first impressions REALLY count and he left a BAD one.

And even now there's a subtext of 'What's this black guy doing near my daughter!' to his relationship with Clyde...

And even now there's a subtext of 'What's this black guy doing near my daughter!' to his relationship with Clyde...

I thought it was more "What's this underachieving slacker doing near my daughter?"

Weeelllll...COULD be, only it continued unabated after Clyde stopped being an underachieving slacker and became a brilliant, prize-winning artist...

Artist, puh. Where's the money in that?

MONEY? What a prehistoric (i.e. Asian) attitude. Firstly thinking that whoever his daughter is dating when she's sixteen has any relevance to who she'll marry and secondly, assuming that Rani won't be able to make MORE than enough money to support herself, thank you very much.

"assuming that Rani won't be able to make MORE than enough money to support herself, thank you very much" - Emily
Presumably any parent of a sixteen-year-old knows their child too well (and can't see the horizon beyond the teenage years) to assume that they'll ever be responsible enough to earn a living for themselves. :-)

Oh, I don't know. Rani's bright and motivated and responsible. Her parents obviously appreciate this (especially, I would imagine, Haresh with all those balloon-loving illiterates he's lumbered with at the local comprehensive).

OK, maybe they DON'T appreciate Rani. Eve (y'know, the mind-reading red nutter from The Mad Old Woman in the Attic) says 'You're worried that you're a disappointment to your parents. Especially your father.' Though the only way in which she ever seems to disappoint Haresh is hanging around with That Langer Boy. And is pathologically-chirpy Gita even CAPABLE of being disappointed in anything that isn't Belgium?

Anyway, the K9 bunch's parental relationships are perplexing me. Why does orphaned Starkey say 'Can't live without them' after the others say 'Parents, eh? Can't live with them...'? He obviously DOES live without them (and didn't they run alien-related experiments on him or something before they snuffed it?) And why is Darius so furious about his dad abandoning him and his mum? I didn't even know Darius HAD a mother! He's hardly in a position to criticise anyone else for abandoning the poor woman!

Starz has released bios of the new Torchwood line-up (see Gallifrey Base). I have to say I'm puzzled about the description of Our Heroine:

Gwen once lived the ultimate double life – the funny, salty, earthy woman who loves home and family, combined with the tough, ruthless warrior

She's never particularly struck me as funny, salty, earthy, tough, OR ruthless, let alone family-loving (cheated on Rhys, never saw her parents, didn't want her baby).

Well, it doesn't say Gwen was actually any good at living at good at living a good life. She tried to act like a funny, earthy, salty fsmily-loving woman, to cover up her secret career, but she failed miserably.

Rani's bright and motivated and responsible. Her parents obviously appreciate this.

Which needn't stop them wishing she could do even better. Even if she'd won three Nobel prizes and brought perpetual peace to the Middle East, some parents (of all ethnicities) still wouldn't be satisfied: they'd be saying 'You're pathetic. Mozart had composed umpteen symphonies by your age, and he didn't have half as much spent on him.' Never mind that Mozart wasn't expected to be a master sculptor and best selling author too, or cure cancer by the age of 20.

Of course, Rani's parents aren't quite that unreasonable, but there's still room for them to be disappointed.

it continued unabated after Clyde stopped being an underachieving slacker and became a brilliant, prize-winning artist...

There are plenty of fathers who think no man can every be good enough for their precious little princesses, not even the Doctor himself, and even those who can stomach the idea often would like to avoid their daughters having sex until they're mature enough - 20 or 25.

Of course, Haresh doesn't really have anything to worry about there. While Clyde is definitely chasing Rani, he's clearly willing to take his time - a little odd, considering he's a teenage boy, and near death experiences are notorious for making people more frisky.

Well, it doesn't say Gwen was actually any good at living at good at living a good life. She tried to act like a funny, earthy, salty fsmily-loving woman, to cover up her secret career, but she failed miserably.



Of course, Rani's parents aren't quite that unreasonable, but there's still room for them to be disappointed.

Come to think of it, world-saving might take its toll on schoolwork.

Of course, Haresh doesn't really have anything to worry about there. While Clyde is definitely chasing Rani, he's clearly willing to take his time - a little odd, considering he's a teenage boy, and near death experiences are notorious for making people more frisky.

Yes, it's rather sweet (if unbelievable). Must be Sarah's influence - remember when she'd been replaced by Andrea Yates? Judging by his voicemail, and his reaction to Maria's call, it sounded like Clyde was shagging half the school...at least...

John Barrowman on Jack and Gwen:

But their relationship is funny, because it's almost like a brother and sister relationship and it's almost like a husband and wife relationship. But there's nothing sexual between them

Who does he think he's fooling?! Captain Jack's incapable of so much as saying 'Hello!' without being sexual...

Well, the new Miracle Day Companions are growing on me. First week, Esther was wet and Rex was unpleasant and macho. Now, she's grown a backbone and a few braincells and he's...well, still unpleasant and macho, but in a slightly more interesting way.

So Gwen joined Torchwood in October 2006. Does this fit in with Whoniverse continuity? Given that Aliens of London was set in 2006 and that occurred in Owen's first fortnight on the job (Exit Wounds) so his much-vaunted Torchwood-superiority to Gwen would only have been a matter of months at the most?

AIMEE in Torchwood: Season Four: Dead of Night section: I think that Esther could be a great character...As long as she doesn't continue to moon after Rex. If she does, it'd be far too much like Tosh and Owen and we all know how well that worked out.

I just don't know. She's quite realistic, but then the last thing Torchwood OR Who needs is someone realistic - they'd spend the entire time in hysterics.

Plus what the HELL is Esther doing in such high heeled shoes? If she ever has to run, she won't just have a nice traditional twisted ankle, she'll BREAK both ankles and quite possibly her neck as well.

Oh well, at least she doens't LAUGH at the thought of Torchwood having alien tech the way that moron Rex does. ('Where did you get it?' 'A distant moon of a distant star' 'Ha ha ha'.)

Plus, Rex doesn't like his jokes too gay. Loser.

So...Esther manages to get her sister in a psych ward and her nieces in care, Rex and his father hold each other at gun-point, and dear old Rhys proudly gets his father-in-law locked up in an alien-(or-whatever)-controlled concentration camp...all in the space of one episode.

