Out with the old...

Now that it's spring how about we follow tradition and give this place a nice big 'ol spring clean? Yep, that's right - following in the steps of sister site TORCHWOOD.tv, SJ.tv is about to roll out a brand spanking new look!

Over the next couple of hours bear with us as a number of changes are made - and know that by the end of the process you'll have a mighty prettier (and slightly less pink...) SARAH-JANE.tv coming your way.

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10PM UPDATE - There we have it, we're up and running again! Thanks for your patience guys and gals, as you can see it was most definitely worth it.

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The new layout includes a handy Google newsreel with up to the minute SJA related updates, a weekly poll that offers you the reader to voice your opinions, and last but not least the chance to become a follower of this very site!

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Let us know what you think of the changes below!

The Quiet Corner of Television

I'm an angry young man when it comes to the current state of television, because it's something I'm so passionate about but right now it's dying a death. Reality television isn't really the problem... no, the reasons why programme commissioners have crafted that particular genre into such a mainstream phenomenon are what's wrong with the state of television today.

It's all about money. Programmes are made to sell, and in return, they should be cheap to make. Drama costs a lot, yes - so they're first to go. We're left with a television schedule chock-a-block full of reality television, that's cheap, sensational (so newspapers are willing to give coverage) and above all, so easy to sell to the audience.

All that means that television drama suffers, and like I commented yesterday one of the key losses being children's drama - the keystone of children's television.

Russell T Davies shares my beliefs, and outlines them all in this quite magnificent BAFTA produced video conference. Everybody reading this site, you enjoy watching the SJA. If you're a 12 year old boy, or 45 year old woman, whatever, you have a duty as a fan to watch the video and show your support of kid's television.

That link again, because it's so important that people take notice and fight for the future of children's broadcasting.

(Whilst we're at it, you'd do well to catch Charlie Brooker's Newswipe on BBC Four, every Wednesday at 10:30pm - it's a pretty good look at the British television news, and how it fails us every single day)

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Elsewhere, is Tom Baker due to make a return to the show that made him famous over thirty years ago...?

Won't somebody please think of the children?!

You know, I grew up during the 1990's with the likes of Byker Grove, Grange Hill, Ghost Hunter, Pig Heart Boy, the Demon Headmaster and Aquilla on the air. Of course, long before that you had Children's Ward and Press Gang, too. Lots of diverse programming there, I think you'll agree. Nowadays, children's television is dying a slow death - as every year the amount of hours devoted to it drops further, and the budget shrinks faster than a guy's manhood during a cold winter's day.

Russell T Davies isn't happy about the changes, and he makes that clear during an interview with Licensing.biz (reported here via DigitalSpy). He cries, "Children's TV has all but disappeared from ITV, literally vanished from the schedules, and it's not coming back any time soon. We need to embrace what the BBC has. Something massive needs to be done - children's programming needs more money and it needs to urgently. Nothing is more important than our children. It is not nostalgic to remember something that was brilliant. It is remembering something that you loved."

Let's hope more shows like The Sarah Jane Adventures manage to make it on the air and carry the tradition forward.

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Oh, and better late than never - the Comic Relief mini-episode of the SJA was watched by 8.3 million viewers. More people watched Ronnie Corbett the Slitheen than ITV1's Emmerdale. Hooray!

Hands in Y'er Pockets!

This Red Nose Day is shaping up to be something rather magical, I think you'll agree. This time last week I was in Teddington, watching a very special Comic Relief episode of Harry Hill's TV Burp being filmed (it contains a Torchwood gag, yay!) and as well as that we've had celebrities climbing up mountains, and hundreds of thousands of envitable fancy dress parties organised before the week is out.

But forget about all that, because the highlight of the evening - for me - is watching the SJA team in action, in a special mini episode guest starring Ronnie Corbett. There's a special 15 second clip from the episode available to view on the Red Nose Day website, or via the official Sarah Jane BBCi page.

Only a couple of days to go, now. Don't forget to donate to the programme (guest hosted by the incredible David Tennant) and do your bit for the charity, by whatever means you can.

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In other news, the first image of the new K9 model from Channel Ten's K9 spin-off series has been released. Click here to view the metal mutt in full!

Finally, I know there's been rumblings on the internet about a certain high profile actress (*cough cough* Anna Friel) appearing on the show during the third series, but so far as I can see, these rumblings are nothing more than rumour. At the moment. And that's the key thing to remember here; nothing is fact until the BBC or DWM have announced it as such.

Grampa Slitheen

Thanks to the efforts of one reader I've been made aware of an interview that Ronnie Corbett conducted with the Daily Express newspaper, where the star reported the following about the upcoming SJA Comic Relief special, "They sent me the script and it really appealed, I play a bowler-hatted ambassador from outer space who visits Sarah Jane's attic. I'm beamed down in a bright green light and it's all very intriguing. We filmed it all in one very long and tiring day and K-9 was there along with the Slitheen. It was great fun."

Hmmm.... Corbett as an aged Slitheen, perhaps?!

The latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine talks to Russell T Davies about the special, where he says, "This was a real honour, because Comic Relief actually approached us to include The Sarah Jane Adventures in the night's celebrations!" He goes on to confirm that the mini-adventure was be directed by Joss Agnew and produced by Brian Minchin (presumably because regular producer Nikki Smith - here acting as Executive Producer - is busy over on Doctor Who's specials). It was filmed on my birthday, February 19th, at Upper Boat.

Meanwhile, during an interview with the magazine one of the special's writers, Gareth Roberts drops a hint as to an old Doctor Who villain who may, or may not, be making their way to Bannerman Road during this third series...

"The other Hand of Fear is still out there," He reckons, "And one day it will come knocking on Sarah Jane's door..."

On one of his series three script, Gareth has this to say: "I'm writing a series three story as we speak, and I keep having to pinch myself. It was an idea I offered up thinking that nobody would ever go for it. If you thought The Stolen Earth was mad... As I was writing the cliffhanger to the first part I thought 'Is this real, or is it all a drug-induced and electronic dream?' If you'd told me ten years ago that I'd be writing this scene, and it would be going out on BBC One, I'd have exploded into dust!"

DWM reveals the writers for the third series as:
Phil Ford (2x stories; 4x actual episodes)
Gareth Roberts (1x story; 2x actual episodes)
Joseph Lidster (1x story; 2x actual episodes)
Brian Dooley (1x story; 2x actual episodes)
Rupert Laight (1x story; 2x actual episodes)

Laight has wrote several of the SJA novelisations, whereas readers might know of Dooley's previous work on The Smoking Room and BBC Three's new hit Being Human.

For more Doctor Who goodness, check out Doctor Who Magazine issue 406, priced £3.99.