Remembering Lis Sladen, aka Sarah Jane Smith

Aurum Press will release Doctor Who actress Elisabeth Sladen's autobiography this week - an occasion tempered with sadness, given her untimely death back in April - but a release that prompted my own memories of 'working' with the accomplished actress back when I was editing Doctor Who Magazine.

When Lis first appeared as journalist Sarah Jane Smith in the 1973 Doctor Who story The Time Warrior, little did she know the character would become one of the most enduring and fondly remembered of the series' long history.

The years that followed saw Lis traverse time and space alongside classic Doctors Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker, whilst a generation of children crouched behind the sofa, terrified but transfixed as their tea-time heroine found herself menaced by Daleks, dinosaurs, Cybermen, Egyptian mummies, actors in green Bubble Wrap and even the Loch Ness Monster.

By the time she quit the TARDIS in 1976, making front-page news, Lis had become one of the most familiar faces of a TV golden age.

But you don't just walk away from Doctor Who. Fandom made Sarah Jane Smith their own, while Lis Sladen took on another adventure - bringing up her daughter. But even then, she was asked to reprise her role many times, appearing in anniversary specials, the ill-fated 1981 spin-off with robotic sidekick K-9, radio plays, for the BBC's Children in Need and, in the first Doctor Who comic strip I edited for Doctor Who Magazine, Train Flight.

Written by Andrew Donkin and Graham S. Brand, drawn by John Ridgway, I recall I wanted to make a statement with my first edited strip and like editors before me, put my own 'stamp' on what I wanted to see in the magazine's comic section. That included, on occasion, utilising more elements of the TV show than just the Seventh Doctor, such as featuring some TV monsters and, eventually having Ace (played on TV by Sophie Aldred) join the Time Lord in the TARDIS.

John Ridgway work in progress
for Train-Flight

I'd already been in contact with Lis Sladen before her comic appearance: as part of its obligations to the BBC and actors union Equity, in my time as editor DWM had a requirement to pay 'appearance fees' to actors for the use of BBC photographs not connected with recently-transmitted episodes. While these fees were quite low, the paperwork required to secure permissions from actors and their agents (and the owners of rights on some of the monsters such as the Daleks, Cybermen and Yeti) was quite time consuming (but needed to get new photos from the BBC Photographs department featuring those actors) and hadn't been carried out for some time before I took on the Magazine.

As a result there was a small backlog of monies owed to some actors, which I got resolved with the support of the rest of Marvel UK's magazine department (even though I think they thought I was mad to take on such a task).

Despite the cost, the bonus of sorting out this paper work was a much improved relationship with some of the show's key actors and rights holders. It meant that when I asked Lis if she would give permission to feature her likeness, as Sarah, in the strip, she happily agreed for the princely sum of £40 per issue.

It was also, I believe, the beginning of her stepping back into attending more fan events: I recall the first of these was one in Birmingham, which I went to along with then Who producer, the late John Nathan-Turner.

I don't recall if Lis liked her comic appearance but she gave permission for a further use (in a K-9 & Company inspired strip drawn by Vincent Danks), so it can't have been too badly received.  John Ridgway did a cracking job on the art, I felt, which I'm sure didn't hurt.

During my time as editor (and even after I had moved on from DWM) Lis occasionally phoned me up and asked me advice on some matters relating to fan invitations and other opportunities relating to her role as Sarah Jane Smith. She was always a pleasure to deal with.

Down the years, she toured the weird, wide and wonderful world of Doctor Who fandom and of course, as we know, became one of the series' all-time favourite companions. So when TV wunderkind Russell T Davies approached her to come back again, this time to a show backed by multi-million-pound budgets and garlanded with critical plaudits, how could she refuse?

This warm and witty autobiography, completed only months before Elisabeth died, tells her remarkable story, from humble beginnings in post-war Liverpool, through an acclaimed theatrical career working alongside stage luminaries such as Alan Ayckbourn, to Coronation Street, Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em and the furthest reaches of the Universe.

A unique insider's view of the world's longest-running science fiction series, and of British television yesterday and today, Elisabeth's memoir is funny, ridiculous, insightful and entertaining and a fitting tribute to a woman who will be sadly missed by millions - myself included.

• Elisabeth Sladen: the autobiography is published by Aurum Press on 7th November 2011 at £18.99

• Inside Doctor Who Magazine: an article about a day in the DWM office while I was editor by David Bishop

Dalek creator Terry Nation celebrated in new book

Aurum Press release The Man Who Invented Daleks later this month (25th May), focusing on the life of script writer and author Terry Nation, and includes background on the creation of the Dalek comic strips for TV Century 21 and other titles.

The book is written by Alwyn W. Turner, author of a number of acclaimed books on modern British culture, including Crisis? What Crisis?: Britain in the 1970s, Rejoice! Rejoice!: Britain in the 1980s, Halfway to Paradise and The Biba Experience. 

The Man Who Invented Daleks includes background on how the Daleks were brought to comic strip, revealing that the first Dalek merchandising - capitalising on the huge popularity of the genocidal pepper pots - was The Dalek Book, with Nation even then attempting to create an entire mythology for the creatures beyond the Doctor Who series. Published in 1964, it became one of the fastest-selling children's books of the year.

After the broadcast of the original Dalek story Britain as a nation went "Dalek mad" with one range of 'mini-Daleks' quickly selling 100,000 units.

The Daleks also became featured characters in cartoons by artists such as Giles for the Daily Express and had their own weekly strip in TV Century 21. "I suppose the thing that attracted me to the Daleks was jealousy," the book reports Thunderbirds creator Gerry Anderson as saying, explaining why these rivals to his own characters were included in the title's mix.