Honestly, I half-expected Captain Jack to ring his daughter to apologise about his unavoidable murder of her small child, just so we could have a full house.

Why do these people have these stupid PERSONAL LIFE things...God, I miss the Good Old Days. When all we had to worry about was Ianto's half-cyberneticised girlfriend. And his niece and nephew being sold as an alien drug-substance by a corrupt government and army. Oh, and Tosh's succession of undead/lesbian alien/World War One lovers. And of course Gwen being nine months pregnant with cannibalistic alien spawn on her wedding day. Not to mention Owen's fiancee's brain being full of aliens....

...Alright, now I mention it maybe Our Heroes DID have personal lives in the Good Old Days. But at least they involved ALIENS.

SPOILERS for The Blood Line:

So. RIP Esther Drummond. She may have had less actual character than we're used to (as the Radio Times put it, 'the agent so fuzzy and disposable that she could have been played by a packet of cotton-wool pads') but she was still Torchwood to the core: very stupid, very pretty, and very dead very bloodily very young.

And hello Rex. Not exactly my first choice of human to hang around for the next hundred trillion years or so...

Sky seems an excellent addition to the Spin-Off Companions - she's that almost impossible thing, a non-annoying twelve-year-old. Pity in retrospect it's all a bit of a waste of time, trying to extend the SJA's lifetime by introducing a younger generation...

Is there ANYTHING more adorable than Professor Celeste Rivers pretending that her lipstick is sonic? The SJA could SO have continued with her, Jo Grant, and/or a repentant Ruby White popping up to be the Wise Old Woman Of The Tribe whenever Clyde felt he needed one (i.e. very seldom because he could TOTALLY have carried that series himself if only there hadn't been this STUPID feeling that the best way to 'respect' Lis Sladen's memory was to MURDER her series).

No, not Jo Grant, please. I'm still mired in Perwee stories featuring her cluelessness. And I can't stop being distracted by her enormous mouth.

But Jo's infinitely more adorable in Death of the Doctor than she ever was on Who! Sure, she's still clueless and sure, her mouth is now TWICE as enormous, but...there's something about her being a Batty Old Lady that just WORKS so much better than her being a batty young one.

I'm still missing Liz and I only saw her in one or two stories. Why couldn't she come back instead? Or even Mel? Ace wouldn't be too old for some action. But no, we get monster mouth.

You wouldn't SERIOUSLY prefer Mel! You just...WOULDN'T.

Ace would be fantastic. Or would she? Behaving the way she did when she was sixteen would be seriously embarrassing (hell, it was often fairly embarrassing back in the 80s). But being all grown-up and running this A Charitable Earth thing would also be a bit of a disappointment...well, if RTG brought her back He'd find a way to do it RIGHT, no question about it.

Liz was just rather dull. I have no particular desire to see her again, even when I put on Season 7...

Liz was just rather dull.

I thought she was great when she back-talked the Brigadier.

The only time I remember her doing THAT is when she's SNEERING at the Brig for believing in aliens. What a moron.

Liz happens to be my mother's name, and they're the same age, a coincidence which gets in the way of her episodes. I keep wondering about plastic surgery, and forgetting the actual plot.

Now, bringing back Ace could be good. It doesn't matter if her attempts to be hip and trendy are as embarrassing as when she was 16; that kind of behaviour is expected from middle-aged woman who hang around kids.

I love Sky. Sinead Michael is very good. Her Spotlight page says her playing age is "9-11 years" - how can a 12 year old play a 9 year old?

It doesn't matter if her attempts to be hip and trendy are as embarrassing as when she was 16; that kind of behaviour is expected from middle-aged woman who hang around kids.

I don't know if A Charitable Earth is all about helping kids. Or, even if it is, that its founder would spend much time with starving rug-rats rather than fund-raising at gala dinners or whatever.

I love Sky. Sinead Michael is very good.

Yeah, she must be for me to have noticed. Usually I only spot what the acting's like if it's Neska-in-Planet-of-the-Spiders levels of badness.

how can a 12 year old play a 9 year old?

Search me. All ankle-biters look the same to me, I certainly wouldn't be able to guess their ages. Though she did seem youthful enough for me to be mildly surprised that Sarah automatically assumed she was a teenager (but then Sarah continued calling her a teenager even after her 'age' had been established as twelve).

Where does Clyde get all his money? Not only does he have enough to justify having his own bank account, he can afford to hand out two quid to any 'scrounger' who crosses his path. And there's no sign of him having a weekend job (quite right too, what with all the world-saving stuff taking up his time).

Was it ever established what Clyde's mother did to earn a living? I'd be seriously surprised if her career trajectory hadn't been seriously compromised by becoming a single mother. And it's not as if that loser dad would contribute anything to the household - whatever Donna says, it's hard enough for the Child Support Agency to wring any cash out of men who stay IN the country.

Plus, the woman is OBVIOUSLY insane. 'Who needs chocolate when I've got my little Clyde-eee' - well, I need chocolate even after my Doctor came back to me after TSLABYOD! And all the boy did was offer to lay the table, there's no need to go into paroxysms of delight. I got the impression (The Gift?) that he often actually COOKED.

'Sky has a great sense of humour' - Sky seems astonished at this particular claim. Even though her response to Clyde proves that actually she HAS got a great sense of humour. And it's an excuse Sarah must have had to wheel out loads of times in the last month to explain her total weirdness.

I don't know if A Charitable Earth is all about helping kids.

Quite probably not, but that's not what I was suggesting. If Ace started spending time with Clyde and Rani, teaching them how to blow stuff up in between her charity galas, nobody would complain about her odd idea of trendiness; they'd just call her charmingly eccentric.

Where does Clyde get all his money? Not only does he have enough to justify having his own bank account, he can afford to hand out two quid to any 'scrounger' who crosses his path.

Kids don't need much money to open a bank account - I opened one at eight with two pound of pocket money, and they gave me a free piggy bank into the bargain. The banks work on the theory that if they can lure the child through the doors, they'll own them for life.

