Elisabeth Sladen Tribute

Hyde Fundraisers are delighted to pay tribute to actress Elisabeth Sladen with a special event on Saturday September 17th.

This special event is being hosted by Cineworld in Ashton-under-Lyne and will be raising money for BBC Children in Need along with Elisabeth's own charity.
The event will feature screenings of School Reunion and selected episodes from The Sarah Jane Adventures.

There will be special invited guests, character photo opportunities and a charity raffle too!

Tickets will be available from July via Cineworld's website here.

In 2009, Lis recorded this message for Hyde Fundraisers.

Katy Manning On Stage

If you're looking for a laugh and a night of pure entertainment, then Death By Fatal Murder is the perfect place to find it.

A comedy twist on classic 'whodunit' murder mysteries like those of Agatha Christie, Ian Dickens Productions presents you with an evening full of slapstick comedy and ribald laughs in the style of “Allo Allo” and “Are You Being Served”.

Death By Fatal Murder is the third play in the Inspector Pratt trilogy by Peter Gordon, but it needed no introduction. Inspector Pratt's foolishness made you take an instant liking to the character. With an all star cast there was no doubt that it would be a fun filled, entertaining evening.

When David Callister first made an appearance as Pratt, the whole stage lit up with his cracking performance. His charming, but somewhat idiotic character fills the story with cheeky innuendos and almost cringe worthy jokes that never fail to receive a snigger from the audience.

Accompanied by Christopher Elderwood playing PC Thompkins (or Napkins as Pratt continually, to much laughter, accidentally called him), Pratt returns to Bagshot House to investigate the disappearance of Constable Atkins and finds himself in the middle of something much more complicated and chaotic.

Where is the lady of the house's estranged husband? What is she hiding? Is the barmy Welsh medium really conversing with dead spirits? And what happened to that mysterious cheese sandwich!?

Alongside actors Leslie Grantham, more commonly known as Eastenders' Dirty Den who plays Enzo Garibaldi and Richard Gibson, the brilliant Herr Flick from “'Allo 'Allo” as Squadron Leader Roger Allwright, Death By Fatal Murder stars Michelle Hardwick from “The Royal” as Nancy Allwright and Katy Manning from classic Doctor Who as the eccentric Blodwyn Morgan.

I would recommend this play to anyone who wants an evening of risqué jokes, raucous laughs and quality, unadulterated entertainment. A fantastic play if you're new to trips to the theatre.


Katy Manning's performance was always going to be the thing I adored the most, and I have to say that she didn't disappoint. She has this fantastic ability to effortlessly change her voice to suit any character she's playing in an instant.

When I caught up with her after the show, she told me that she had only had only been given the script two weeks before the show opened in Blackpool at the end of May. She's currently working on a film, The Haunting of Harry Payne, to be released in 2012 and took on Death by Fatal Murder in between.

If any of you are big fans of Katy, like myself, you'll be pleased to hear that she's thinking about taking her one woman show, Not a Well Woman, on stage in the UK.

Death by Fatal Murder can be seen until the 25th June in Lincoln,
5th-9th July, Wolverhampton
12th-16th July, Malvern
18th-23rd July, Derby
2nd-6th Aug, Swansea
12th-17th Sept, Colchester
29th Sept-1st Oct, Horsham
4th-8th Oct, Lichfield
10th-15th Oct, Chelmsford
18th-22nd Oct, Worthing
8th-12th Nov, Billingham
15th-19th Nov, Crewe
22nd-26th Nov, Basingstoke

Black Destiny Part Three

Black Destiny, written by Gary Russell. Art by Martin Geraghty.

Click the images to enlarge the comic.

Black Destiny Part Two

Black Destiny, written by Gary Russell. Art by Martin Geraghty.

Click the images to enlarge the comic.

Part three coming soon!

Black Destiny Part One

Black Destiny, written by Gary Russell. Art by Martin Geraghty.

Click the images to enlarge the comic.

Thanks to Paul Guest for the wonderful scans. Part two coming soon!

Competition Results

After much debate from Joseph Lidster, author of several Sarah Jane Adventures stories, he has chosen us a fantastic winner! Congratulations to Paul Guest, now the proud owner of the BBC radio episodes box set.

“What a great selection and how difficult to choose between them! I love how there are such a variety of styles – cartoon images, beautiful artwork, clever use of photos. I especially love how all the different Sarah Jane eras are represented – from her first appearance in The Time Warrior right through to the last series of The Sarah Jane Adventures – a fantastic tribute to the gorgeous Lis Sladen. It really is difficult to choose between them as they're all so different. After to-ing and fro-ing between a couple, I think I'm going to choose the one of Sarah Jane leaning against the TARDIS in the Attic. I like its simplicity and how, in one picture, it represents both Doctor Who and The Sarah Jane Adventures. It's also a fantastic picture of Lis as Sarah Jane. Tough, ready to protect the Earth and her friends but with just a hint of a smile because she's having a whale of a time. And, in some ways, that sums up Lis – she worked so hard and was so dedicated to the character and the series, but she also had such a great time doing it.”

The rest of the competition entries can be found here, and what a wonderful bunch they are! I'd like to thank everyone who entered for their time and effort on some beautiful creations.

New Episode Titles Released

Wonderful news!

It was announced in Doctor Who Magazine today that the BBC has confirmed that the final episodes of The Sarah Jane Adventures, recorded in 2010, will air in the autumn – most likely to be October – on CBBC and BBC One. No change there then.

Russell T Davies told Doctor Who Magazine “We had completed only stories 1, 2 and 3 from series five, each a two-parter in the traditional format. The first one is called Sky, by Phil Ford, the second is The Curse of Clyde Langer, also by Phil and the third is The Man Who Wasn't There by Garath Robers. All starring Lis alongside Daniel Anthony as Clyde, Anjli Mohindra as Rani and with Tommy Knight as Luke returning for a full two-episode appearance in the last story – so the gang's all together at the end.”