Bio
Sarah Jane Smith was born in Liverpool's dockland in 1949. Her father worked in a local newspaper office, but both he and his wife died while Sarah Jane was still young. The orphaned girl traveled south to live with her aunt, the well-known scientist Lavinia Smith, author of Teleological Response of the Virus. It was the royalties from this work, a major medical advance of the sixties, that enabled Lavinia to pay for Sarah Jane's education through school and university.
It was at university that Sarah Jane joined a newly founded magazine, Metropolitan. She wrote some acclaimed articles before becoming a freelance contributor with the right to choose her own assignments.
During this period she built up an impressive list of contacts. Among those she interviewed were Lady Collingford, the novelist Nigel Carter, and the Olympic Gold Medallist John Crichton.
But after a while Sarah Jane became bored with writing women's interest pieces. She wanted to write a strong scientifically based story.
While Lavinia was away on a lecture tour in America, an invitation arrived for her to visit a top-secret government research establishment. Sarah Jane impersonated her aunt and entered the complex. Here she met the physicist Joseph Rubeish and one Dr John Smith, scientific advisor to UNIT.
Dr Smith turned out to be a Time Lord, the Doctor in disguise, and after inadvertently stowing away on board the TARDIS, Sarah Jane spent three years traveling in Space and Time. (15.12.73-23.10.76)
Summoned to Gallifrey in 1976, the Doctor was forced to drop Sarah Jane back on Earth. They said goodbye on a bright autumn day somewhere in England, perhaps South Croydon.
From a format document for K-9 And Company: A Girl's Best Friend. John Nathan-Turner and Antony Root. 1 May 1981.
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