Handing out money so freely could just mean Clyde has no financial discipline, but on the whole it does seem more likely he's getting money from somewhere, could be his grandparents, could be Sarah Jane.

that's not what I was suggesting. If Ace started spending time with Clyde and Rani, teaching them how to blow stuff up in between her charity galas, nobody would complain about her odd idea of trendiness; they'd just call her charmingly eccentric.

Ah, I see! Sorry I misinterpreted - it's just occurred to me that I don't think of Clyde as Rani as kids any more.

Didn't Maria take Sarah to task (in a pained-Tennant-don't-do-that type thing) when SHE tried to talk down with da kids in Warriors of Kudlak?

Kids don't need much money to open a bank account

Yeah, but he didn't just open it, he obviously kept a respectable amount of money in it.

Handing out money so freely could just mean Clyde has no financial discipline, but on the whole it does seem more likely he's getting money from somewhere, could be his grandparents, could be Sarah Jane.

I just can't see Sarah doling him out some world-saving-pocket-money every week. (Though I hope she at least coughs up to replace the mobiles Clyde and Rani keep getting smashed up in the line of duty. And come to think of it she SHOULD supply them with an emergency fund.)

Sarah has a heaven-given opportunity, as a feminist unfortunately forced to raise two bright-but-blank-slated kids of different genders, to run a bit of a nature-nurture experiment. Or at least to programme 'em to ignore all the **** people put in the way of equality between the sexes. The fact it took her several years to get round to suggesting Luke clean his own room (Mona Lisa's Revenge) suggested she hadn't exactly seized this opportunity with both hands, and the sight of Luke's so-traditional-it's-almost-cliched BOY'S ROOM being transformed into Sky's so-traditional-it's-slmost-cliched GIRL'S ROOM confirmed my suspicions. Ah well.

'Luke's got superior senses' - since when!

NONE of those brats have even NOTICED that Sarah's one of the country's top journalists! (Alright, so neither did I, I always assumed she had more important things to be getting on with.)

Finally got my teeth into some PROPER Torchwood for the first time in months (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang). And god, how I've missed them. Especially Owen. (GWEN: All I'm saying is you are speeding and there are children. OWEN: Well if kids are out at midnight they've got it coming.) Thick insipid Esther and thick unpleasant Rex just TOTALLY failed to replace Our Original Heroes. (Which, given that Our Original Heroes were a rapist, a nerd, and a butler, is REALLY saying something.)

It doesn't look as if the poor dears have made the connection between Captain Jack's beloved 'Doctor' and the 'Doctor' they exist to hunt down, though. Maybe Jack left the original mission off their job description?

The line 'You can beat, shoot, threaten and even poison us and we keep coming back. Stronger every time' is sounding somewhat hollow these days...

Miracle Day Ep 1:

If you actually WANT us to give a •••• about Rex, it's a bit of a mistake for our first glimpse to be of him gloating over a colleague's bride getting leukaemia cos he thinks it'll mean promotion. Maybe this was supposed to be the start of a long process of mellowing, a la Eccleston Doctor, but I don't actually recall getting any fonder of him over the ten episodes. He doesn't get on with his dad! He actually (unlike me) cares about Esther! SO WHAT!

So why is Rex terrified of eternal life one moment, and terrified of dying when the Miracle wears off the next moment?

Esther assumes that someone-who-looks-exactly-like-Captain-Jack-from-1939-and-1925 must be his father? GRANDFATHER, surely? How thick IS this woman?

Since when has Gwen been the kind of person to burst into tears and wail 'I don't know what to do, dad'? A charitable person might suggest that she's unbalanced by her father's illness, but given that she never bothers to see her father if she can possibly help it unless it happens to be her wedding day, I'm not convinced.

'No more investigations, you promised' - WHEN exactly did Gwen make Rhys such a stupid promise? It certainly wasn't after Torchwood went boom in Children of Earth, OR after Anwen was born, cos they were both investigating away in the First Born novel.

Gwen hasn't even kept any HANDCUFFS since her police/Torchwood days (see: Rex chewing through ropes in two seconds flat)?? Despite the fact she's got an entire arsenal of weapons? Are she and Rhys not into bondage? I find that hard to believe, given that even THE DOCTOR is into bondage (at least according to Forest of the Dead).

Love the way Anwen's grinning away at the sight of Mummy shooting people. Stormageddon Dark Lord Of All has NOTHING on HER...

So Mr Smith doesn't detect how Luke's being influenced by the extra-dimensional Nightmare Man while he's SCANNING Luke (though mysteriously he later has a name, picture, name-of-dimensional-home, etc etc)? He's SO ******* USELESS. He OK-ed the Shansheeth...he didn't detect anything in that totem pole...he said the Blathereen plant was harmless...and that's when he isn't deliberately knifing everyone in the back, lying about Luke's parentage and trying to destroy the world.

Still, amazingly, he still has a role when the creature he was created to inadequately-substitute for - K9! - turns up. Their rivalry is a joy.

'The original producer actually wanted to kill PC Andy off in the first series because he was such a peripheral character. However, because the show is so daft, they discovered it was nice to have a character who said things like, "What is this nonsense?"...they were using him as a pressure valve, almost' - Tom Price in DWM. I say we kill the producer off instead. Philistine.

Oh, and another helpful gem of information from the magazine: 'Oswald [Danes] has a lot of emotional baggage' - YOU DON'T SAY!!

Wedding of SJS:

Gita Chandra must be the most successful nosy-parker in the history of nosy-parkers. She recognises Sarah's ACCOUNTANT and EX-EDITOR at the wedding, for heaven's sake. And yet in OVER A YEAR of living right across the road, Gita signally fails to notice what MARIA noticed on her first night in that house - that Sarah hangs round with a LOT of aliens.

'That's the TARDIS? It's just a wooden box!' - how, in all his years with Sarah, could Clyde POSSIBLY have omitted to ask what the TARDIS looked like...just in case?

'These three are just brilliant' says the Doctor. CLYDE is intelligent and extremely brave. (Though he's taking a helluva risk telling the Trickster he wishes to serve him. THAT'S the sort of statement that might be inconveniently binding.) Rani and Luke are bloody useless in this story.

DWM letter: 'Thank you for the DWM Sarah Jane Companion Volume Three. So, Sky would have been revealed as the Trickster's child!' - say WHAT??!!!

