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Doctor Who's Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane) Dies at 63

Posted by timothy on from the lifetime-pass dept.

Doofus writes "NPR reports that Elisabeth Sladen, who played the Doctor's assistant Sarah Jane, has died at 63. Sladen played opposite Jon Pertwee and then Tom Baker, and eventually earned her own show. BBC stories here, including a picture with K9, and here."

31 of 132 comments (clear)

  1. Good Bye Sarah Jane by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Way before her time. She will be missed!

    --

    "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    1. Re:Good Bye Sarah Jane by Gadget_Guy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      She will be missed indeed. I was very suprised at how much this saddened me. She was but one actor in such a long running show, and yet it is amazing how her character's impact is still felt today (at least for me). I think it was because she was on for so long, and because she had such a warm connection with the Doctor. You could tell they cared for each other, more than with other companions (and without all the stupid sexual angst that the modern series displays).

      When she reprised her role in the modern series, it was such a delight to see her again; it was like seeing an old friend. It was nice that this feeling was also displayed by the Doctor, who referred to her fondly as "my Sarah Jane".

      I have been watching The Sarah Jane Adventures recently. A lot of the stories are understandably juvenile, but there have been some in the later seasons that really quite good. I still haven't finished watching the show, but it is going to be very sad to do so knowing that Elisabeth Sladen has passed away. I hope that this last season has a fitting finale with which to bid her goodbye.

    2. Re:Good Bye Sarah Jane by Ciggy · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Perhaps like me she would have been one of the first (most likely the first) assistants you remembered as I started watching Dr Who in the early '70s.

      Even after watching later, and pre (on video), incarnations of Dr Who, Jon Pertwee + Elizabeth Sladen will always be the doctor and his assistant to me.

      --

      A rose by any other name would smell as sweet;
      A chrysanthemum by any other name would be easier to spell
    3. Re:Good Bye Sarah Jane by Gadget_Guy · · Score: 4, Interesting

      My first would have been Liz Shaw, although she never had much impact for me. Jo Grant was a bigger hit with me as a kid because she was more familiar to me since she acted like a big kid. Plus I thought she was the hottest woman on TV at the time.

      But Sarah Jane was such a strong character, more forthright and proactive than the other two companions I had seen. She also was the first one (for me) to cross the border of regeneration. I think that the warmth of Tom Baker's Doctor may have coloured how I saw Sarah Jane. Perhaps they really weren't as close as I imagined; it is just that their relationship post-regeneration seemed friendlier.

    4. Re:Good Bye Sarah Jane by Psychotria · · Score: 2

      I'm a bit shocked that she died so young (63!!), but comments like yours indicate that she will live for a long time yet in the hearts of her fans (yeah, I know that sounds corny and is probably a bit of a cliché, but it's true). We will all die. The legacy we leave is worth a lot; in some instances it leads to immortality.

    5. Re:Good Bye Sarah Jane by osu-neko · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I'm a bit shocked that she died so young (63!!)...

      Cancer sucks...

      --
      "Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
    6. Re:Good Bye Sarah Jane by Spacelem · · Score: 2

      Cancer sucks...

      I know. My dad died of cancer this time last year aged 58, so I'm feeling rather upset about her death.

      Sarah Jane Smith was one of my favourite assistants, from my favourite era of Doctor Who. I'll miss her :(

    7. Re:Good Bye Sarah Jane by asdf7890 · · Score: 2

      She didn't show the 63 years either. OK so she was obviously no spring chicken, but she was in very good mental and physical condition compared to many 63 year olds.

    8. Re:Good Bye Sarah Jane by tehcyder · · Score: 2

      Well, I suppose I do hold a certain nostalgia for Sylvester McCoy

      Mrs McCoy will be glad to hear that the number of her husband's fans has just doubled.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
  2. So long Sarah Jane by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

    If only she could regenerate like the Doctor :( She will be missed by millions of fans.

  3. What? by Laebshade · · Score: 3, Funny

    Who?

    1. Re:What? by bluemonq · · Score: 4, Informative

      That's The Doctor to you.

  4. Bad things Happen in 3's by supertrinko · · Score: 4, Informative

    The Brigadier, died in February. The Celestial Toymaker, died in March. Sarah Jane Smith, died in April. I hope it ends here.

    --
    If it rhymes it must be true.
    1. Re:Bad things Happen in 3's by iced_773 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Tom Baker's getting up there in years...God I hope it doesn't happen

    2. Re:Bad things Happen in 3's by Fractal+Dice · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You know you've been following a show for a long time when you start to tune in for the obituaries

      :_(

      Goodbye Sara Jane.

    3. Re:Bad things Happen in 3's by Hazel+Bergeron · · Score: 2

      Life expectency in the UK is just short of 80.

      And, if you ignore deaths of infants and young children, has not increased by much since WW1. We somewhat overestimate the efficacy of modern healthcare at prolonging adult life (though it can do great things for improving quality of life) - the best policies involve mostly simple rules about good nutrition, sanitation and observation.

      Yet we are crap at implementing programmes for detecting cancer early. It is only partly a tech problem - the main stumbling block is the requirement for a socialised solution: free and frequent testing. The UK is in the process of privatising its health service, and is pretty much a lost cause if the current coalition government does not collapse.

    4. Re:Bad things Happen in 3's by ciderbrew · · Score: 2

      :)

      When he turns into Sylvester McCoy I'll leave the room.

    5. Re:Bad things Happen in 3's by Hazel+Bergeron · · Score: 2

      I know it's fun to claim that the National Health Service is being privatised - but that doesn't make it true and it's not.

      Perhaps when you were studying the government's plans you skipped over the privatisation of management (including resource allocation) and use of private healthcare providers. Worse, perhaps you're so young that you forget what it was like before the proto-marketplace of "trusts".

