User:Bigwhofan/sandbox

Next to Machines
Next to Machines is the upcoming second studio album by Danish rock band Cryoshell. Produced by Jacob Hansen, the album is currently being recorded at Hansen Studios in Ribe, Denmark.

Background
Regarding a second album, the band commented during an interview with Ravenheart Music "We would love to release another album, but it is not right around the corner. We are in a creative process, playing around with ideas and sounds, and we hope that it will result in an album."

In February 2015, concept artist Christian Faber confirmed that Cryoshell would produce the soundtrack to Rebel Nature, a multimedia project that he is currently developing. Recording began the following September for a mobile app game called Escape RIG21.

Songs inspired by Rebel Nature will make up Next to Machines. Production was originally going to be crowdfunded via Kickstarter, however, the band managed to secure their own finance prior to the campaign's May 2017 launch. The campaign itself was delayed twice from a January 2017 launch.

Singles
Five singles were released ahead of the album – "Nature Girl" (a cover of "Nature Boy" by Nat King Cole), "Don't Look Down" and "Slipping" on February 16, March 30, and October 5 of 2018, respectively, while "Diving" was released on April 3, 2020, and "Faux" on March 19, 2021.

Background
In 2006, CBBC expressed interest in producing a Doctor Who spin-off due to the success of the programme's revival on BBC One the previous year. An initial idea was a drama based around a younger version of the main character of the Doctor, but executive producer Russell T Davies vetoed this, stating "The idea of a fourteen-year-old Doctor on Gallifrey inventing sonic screwdrivers takes away from the mystery and intrigue of who he is and where he came from". Instead, Davies suggested a series based on the Doctor's former companion, Sarah Jane Smith.

Played by Elisabeth Sladen, the character appeared in Doctor Who from 1973 to 1976 alongside the third (Jon Pertwee) and fourth (Tom Baker) incarnations of the Doctor. A pilot episode for another Doctor Who spin-off series, K-9 and Company, featuring Sarah Jane and another former companion, the robot dog K9, was produced in 1981 but never commissioned for a full series. Sarah Jane and K9 would go on to appear in the later Doctor Who stories The Five Doctors (1983), "School Reunion" (2006), "The Stolen Earth" / "Journey's End" (2008) and "The End of Time" (2010). They also feature in various spin-off media, including novelisations, comic strips and audio plays. This success led Sarah Jane to be frequently voted the most popular Doctor Who companion by both fans and the general public.

The Sarah Jane Adventures was first announced in August 2006, under the working title Sarah Jane Investigates. It would feature Sarah Jane and new teenage characters dealing with extraterrestrial matters on Earth. Despite its junior audience, the show's writers were committed to producing a "full-blooded" drama that wouldn't be labelled "'just' a children's programme." A series of ten 25-minute episodes was commissioned by CBBC for an autumn 2007 premiere, as well as a 60-minute special set to air beforehand. The programme would go on to be commissioned for four more series between 2008 and 2010, each comprised of twelve episodes.

Premise
The programme focuses on Sarah Jane Smith, an investigative journalist and former companion to the Doctor, an alien time traveller whom Smith had numerous adventures with in her youth (as seen in Doctor Who). Now middle-aged and living in modern-day London, she investigates extraterrestrial events and protects the Earth from alien threats with a group of teenage accomplices: her adopted son Luke Smith, neighbour Maria Jackson, and friend Clyde Langer. New neighbour Rani Chandra and adopted daughter Sky Smith later join the cast. In addition, the group is aided by Mr Smith, a sentient supercomputer, and K9, a dog-shaped robot gifted to Sarah Jane by the Doctor.

The group's base of operations is Sarah Jane's attic at the fictional 13 Bannerman Road in Ealing. The space is filled with alien technology and memoirs from her time with the Doctor and the fictional Earth-based military organisation UNIT.

As well as K9, the Doctor bestowed Sarah Jane with a set of sonic lipsticks, a variant of his sonic screwdriver tool that can able locks and machinery, and a scanner disguised as a wristwatch.

Production
Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner served as the original executive producers of the programme, with Phil Collinson serving as Series Producer on the first series. Sue Nott acted as an executive producer for CBBC during Series 2, while Piers Wenger joined for the third series before stepping down with Gardner who was also leaving her role as Head of Drama for BBC Wales. Producer Nikki Wilson joined Davies for the remainder of the show.

The 60-minute opening special "Invasion of the Bane", co-written by Davies and Gareth Roberts, was filmed in September 2006. Although not billed as a pilot, the episode contains many conventional introductory elements common to such, with certain aspects undergoing changes by the official series premiere. Roberts went on to contribute numerous scripts for the programme. Davies originally intended to write a script for Series 1, but had to drop out due to other work commitments. He would eventually write the Series 4 serial Death of the Doctor.

While Susie Liggat produced "Invasion of the Bane", Matthew Bouch took over for the first and second series before Wilson replaced him for Series 3. Following her promotion to executive producer, Phil Ford, a frequent writer for the programme, and Brian Minchin became the producers for the fourth and fifth series.

Production on the first series began in April 2007 in Penarth, Wales. Filming for subsequent series commenced annually in the spring months of 2008–2010, with Series 4 being shot back-to-back with the first half of Series 5 in 2010; this was done to ensure that the younger cast members, who were ageing out of their teenage roles, would still appear young while on-screen.

Sladen's death and cancellation
Filming for the last six episodes of Series 5 was delayed from an initial March 2011 start date after series lead Elisabeth Sladen was diagnosed with cancer, and subsequently cancelled after she died on 19 April 2011. Out of respect, production on the programme was immediately cancelled. Davies stated that "there was a 5-second debate whether we should continue the show without Lis, but the choice was obvious."