Pah. There's an interview with Yasmin Paige in DWM from 2007. She DOESN'T GET ROUND TO MENTIONING that she'll be betraying n'abandoning SJA at the first available opportunity (on the contrary, she incredibly presumptuously mentions Maria taking over Sarah's legacy one day), but there are...hints...that she's a treacherous little Not We. Her claim that she 'wouldn't know where to find' 70s Who, for example (IN A DVD SHOP, perchance???).

So how the hell does Mr Smith know so much about practically every alien race Sarah encounters? He's been trapped in the Earth's crust (or, um, something) for MILLIONS OF YEARS! Has he been stealing information from the TARDIS databanks (assuming there ARE TARDIS databanks and they're not just a figment of the Master's imagination) whenever it lands in that attic?

how the hell does Mr Smith know so much about practically every alien race Sarah encounters?

He's tapping into the gigantic Dalek database every other creature in the universe appears to be getting their information from.

Of course, that means that, should the Doctor happen to show up in the attic, Mr. Smith will no longer recognize him

(All of which is irrelevant do to the program no longer existing... *sniffle* but we can speculate).

He's tapping into the gigantic Dalek database every other creature in the universe appears to be getting their information from.

Hey! It can't be THAT easy to tap into the Dalek database or THE DOCTOR would have reprogrammed the metal gits CENTURIES ago. The Cybermen nicking their infostamps in the Void was a COMPLETELY different matter...

All of which is irrelevant do to the program no longer existing... *sniffle*

NO LONGER EXISTING? Of COURSE it does! I was watching it only YESTERDAY!

'You taught me to think' - Rani to Luke, Goodbye Sarah Jane Smith. He DID? WHEN!

'She's kinda secret, like there's this outside layer but there's something mysterious underneath that' - Darius REALLY must be In Lurve if he thinks one-dimensional Jorjie has LAYERS.

And, bless! The K9 DVDs have CHARACTER PROFILES! Why did I never notice such comic gold before!

'In K9 and Starkey, Jorjie has struck the mother load of excitement' - er...assuming you mean 'mother lode'...she really, REALLY, hasn't.

'Even Gryffen, the reclusive agoraphobic [there should be a comma here! WHY ISN'T THERE A COMMA HERE!] has to eat. Enter the street-smart motor mouth, Darius (pronounced marry us)' - hasn't Gryffen grasped the basics of ORDERING FOOD OVER THE INTERNET?? And I haven't heard Darius called 'Marry us' yet...

'Like Nelson Mandela, Starkey is prepared either to blow up a bridge or to spend thirty years in goal' - hastening over the sheer bad taste of comparing a rubbish teenage actor to humanity's foremost moral authority figure...since when has it been an either/or situation? Plus he didn't seem enormously prepared to be in gaol the one time we SAW Starkey in gaol.

'He brings creativity, satire and humour to the work of the dissident' - ha ha ha ha ha!

Gwen's such a hypocrite. Suddenly her dad is the most important thing in the world to her, just cos he had a heart attack. If only she'd displayed a fraction of this interest in him (not to mention her mum) when he was still healthy. Despite her life - and the planet's existence - constantly being at risk, Gwen never spoke of them, never phoned them, and NEVER (judging by the fact that, when turning up apparently nine months pregnant in Something Borrowed, neither parent says anything like 'But you weren't showing at all last month/five months ago!') goes to see them or has them over to see her. (How far IS Cardiff from Swansea, for heaven's sake?) It's a miracle Gwen even remembered to invite them to her wedding, and even THEN her own selfish desire to walk down the aisle in a stupid white dress was so much more important than the fact she'd have to tell her parents shortly afterwards that their first grandchild had DIED.

(Um, well, I'm ASSUMING it's their first grandchild. On past form Gwen could have a dozen siblings she never gave a second thought to. Of course, they would have all crawled out of the woodwork in Miracle Day...)

http://blogtorwho.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/cbbc-wanted-sja-gay-character.html

Leaving aside the question of what the hell Death of the Doctor is doing on a Green Death DVD...and why those of us who bought SJA Season 4 couldn't have been blessed with an RTG commentary instead of this attempt to blackmail us into buying ANOTHER Green Death...then DAMMIT I want Gay Luke back!

And, bless! The K9 DVDs have CHARACTER PROFILES!

Aaaand Gryffen: 'Gryffen has convinced himself that he was responsible for the cataclysm. Dark forces within The Department maintain this illusion as a way of controlling him' - haaaang on, didn't you just say that he DID cause the cataclysm? ('Gryfffen was part of a scheme designed to halt global warming. It failed and caused massive destruction'.) And are you suggesting that JUNE is lying through her teeth to him?' Professor Gryffen, as the world's top expert on alien technologies, consults directly to June' - you don't 'consult to' people. And whatever happened to Torchwood and UNIT and suchlike?

'By giving Gryffen the task of "examining" K9, June buys them all some time free of The Department's acquisitive tendencies' - yeah, YEARS and YEARS and YEARS....

Invasion of the Bane:

Maria:

'Just go back home, watch telly, do whatever it is you do' - Sarah's being Ecclestonianly condescending but accurate. Given that Maria's totally TV-obsessed. She just tries to sit around watching adverts when even her selfish mum is helping unpack (admittedly mainly as an excuse to ogle the removal men). And as a delightful extra Who-y touch, Alan later makes her...beans on toast.

'They were my friends' - Maria. 'Well, you'll get a better catchment of friends' - Chrissie. Have to admit the madwoman has a point. Luke and (particularly) Clyde ARE a better class of chums. And it's not as if Maria ever bothers getting in touch with her old pals. She doesn't even mind abandoning the new ones to sod off to America for a better fridge.

Maria clutches a TEDDY-BEAR in bed?

Alan is unperturbed when his teenaged daughter asks 'How do you know if you're going mad?'

Alan FORCES Maria to kiss him in front of her brand-new pal. You don't have to be Kelsey to be thinking 'I'm so shamed for you'.

Alan seems amazingly unworried that Maria might have been hurt by the mass hysteria in the streets.

Kelsey:

'I never scream' - surely even KELSEY notices that her own throat is sore from all that...screaming?