      The NHS is a (1) national (2) health (3) service. Trusts eroded (1) but the GP consortia plan destroys the notion entirely. (3) does not apply if the government merely allocates funds but does not actually provide a service. As for (2), good health is primarily about good nutrition, good sanitation and good observation. They are social goals - the first two countering the "squalor" of Beveridge's five giants, the last countering "ignorance" - not goals for individuals.

      There is currently a strong focus in cancer care in the UK on early detection, which saves lives as well as money

      There is currently a strong focus on early detection for specific cancers for specific risk groups.

      though in some cases aggressive screening programmes have been found to do neither

      You're probably thinking of a problem like this one which manifests itself particularly in the fashionable alarm-inducing cancers. Unfortunately, certain groups are misinterpreting (and I use that word inappropriately generously) the problem as being one of too much screening, rather than an understanding that sometimes the best approach is watch and wait rather than immediately aggressively treat. IOW, the aggression is in the response to screening.

      Aside from breast, do you have any other "aggressive screening programmes" you have on your mind to criticise?

  5. Even in the new series... by ndogg · · Score: 4, Informative

    Even in the new series, she was awesome. She'll be sorely missed.

    Neil Gaiman tweeted about this video, and it seems apropos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1QgCx1CIaQ&feature=youtu.be

    --
    // file: mice.h
    #include "frickin_lasers.h"
    1. Re:Even in the new series... by RDW · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Tom Baker on the news:

      http://www.tom-baker.co.uk/pages/content/index.asp?PageID=159

      'Sarah Jane dead? No, impossible! Impossible. Only last week I agreed to do six new audio adventures with her for Big Finish Productions...She can't be dead. But she is: she died yesterday morning. Cancer. I had no idea she was ill; she was so private, never wanted any fuss, and now, gone. A terrible blow to her friends and a shattering blow for all those fans of the programme whose lives were touched every Saturday evening by her lovely heroic character, Sarah-Jane Smith.'

  6. K9 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    John Kovalich summed it up nicely: http://www.dorktower.com/images/comics/DorkTower942.gif

    1. Re:K9 by $RANDOMLUSER · · Score: 3, Informative

      Parent link really is worth the trouble to follow.

      --
      No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
  7. Spoiler Alert! by metalmaster · · Score: 2

    Dont read below this line if you do not wish for the story to be spoiled....

    ...everyone dies eventually

    In an somewhat related note, this is one of the issues I had with the most recent Dynasty Warriors game. The campaign mode followed each of the prominent officers and generals until their death; untimely or not. It really put a damper on things.

    p.s I wanted to put more space before the big spoiler alert, but slashdot's junk filter caught on

  8. SORELY missed by Unka+Willbur · · Score: 4, Informative

    Like so many folks, she was my first "Doctor Who Girl" and I've had a crush on her all these years. I got to interview her in the early 80s and a nicer, kinder and more friendly person I have never met. A great actress and good person. She's the first celebrity whose death I have wept for in I don't know how long. She will be sorely missed and always remembered.

    --
    "Remember when I said I would never lie? Well, that was the first time."
  9. Culture by k2r · · Score: 4, Insightful

    > Last time I check Slashdot wasn't some Hollywood gossip blog.

    1) What Hollywood? She wasn't American.
    2) Doctor Who is a cultural phenomenon most British and many internatonal readers of Slashdot grew up with. Hell, I was born in the year Elisabeth Sladen became the compagnon and though I'm not even British I know her.
    Slashdot is about culture and those things are part of geek culture.

  10. Re:This news struck a chord for me by Plammox · · Score: 2

    With the amount of people turned into minced meat on the road, these days, the amount of people receiving a verdict of terminal cancer, stress-induced heart disease, being here, right now is as good as it gets. Some people tend to ignore that. There is really no need to post as AC with a message like above, is there?

  11. Goodby Liz! by NetMassimo · · Score: 2

    I'm generally a lurker here at Slashdot but Sarah Jane was my first companion so I find Elisabeth Sladen's death particularly sad, also coming not long after Nicholas Courtney's death. It's like the end of an era is coming. :-(((

    --
    Ciao :-) Massimo
  12. Re:WTF is this? by BluBrick · · Score: 4, Funny

    Hollywood?
    HOLLYWOOD?

    Gimme your Geek Card...


    NOW mister!

    --
    Ahh - My eye!
    The doctor said I'm not supposed to get Slashdot in it!
  13. au revoir by symes · · Score: 2

    Living round the corner from Sarah Jane's house it feels like we've lost a mildly eccentric neighbour - there's always a buzz when they film here, particularly so for the local children. I feel Elisabeth Sladen created an engaging character that went beyond the Dr Who franchise - that dotty sixty something year old women had a lot of fun and life in them, unusual for what is still a very male dominated genre.

  14. Re:Who ? by ratbag · · Score: 2

    At the risk of feeding the troll: the people who are deeply saddened are "within the miniscule circle of people who watched Dr. Who". They are sharing their grief, in a natural, human way.

    Your mealy-mouthed quotes ("deeply saddened") are unnecessary - many people are genuinely saddened to see another part of their childhood gone. That more than anything is what gets me thinking.

    I am not as saddened by her passing as I was by the death of my father last year of cancer, aged 67, but the parallels are all too plain for me, and I suspect others who have posted here and in other forums.

    Feel free to go and puke, we'll carry on without you quite happily.

  15. Re:Elizabeth Sladen by Kirin+Fenrir · · Score: 2

    Way too young. However, either the wikipedia article or all the news stories are wrong. If she was born in '46, she was 65.

    mark

    They could both be right. She was friends with a time traveler, after all. :)

    --
    Caffeine is my anti-drug!

    Duranin - A NWN2 Roleplaying Persistent World