Turner notes that the strip provided ideas and storylines beyond Doctor Who that he hoped to be able to exploit in a standalone Dalek TV show which, despite the popularity of the monsters, never quite managed to materialize.

Despite this, almost half a century after their first appearance, new additions to Dalek mythology continue to top the Saturday-night ratings, while the word itself has entered the Oxford English Dictionary, passing into the language as the name of the most famous race of aliens in fiction.

Terry Nation was one of the most successful and prolific writers for television that Britain ever produced. Survivors, his vision of a post-apocalyptic England, so haunted audiences in the 1970s that the BBC revived it over 30 years on. Blake's 7, now revived as audio dramas and novels, endures as a cult science fiction classic.

But while the Daleks brought him notoriety and riches, Nation played a much wider role in British broadcasting's golden age. As part of the legendary Associated London Scripts, he wrote for Spike Milligan, Frankie Howerd and an increasingly troubled Tony Hancock. And as one of the key figures behind the adventure series of the 1960s - including The Avengers, The Saint and The Persuaders! - he turned the pulp classics of his boyhood into a major British export.

Like Arthur Conan Doyle before him, Nation was frequently bemused by the appeal of his most famous creations, and similarly cavalier toward them. Now, The Man Who Invented the Daleks explores their curious and contested origins, and sheds light on a strange world of ambitious young writers, producers and performers without whom British culture today would look very different.


In addition to charting the history of the Daleks, the book also charts their return in the 1970s - with Nation paid the princely sum £25 per episode for their appearance (low usage fees quickly came to an end once Roger Hancock established himself as Terry's agent - in the 1980s, he was paid £25 a page for any Dalek appearance in Doctor Who Magazine strip); the development of Survivors and Blake's 7; and the Daleks return to the modern Doctor Who, the creatures Nation's enduring legacy long after his passing.

• Buy The Man Who Invented Daleks from amazon.co.uk

• Buy The Man Who Invented Daleks from amazon.com

• Aurum Press Official Site: www.aurumpress.co.uk

Terry-Thomas Bio Released in Paperback

The first biography of comedian Terry-Thomas - considered by some to be the inspiration for Captain Britain villain Mad Jim Jaspers and who made frequent British comics appearances - has just been released in paperback by Aurum Press, also publishers of facsimile editions of The Broons and Oor Wullie.

One of Britain's most beloved comics, Bounder! by Graham McCabb - also the author of Spike & Co., Dad's Army and Morecambe & Wise - traces Terry's life from his humble days in suburbia, to his dandy-like persona in Hollywood. With his sly little moustache, braod gap-toothed grin, garish waistcoats and ostentatious cigarette holder, Terry-Thomas certainly was an absolute bounder - both onscreen and off.

From an early age, Terry-Thomas set his sights on show business, making his television debut in 1949 in the groundbreaking How Do You View?. Cinema soon called and ith hit films such as School For Scoundrels and Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines, he went on to form a long and lucrative celluloid career. America loved the gap-toothed, English cad.

Terry also featured in several comic strips, including strips featured in Film Fun, such as this one by George Wakefield from a 1957 edition.

Sadly, in the 1970's, Parkinson's disease eventually forced him out of the limelight and into comparative obscurity.


Well-received on its hardcover release last year, Bounder! taps into a widespread nostalgia for the golden age of British entertainment. Terry-Thomas has become a cult figure, cited as a key influence by contemporary comedians such as Paul Whitehouse and Vic Reeves.

• Read an extract from the book, published by the Daily Mail on its hardcover release

• The Times review of Bounder!

In Review: The Leather Nun and Other Incredibly Strange Comics

It's not just leather nuns that provide the strange fare that makes up this fun title from Paul Gravett & Peter Stanbury (released as Holy Sh*t! by St. Martins Press in the US): for just under ten quid you can also find out about comics featuring lesbian unicorns, cavemen fighting giant tabby cats, a peasant girl fervently worships the swastika and killer roosters.

When the publishers say Gravett and Stanbury have scoured the world to bring together a non-PC carnival of comic-book curiosities, they're not kidding. Who else would reveal the origins of Russia's busty bombshell Octobriana, a comics myth later given greater life by the likes of Bryan Talbot and others? What other book for the Christmas market is going to offer you flesh-eating farm animals in The Barn of Fear, Fatman the Human Flying Saucer, Binky Brown meets the Holy Virgin Mary, Chaplains at War or Amputee Love?

Then there's other delights such as Nembo Kid, a re-working of Superman for the Italian market, his name changed in 1954, perhaps to avoid criticism that the publishers were advocating the failed philosophy of the ubermensch so close to the end of World War Two. It's nuggets like this that make Leather Nun such a fun read.

While not presenting the full comics -- that would probably be too much for some sensibilities and anyway, many of them are probably not as good as the titles or synopses, presented as 61 glorious double page spreads of covers and background articles -- this is a smashing title for both comics connisseur and casual comics fan alike, the text both intelligent and irreverent.

Of course, there is the danger that a book such as this will merely confirm many prejudices non-comics fans have about those who do enjoy the medium, but I'd say it's well worth the risk. Gravett and Stanbury have again come up with the goods without being in any way po-faced about the comics they regularly champion.

• Buy The Leather Nun from amazon.co.uk
• Buy The Leather Nun from amazon.com

• There's a free exhibition of Incredibly Strange Comics at the ICA as part of ComICA from 14 until 26 November. More information here

• Paul Gravett is also giving a talk on ISC at Thought Bubble this Saturday. More information here