Ah bless, first destruction of a mobile in the SJA - Kelsey's IS a real SJA Companion after all! Albeit a short-lived, never-mentioned-again one...

Kelsey's worried about whether she'll ever be kissed? You're kidding! She's a 14-year-old Londoner! It's amazing she isn't taking regular pregnancy tests!

Like the way Kelsey uses Luke as a human shield against the Bane.

'Oh my flipping heck' - she reacts very strongly to the attic (without Mr Smith even being in sight) after she's just seen a MONSTER.

Luke:

So Luke's got a bit of Maria and Kelsey in him? Eek.

'I was born running' - and, unfortunately for him, he was born to the sound of Kelsey's screams. No wonder he's a bit...weird.

'A montage, a collage. Scanned 10,000 guests. Fed every strength and every weakness into him.' - So where are Luke's weaknesses?

Sarah decides to adopt Luke a bit too easily. OK, so it would be embarrassing admitting to Chrissie that she's no idea who he is or what to do with him, but that would surely be preferable to condemning yourself to a lifetime of MOTHERHOOD?

God, I miss Clyde.

Torchwood: Miracle Day: The Blood Line:

'Alright, that's it, I'm done. You know, I've seen some crazy •••• with Torchwood, but now I'm at the limit' - isn't Rex OVERREACTING a bit to the sight of a bead of blood sliding along the ground?

Why the hell was Captain Jack in China during the Boxer rebellion (or in the US in the 1920s or in India in 1909)? Were Torchwood just trying to keep The Freak AWAY from them?

Gwen gazes into the Blessing that will reflect her innermost soul back at her...finds a lifetime of guilt...and says it's BECAUSE SHE'S A WORKING MOTHER? Shouldn't there be more IMPORTANT things to feel guilty about than the fact Daddy gets to be Anwen's primary carer while Mummy saves the world? Like cheating on Rhys or surviving when the rest of Torchwood keeps dying, or getting loads of people killed by releasing a sex-alien, or shooting Jack, or being part of a human race that'll sell it kids to aliens?

Warriors of Kudlak:

It's quite odd seeing The Gang when they're all new-ish and sharp-edged with each other.

'Is he finding it really hard to fit in?' - What, Sarah only thinks to ask this NOW? 'No harder than the rest of us' - er...a BIT harder, surely, Maria. What with him BEING BORN A FEW WEEKS AGO, and all...

'He's Luke. Which makes me Obi-Wan Kenobi' - bless! It is rather sweet that someone as would-be cool as Clyde is actually prepared to play second fiddle to someone as gormless as Luke.

'Sorry, my friend's a bit of a geek' - and it's adorable that he feels the need to APOLOGISE for Luke saving everyone by wiring his mobile into the alien ship's computer.

'22,000 miles over our heads. it could be worse.' Maria: 'HOW?' Gosh, I don't know, Maria...They could be 23,000 miles away? They could be DEAD? They could have been kidnapped by aliens who like eating children instead of making 'em fight?

'Fight your own war. It's got nothing to do with us' - Clyde. Well, I suppose he HAS just been kidnapped and all so is entitled to take an unusual 'sort your own problems out' attitude towards aliens.

'OK, I've gone past "worried", I'm not even stopping at "anxious". I'm full-throttling to "panicked totally beyond reason"' - blimey, Clyde's certainly dropped his attempts to look cool.

'I know what I'd do' says Tosh, correctly predicting that a girl with the power to shag men to death will go after her ex. In other words, Tosh has an ex-boyfriend she wants to kill? Blimey, she's SERIOUSLY unlucky in love. There's the killer-alien-lesbian (dead hours after they had sex), the First-World-War soldier (dead hours after they had sex), the rapist-colleague (dead hours after just agreeing to a date with her) and NOW she's got a lover who miraculously survived but she WANTS to murder...?

Last Sontaran:

'What are you asking me for?' - Maria DOESN'T THINK HER DAD SHOULD BOTHER TO CONSULT HER when deciding whether or not to MOVE HER TO AMERICA?

'I think Clyde wants to impress Lucy' - hmm. Clyde obviously made a mistake at training Luke to detect such signs.

Why is Clyde so happy to admit he fancies Lucy when he keeps his feelings for Rani under wraps for YEARS?

'How can I leave all this behind?' - er...QUITE. Tell your dad not to take the stupid American job. (Since he says you're all that matters to him ANYWAY.) Or tell him to take the •••• job and you'll live with Chrissie. Or Sarah Jane. Or tell him to take the job and work from home - it's a computer company for heaven's sake. Or tell him to ask for a deferment for a couple of years till she's sixteen.

Because MARIA'S job is SAVING THE WORLD and it's a bit more important than Alan's. Except, of course, when ALAN'S saving the world with computer viruses he just happens to have about his person, which is all the MORE reason for them BOTH to STAY IN BANNERMAN ROAD where they belong.

'Why are you being like this? I don't wanna leave you' Maria has the unbelievable cheek to say to Sarah. What's your PROBLEM? Sarah's just doing exactly what YOU'RE doing. Stupidly pretending to be happy at getting both your lives (plus Chrisssie's. Plus the chances of humanity's survival) WRECKED to please some MAN.

'For the first time in my life, I wish I carried a lipstick' - I MISS Clyde.

Maria's got a real instinct for this stuff, hasn't she. DONNA needing TELLING about the whole 'You've got three fingers' thing...

'In 45 minutes this place could come in really handy' - Clyde's such a REALIST. Sure, the entire world's gonna get nuked but as long as THEY'RE safe in a bunker...

'I just wanted to take one last look...and I wanted to say goodbye to Mr Smith' - oh, don't bother about K9...

'Will you come and see us? Please?' 'Of course I will' - the hell you will!

'Some people, it doesn't matter how far they travel. They never really go away' - unless they're going to America in which case they'll never come back, not for your wedding or their mum's. But hey, once every couple of years they might Facebook you to boast about the size of their fridge.

It's very sweet and unChrissie-like of her to just let the whole alien thing go. I'd've expected her to be more...Gita-ish about it ('Lizard Spaceman Used Me Like An Overcoat').

Bit drastic of the Jacksons to SELL their house, isn't it? They'll never get back on the London housing ladder now...

