K·9 and Company - A girl's best friend

Synopsis

For many years, investigative journalist Sarah Jane Smith travelled through space and time with her best friend – a Time Lord known as the Doctor.  But all good things must come to an end, and they were forced to part.  Sarah returned to Earth and her career, but before they went their separate ways, she made the Doctor promise not to forget her...

Sarah is looking forward to spending a quiet Christmas with her Aunt Lavinia in the sleepy village of Morton Harewood.  But when she arrives, she finds her aunt is missing, and a surprise present from an old friend is waiting to be opened.

Sarah and her aunt's ward, Brendan, are soon caught up in the affairs of a mysterious cult who practice the black arts, and are preparing for a human sacrifice.  But they have the Doctor's gift to aid them – a robot dog who answers to the name of K·9...

Cover notes

Doctor Who producer John Nathan-Turner didn't like K·9.  The robot dog was an innovation that his predecessor, Graham Williams, had introduced to the series, and it was still hugely popular with Doctor Who's younger viewers.  But on Nathan-Turner's first day on location as producer on Doctor Who, filming scenes for the story The Leisure Hive, the mechanical K·9 prop had broken down and proved to be so impractical on Brighton beach, that it had nearly jeopardised what was supposed to have been a fairly routine shoot.  The K·9 prop was refurbished – at some cost – for the next Doctor Who story in production, State of Decay, and although a small improvement in performance was noticeable, Nathan-Turner decided that this particular dog had had its day, and gave instructions for K·9 to be written out of Doctor Who.

When the news broke in the nation's tabloid press in June 1980, Nathan-Turner was not prepared for the backlash his decision would generate.  The Sun newspaper even began a 'Save K·9' campaign amongst its readers.  Although K·9's popularity was never in doubt, Nathan-Turner felt that Doctor Who would work better without the robot dog, both in terms of narrative, and ability to maximise studio and location recording facilities and time.

Armed with the unexpected publicity his decision had generated, Nathan-Turner suggested to his BBC bosses that K·9 may warrant a life beyond Doctor Who, in a series of his own.  The idea was take seriously, and a pilot episode for a K·9 series was commissioned.  The current Doctor Who production team, of producer John Nathan-Turner, and script editors Antony Root and Eric Saward were put in charge of the project.  The question was, what form should K·9's continuing adventures take?

A contemporary Earth-based setting for K·9 was selected, not least because of cost considerations.  From a fictional standpoint, the question of which K·9 would feature in the series was also considered.  K·9 Mk I had left with Leela in The Invasion of Time (1978), while K·9 Mk II had departed with Romana in Warriors' Gate (1981).  In the end, neither would return; instead, K·9 Mk III would be given his introduction.

As far as John Nathan-Turner was concerned, there was only one choice as to K·9's co-star.

Elisabeth Sladen had appeared in Doctor Who as companion Sarah Jane Smith alongside Jon Pertwee's and Tom Baker's Doctors between 1973 and 1976.  By 1980, Sarah Jane's popularity as a companion was still incredibly strong, and Nathan-Turner had briefly tried to persuade Sladen to return to Doctor Who in time to wave goodbye to Tom Baker's Doctor, and ease in the tenure of Doctor number five.  Sladen had declined the offer, but it had begun a dialogue between the actress and the production office, which resulted in a counter offer to Sladen to return as Sarah Jane Smith in a Doctor-less series.  Sladen accepted, and the pilot project geared into full life, firstly titled Sarah and K·9, and then the more familiar K·9 and Company.

Although ratings for the pilot episode were strong, a change in management at the BBC meant that a full series was never commissioned.  Viewers would have to wait 25 years to see Sarah and K·9 in action together again, in the revived Doctor Who's second series episode School Reunion.  This reappearance finally led to Sladen being given her own spin-off series, The Sarah Jane Adventures, with K·9 putting in occasional guest appearances. 

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