A Little Slip

Before you read this, you may want to sit down... We'd like to inform you that SARAH-JANE.tv will not hold themselves responsible for any squee-related injuries our visitors suffer as a result of reading the following news.

Sitting comfortably? Good. So, Russell T. Davies is currently doing his rounds to promote the exceedingly creepy Children of Earth, which kicks off on BBC One next Monday. Yaay! On one of his interviews for Radio 4, he spilled the beans on some SJA tidbits you may find of interest!

Interviewer, Mark Lawson, suggested that where the original Doctor Who was just a TV show, Davies' version [with multiple multimedia spin-offs] is an example of what happens in modern TV. A hit can become an entire industry!

'It's not cynical to talk about it as an industry,' Davies quips. 'All this support stuff keeps Doctor Who afloat, keeps it at the front of everyone's agenda, keeps it funded. So actually, it's very very healthy for the mothership. But it's the way we work now. Sarah Jane's the highest-rated programme on CBBC, Torchwood was the highest-rated drama on BBC3 and it's now the highest-rated drama on BBC America. I've turned into this digital man! Dunno how that happened!'

Lawson went on to enquire if Davies saw the spin-offs as 'his', as opposed to Doctor Who - which he equates to buying someone else's house.

'Yes! I was the landlord! I'm moving on from Doctor Who now, but I'm not from The Sarah Jane Adventures or Torchwood. We've just started working on series four of Sarah Jane yesterday, actually. [Fandom: *UBER-SQUEE!!!*] It's not so much that they're mine, because they're written by teams of people. But I feel I've made a commitment to the cast, so I feel honour bound in a way to stay. Of course I'm going to look after it!'

Davies also talks about the BBC's falling budget: 'I don't think there's a lot of fat to be cut, I think it's going to get very tough for people....I've been so lucky to be working on a show like Doctor Who that, frankly, has a lovely budget." He elaborates on SJA's budget in an interview with The Stage:

'Money’s always a problem with The Sarah Jane Adventures, but actually we’re about four weeks into filming [Season 3] on a new schedule, a slightly different way of making it, to save money. And it’s working. That’s brilliant. I thought it’d fall apart, personally. I shouldn’t say that, should I? But it’s really working. We’ve found a way to make it look just as good for slightly less money, so that’s looking promising. It could just run and run. I can’t say yet, but we’re getting very encouraging signs from the Children’s department, who love it.'

He goes on to clarify that: '[A fourth series] is not definite, but it’s really promising. More than four, actually, if we can. But we’ll see.'

Which basically means they're planning the next series, before the third has even aired - let alone finished filming! Huzzah! A green light from the Beeb is all but definite, especially when the ratings skyrocket with the Doctor's appearance on the show. I've heard vague whispers of some major changes taking place in the potential fourth series, not all of them for the better in my humble opinion. But SARAH-JANE.tv live in hope that should the show continue, these changes are overshadowed by a brilliant writing team and an exceedingly brilliant cast! We already have both, so it's pretty win/win, eh? Roll on Series 4!