'What are you asking me for?' - Maria DOESN'T THINK HER DAD SHOULD BOTHER TO CONSULT HER when deciding whether or not to MOVE HER TO AMERICA?

The impression I got was that she thought her dad didn't really care about her opinion, but was just asking in a pathetic attempt to fool her into thinking he did care.

How could Maria possibly think her dad didn't care?

Teenagers have been known to overreact. E.g, tell them they'll have to wait a bit for their pocket money, because you don't want to disturb the cat sleeping in your lap, and they'll storm off to their room, slamming all the doors, convinced that proves you hate them.

Compared to that kind of behaviour, Maria is pretty reasonable for her age.

(And before you say you never acted like that at her age, you were a cat-loving Dr Who fan. With cats and the Doctor as your role models, obviously you'd never be so daft.)

(And before you say you never acted like that at her age, you were a cat-loving Dr Who fan. With cats and the Doctor as your role models, obviously you'd never be so daft.)

Also, I never got pocket money. I'd never dream of sponging money off my parents any more than Pertwee would have off UNIT. (Only without the demands for a vintage car instead.)

But if Maria's crazy teenage hormones (not that there's much sign of 'em with this lot, give or take Luke having one tantrum about cleaning his room in five years) really made her think FOR ONE MICROSECOND that her dad didn't give a toss about her, why was she ruining her own life to try to please him?

Because he wanted him to care - not entirely rational, I know, but few teenagers are.

But SURELY the question of whether Alan gives a •••• about his daughter was settled to everyone's satisfaction MONTHS ago? Like, when she decided to go live with HIM instead of her mum?

That just means she likes him better than her mum. It doesn't stop her having doubts about how much he likes her. On her bad days, she may even suspect the only reason he wanted her was to avoid having to pay child support to his ex-wife.

Well, if THAT was the reason it failed spectacularly. ALAN is paying CHRISSIE support, for no readily apparent reason.

But honestly, Alan and Maria obviously adore each other, Sarah was openly drooling with envy at their relationship whilst trying to adapt to Luke.

Just a tangential observation about Rani's name - the maharajah in Indiana Jones 4 could definitely be mistaken for a maharani in that outfit and jewelry

John Barrowman on Russell T God telling him why he'd decided to murder Ianto: 'The relationship...was becoming something that he didn't want it to be. It was becoming about being gay. Ianto wasn't defined as being gay. Ianto fell in love with the man Jack Harkness...Ianto and Jack's story wasn't about being gay; it was about love. There aren't really many relationships like that on television, between two men. But Russell said..."It's becoming a cutesy thing, rather than a meaningful, moving thing." People were turning Jack and Ianto into something that it wasn't. It wasn't about love anymore. "I need to finish it," Russell said.' - Is it just me or is that a pile of TOTAL gibberish?

Sky deserves her owm series where she can torture baddies with her bolts of electricity.

No, CLYDE should have got his own series - called The Sarah Jane Adventures - that Sky would be welcome to be part of.

Well, here's to (possibly the late lamented) Mr Colchester. He was the best thing about Aliens Among Us. I mean, the 'aliens are running Cardiff!' plot is a) unoriginal (BLON! Want my Blon back!) and b) unresolved, Gwen's a possessed fake, Captain Jack's hardly in it (and when he is he's running a terrorist group for no readily apparent reason), Orr's habit of turning into sexually-arousing elevators (or something) isn't enormously convincing OR endearing, and of course dear old Rhys and PC Andy do their best but they've got SUPPORTING CHARACTER running through 'em like Brighton Rock but Colchester just feels RIGHT for Torchwood, as if he's been there all along, even if I DO want to punch him every time he calls Gwen 'Mrs Cooper'.

And now Torchwood's gone and lost GWEN! I wouldn't be so upset if she'd died a heroic death (or of course a stupid, typical-Torchwood-incompetence kinda death) but deciding 'It's time for Gwen Cooper to go and live a better life'...with her HUSBAND and CHILD - ugg! (And...y'know...WHERE, for starters? Cardiff's just been taken over by an alien God.)

Didn’t realise it was her until it was pointed out way afterwards that SJA alum Anjli Mohindra (Rani) was in Legends of Tomorrow in 4.3 Dancing Queen on November 4 2018.

On her show, Sarah Jane more or less filled the role of the Doctor.

At one point, her Companions consisted of a white male, a black male, and a female of Indian descent. Sound familiar?

Sorry, Chibbers, but RTD beat you to this by nearly a decade!

Did he not realise that an ensemble cast works very well when they're stuck on Earth, less so when they're whizzing round the universe...?

Guess not.

Burn Gorman, who portrayed Owen Harper in Torchwood, will be playing Adolphus Murtry in the upcoming season of The Expanse. Murtry is the main antagonist in that season's story arc, a ruthless and quite possibly psychopatic chief of security who has little regard for human life and the rule of law.

Big Finish is having a Anjli Mohindra sale no doubt due to her certain upcoming TV appearance.

Burn Gorman in an iconic scene from season 4 of The Expanse. Two killers just chewing the fat.

The People Under the Moon written by Anjli Mohindra and praise given by her former SJA boss Russell T. Davies:

https://www.radiotimes.com/news/film/2020-05-06/anjli-mohindra-short-film-coronavirus/

Children of Earth:

Ianto: 'It's weird. It's just different. It's not men, it's just him. It's only him' - really? Cos according to people who actually know about such matters, Ianto was TOTALLY going gay-cruising alone on that common in sparkly gear when he first bumped into Captain Jack...

Also, Clem: 'He's queer. I can smell it.'

JACK: Ianto, we're having a baby. Have you told Rhys?
GWEN: I've only just found out myself.
JACK: Oh, you told me before you told him. He is gonna love that. - And yet you just had to shove your superior-baby-knowledge in Rhys's face a few episodes later, didn't you...

'If she's anti-terrorist, I would not mind being Uncle Terrorist' - OMG, no wonder Andy lost Gwen to RHYS. And with this attitude it's no wonder he gets together with Yvonne Hartman in the audios.

Ianto and Jack didn't have the 'does it hurt dying' 'will you carry on forever' 'I'm going to die and you're just going to go on' conversation SOONER?

IANTO: So one day you'll see me die of old age, - Yeah, you're being a bit over-optimistic there Sweetie *sob* - and just keep going.
JACK: Yeah.
IANTO: We'd better make the most of it, then.
JACK: I suppose.
IANTO: Like right now?
JACK: Ianto, the world could be ending.
IANTO: The world's always ending. And I have missed that coat.
JACK: Rhys, do you want to take the car and go to those shops down by the wharf? We need some discs for these things. Should take about twenty minutes?
IANTO: Thirty minutes.
JACK: Thirty.
RHYS: I'll go later. The beans are almost done.
JACK: The beans are almost done.
IANTO: Bloody beans. - Why accept defeat? You're not to know this is your last chance *sob* but why not just come out and SAY 'That was code for •••• off we're about to have sex, moron. Or stay and watch but either way WE'RE GOING TO HAVE SEX RIGHT NOW.'

'This must have been eating away at you' - MUST it though, Ianto? Don't judge our Captain by your human morality. His ACTUAL reaction was 'It sounds like a good deal.'

'And just so you know, I have a daughter called Alice and a grandson called Steven, and Frobisher took them hostage yesterday' - and Ianto never noticed despite (presumably) being in charge of paying the phone bills and being shacked up with Captain Jack who ALWAYS answers said phone WHENEVER Alice rings, according to HER if not to anything we've ever seen...

JACK: Let's go stand up to them.
IANTO: Yes, sir. - JUST SAY NO IANTO! PLEASE JUST SAY NO!

of course dear old Rhys and PC Andy do their best but they've got SUPPORTING CHARACTER running through 'em like Brighton Rock

Except that the Torchwood audios seem to have decided he's their MAIN CHARACTER. And have him infesting non-Torchwood audios too, though to be fair he doesn't seem to be fooling anyone in Stranded:

'You're the saddo policeman who hangs around with Tania' (Robin).

'You weren't thinking of going without me, were you' (Andy). Sweetie, everyone ALWAYS leaves without you. It took, like, A DECADE for you to beg, nag and cajole your way into Torchwood even after your best friend joined Torchwood...

'Sergeant Andy rushed in where angels fear to tread' - OK, that one's actually quite complementary. Until you remember that the expression is 'Fools rush in where angels fear to tread'...

'I dunno which part I find hardest to believe - that you've been lying to me for months or that you've got a girlfriend' (Tania).

'Painfully naive' (Gemma).

He has mixed feelings about pterodactyls? Did he meet Torchwood's?

of course dear old Rhys and PC Andy do their best but they've got SUPPORTING CHARACTER running through 'em like Brighton Rock

This is particularly noticeable in Ghost Mission, wherein Andy is introduced to us as the new Regular Cast and so is Norton Folgate who - well, bend me over backwards like it's VE Day - absolutely wipes the floor with him.

'My friends call me Andy' 'What do people who don't like you call you?' 'Andy' - Yup, that's our Andy!

'How many times? I can't touch things' - well, QUITE, Andy really should have got that fact through his skull by now.

'Ten years of wondering why it wasn't me' - that's not quite true, is it. It's ten years of wondering 'Why GWEN and not me.' Who wouldn't.

'I just want to matter' 'I'm not brilliant, I'm nice. I'm also trapped in a coffin' 'I just thought that for once I was being the hero' - yeah, I'd feel a lot sorrier for the guy if he hadn't - somehow! - ended up as a fully-fledged Torchwood member (the one and only by Stranded) and having sex with Yvonne Hartman after she overthrew Captain Jack into the bargain...

(Yvonne Hartman from an alt-uni, OBVIOUSLY. Not, y'know...CyberYvonne. He's not IANTO.)

Ashenden:

Aaaaand the abuse of poor dear PC Andy Davidson continues (though, to be fair, Norton and Liz abuse everyone, each other included. And she does call him 'Splendid idiot' once instead of just 'Idiot'):

'I'm very sorry, exciting future idiot, but I think Norton summoned me. I'm sure you've heard this a lot, but you're here by mistake' 'You, dropped-on-your-head Andrew' 'You'll have to do' 'Does EVEYRONE just use me?' 'YES!' 'Trust me, I don't want you to be shot' 'Don't you?' 'I was being painfully polite' 'All your life.'

And I'm not sure which is saddest: 'I've stayed friends with both my exes' or regarding going to see the new Bond movie as 'living my best life'. (Come to think of it, I don't remember him being on very good terms with Yvonne Hartman after they split up in God Among Us...when exactly is this SET?)

Why does Andy never think about how the events he's witnessing in the 1950s would change history, he'd never have existed, etc.

And why the hell can't he just stand on a commuter train for forty minutes surrounded by alien-possessed people carrying more aliens in suitcases, I mean LITERALLY all he needs to do to stop an alien being stuffed down his gob is to keep said gob shut and he can't even manage it.

Eve Myles is back as a cop in We Hunt Together:
https://imgur.com/a/yVxVWrr

Gooseberry:

There were some nice Owen moments ('You're not just dead on the outside' 'I'm a zombie with insomnia. deal with it'...actually 'nice' is probably the wrong word, isn't it) but as per usual it's The Andy Show:

'For a copper he's as suspicious as cornflakes.'

Re Caite being curious about what she'd find through the Rift: 'And you found Andy. On behalf of the universe I can only apologise.'

'It's...I dunno, it's....ANDY' - Owen's reaction to learning Caite's in love with him.

'They save the world. And they're really good at it' - I knew Andy has a bit of a Torchwood crush but the penny must have dropped by now that they're not really THAT good at it.

How I hoped that every time Andy confided in Owen about the CCTV he was going to check later that day that Andy was setting a trap for him but nope...

'Torchwood. You don't care how many lives you ruin' - so FINALLY the penny drops but by Aliens/God Among Us Andy's not only joined Torchwood, he's shagging Yvonne Hartman, and by Stranded he's practically the ONLY member of Torchwood left standing...

Stranded 3: Dear old Andy, again:

Andy needs Liv's permission to sit down?

So there are two suns in a purple sky - plus alien wildlife - but what stops Andy in his tracks is...A CHAIR.

Andy wears Hawaiian shirts? Andy packs four Hawaiian shirts for a trip to an alien planet? Andy thinks 'fugitive from justice' and 'brightly coloured clothing' are compatible?

'Yeah, right' is Liv's response when Andy says 'I'm getting the hang of this.'

'How are you going to do reconnaissance if you don't notice anything?' - Liv to Andy.

'We're all going to die' - Helen when the Doctor says Andy'll be on their crack reconnaissance team. Well, I hope you're all sorry for bullying him now he's DEAD...

Andy wants to see the American Civil War and the Fall of Rome? WHY? I mean, they sound a bit dangerous...

Andy accuses Old-Tanya of being PARANOID? SHE'S the one who's been living in this totalitarian society for years, not him!

In the Sylvester McCoy thread I just mentioned him being in a play called A Joke.


Well a new version of A Joke is coming later this year on 15-27 August at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with Gareth David-Lloyd.

https://www.secretplanet.co.uk/?fbclid=IwAR2tXI7bNiqVetLenATgm_l7t2XnIQuD-Fr9CUsbj9CfyWiVScvFPtxKplw

Stranded 4: Andy (yes, yet again):

'Brave heart, Andy' - BAD Doctor! No one but Tegan gets a 'Brave heart'! (Obviously it's fine to make an exception in Clara's case when Matt had just been reminiscing to her about the Globby Australian.)

Liv to Andy: 'Even when you got killed you looked on the bright side' - nice epitaph but not at this particular moment when Andy's inexplicably behaving so scared and so unwilling to risk his own miserable skin to save the Doctor and/or multiverse.

Andy's ANGRY to hear that Our Heroes are finally leaving now that Sexy's OK? What exactly did the cretin THINK they'd do?

And if he's angry about the fact they're leaving him behind, he could always have asked to accompany 'em. Or just stowed away. But nope, the guy who spent years sulking cos Torchwood wouldn't have him - having joined, nay, BECOME Torchwood - is obviously gonna spend years sulking cos the Doctor won't have him even though the Doctor undoubtedly WOULD.

Actually, why the hell would Luke join UNIT (Farewell, Sarah Jane)? He's met three UNIT officers, two of which (Enemy of the Bane and Death of the Doctor) were miserable traitors-to-humanity for no readily apparent reason. Sure, the other one was the Brig but he just sort of...sat in a chair, I mean, WE all love him but WE'VE all seen his 'chap with the wings there - five rounds rapid' glory days...

Owen Harper: Highlights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aft4msMvJy4

His Dark Materials 3.4 Lyra and Her Death guest stars Souad Faress (Old Rani, The Mad Woman In The Attic.)

Corpse Day: PC Andy Davidson (yes, who'd've thought HE would end up as Torchwood's main character):

'Andy. You're as much fun as a carrier bag in the rain' - even the guy who wasn't exactly a barrel of laughs even before he ended up dead and very bitter about it regards Andy as even less fun than him...

'Do you ever say anything not annoying' - yup, even if you've spent years imprisoned in a basement being raped by a Weevil you still find the policeman who arrived to rescue you really really annoying... if he's PC Andy Davidson...

Why doesn't Andy ask Owen about the whole BEING DEAD BUT STILL WALKING N'TALKING thing? (Wouldn't just be idle curiosity, he naturally later ends up with a girlfriend in a similar condition.)

'We cannot let that THING be born' - blimey, Andy, have you never heard of a woman's right to choose? The Hippocratic Oath? Weren't you DEFENDING snot-nosed brats in Children of Earth?

Rani Takes on the World: Beyond Bannerman Road:

'What about Mr Smith?' 'It's all closed up isn't it. She wanted it all closed up.' 'But not forever. You told me.' 'Eve showed me glimpses of the future. I will be living in that house. But not yet...Because I miss her. I miss her so much. Seeing that house - it makes me sad, it makes me so sad' - oh for heaven's sake GET A GRIP.

'I'm just trying to be half as good as SHE was' - Sarah never saved the world as a kid and also Rani never destroyed the world due to a parent-obsession so she shouldn't be quite so unsure of herself...

Clyde gets Sarah's scanner-watch-thing? Good, but is there A SINGLE THING LEFT FOR POOR LUKE?

'You two an item then?' 'That would never happen, ridiculous.' 'Funny, Luke always thought that you two would -' - Luke wasn't the only one *sigh*

'Bombarding the family WhatsApp with guys from some website she's found. I'm like "Mum, I'm thirty. I've brought down the government. I've saved the Earth" and she's all "Rani, my love, my darling, you're not getting any younger..."' - Eek! Gita actually finds out about the world-saving stuff (without getting mind-wiped again) and doesn't go in for any 'Alien used me as an overcoat!'-style publicity?

Clyde's dad is only just getting round to marrying his aunt NOW?!

Clyde's mum is dating Silent Sue from the library?! Good for her.

Gita wanted Rani to marry Clyde? THAT must have caused some interesting rows with Haresh...

'Nothing went wrong, we're just friends' - yeah, maybe you should give the obsessive-leaving-of-voicemails-for-Clyde a rest, then.

'Journalism - the stuff I do between selling mattresses' - *wince*

'This wedding is a fake!' - so...just the sound of Clyde's voice on a message is enough to restore Rani's memory and fuel her determination? Dammit why didn't she just go after him for a relationship years ago then?

Rani doesn't seem in any particular hurry to get the truth about her sinisterly-vanished mother (and the rest of the guests) out of Tiffany.

'Stop deceiving yourself, Rani Chandra' - Jeez, the sudden outbreak of Clani-ism is getting exhausting. Wasn't like this when they were actually hanging out together in the LAST episode.

'My girlfriend is a TARDIS?!' - DARLING Clyde! Ultra-convenient though, isn't it. His pregnant girlfriend out of the picture, their bond just an illusion that will soon fade and that everyone else has already forgotten, him all ready to be Rani's side-kick instead of pursuing his graphic-novel career (which is weird cos I always assumed if the SJA had continued after Lis Sladen died that HE'D be the main character).

On Youtube came across an ad for The Lazarus Project and it informed me that this is a time travel series and I then looked this up:
http://tinyurl.com/23mnz9tf

Included in the cast is Anjli Mohindra who of course previously did some time travelling during her time as Rani in The Sarah Jane Adventures.
Another curio in casting is Vinette Robinson (Rosa).