Prior to Sladen's death, Davies was already in talks with CBBC about a potential sixth series of The Sarah Jane Adventures. Ideas included introducing another former Doctor Who companion, Ace (Sophie Aldred), and Sarah Jane moving away from Bannerman Road to the village of Foxgrove, her birthplace, as part of a soft reboot of the programme.

In the wake of The Sarah Jane Adventures abrupt ending, Davies and Ford developed the new programme Wizards vs Aliens (2012–14) for CBBC to fill the production gap left by the former. One of the SJA's unproduced serials from the fifth series, The Thirteenth Floor, was re-written for the show and aired as part of its second series in 2013.

Main and recurring
In addition to Sladen, The Sarah Jane Adventures initially starred Yasmin Paige as Maria Jackson, Sarah Jane's 13-year-old new neighbour, and Tommy Knight as Luke, a boy with a genius intellect who was created by the aliens and subsequently adopted by Sarah Jane by the conclusion of the introductory special "Invasion of the Bane". Both characters leave the programme in the opening serials of Series 2 and 4, respectively, due to the actors' educational commitments, but make additional appearances in later episodes. Following the special, 14-year-old Clyde Langer (Daniel Anthony) is introduced in Series 1 as a "cool", albeit trouble-making student who attends the same school as Maria and Luke, Park Vale.

Joseph Millson recurs throughout the first series as Maria's recently divorced father, Alan Jackson, as does Maria's mother, Chrissie (Juliet Cowan). Both are written out at the same time as Maria. In the Jackson family's place, 15-year-old Rani Chandra (Anjli Mohindra) is introduced in the second series alongside her parents Gita (Mina Anwar) and Haresh (Ace Bhatti), the latter of whom becomes the head teacher of Park Vale and has an on-going feud with Clyde due to his behaviour in school. In the show's abbreviated fifth and final series, Sky (Sinead Michael), a girl created by aliens as a biological weapon, becomes Sarah Jane's newly adopted daughter.

Alexander Armstrong provides the voice of Mr Smith, a sentient supercomputer imbedded in the chimney breast of Sarah Jane's attic, who is able to hack into any terrestrial or extraterrestrial system and provide data concerning the group's present situation. He activates to the vocal command "Mr Smith, I need you", usually accompanied by a fanfare.

K9 Mark IV, the robot dog given to Sarah Jane by the Tenth Doctor at the conclusion of the Doctor Who episode "School Reunion" (2006), acts as technical support alongside Mr Smith (albeit more in the field). A running gag is the pair's dislike for each other. K9 originally did not have a prominent role in the programme due to the concurrent development of the independent spin-off series, K-9, which features an updated version of the character. His absence is explained with him being sent to deep space to seal off an artificial black hole and only being able to communicate infrequently with Sarah Jane via a vault in the attic with a space-time link. However, after several cameo appearances, including a mini-episode produced for Comic Relief, K9 becomes a main character in the show's third series and appears in three episodes of the fourth. He is voiced by John Leeson, who has voiced the character since his first Doctor Who appearance in 1977.

Additionally, Floella Benjamin has a recurring role as Professor Rivers, a senior scientist who works at the fictional Pharos Institute. Jocelyn Jee Esien also recurs as Clyde's mum, Carla. The Trickster, played by Paul Marc Davis, becomes a recurring villain throughout the series, as do the Slitheen, an alien crime family that first appeared in the Doctor Who story "Aliens of London" / "World War Three" (2005). Jimmy Vee plays multiple aliens in the programme, including the Slitheen child, and Krislok, a member of the Graske species first seen in the interactive mini Doctor Who episode "Attack of the Graske" (2005). Vee later portrays several members of a similar species, the Groske, in Death of the Doctor (2010).

Doctor Who actors Lachele Carl and Anthony Debaeck also reprise their roles of American anchorwoman Trinity Wells and a French newsreader, respectively. Real-life television presenter Jason Mohammad also recurs as a newsreader.

Guests
In the New Year's Day special "Invasion of the Bane", Porsha Lawrence Mavour headlines as Maria's friend, Kelsey Hooper. Samantha Bond plays the scheming villain Mrs Wormwood, a role which she reprises in the Series 2 finale, while Jamie Davis features as her PR agent Davey. The first series sees Jane Asher cast as Sarah Jane's childhood friend, Andrea Yates, and Phyllida Law as Bea Nelson-Stanley, a nursing home resident with Alzheimer's.

The second series guest stars Bradley Walsh as Mr Spellman / Odd Bob the Clown, Russ Abbot as astrologer Martin Trueman, and Gary Beadle as Clyde's estranged father, Paul Langer. Doctor Who alumni Nicholas Courtney reprises his role of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart in Enemy of the Bane in what became his final on-screen portrayal of the character before his death in 2011. Courtney's appearance came after Freema Agyeman, who was due to reprise her Doctor Who role of fellow former companion Martha Jones, became unavailable for filming. Courtney was also set to appear in the Series 3 serial The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith, but fell ill prior to filming. Recurring Doctor Who aliens, the Sontarans, also feature in the series.

In Series 3, Nigel Havers plays Peter Dalton, Sarah Jane's fiancé, while David Tennant reprises his role as the Tenth Doctor, shot back-to-back with the final Doctor Who story of his tenure as the Tenth Doctor, "The End of Time" (2009–10). The series also features Donald Sumpter as the sinister Erasmus Darkening, Suranne Jones as the Mona Lisa, the subject of the famous real-world painting come to life, and Sladen's husband, Brian Miller, as caretaker Harry Sowersby. Recurring Doctor Who aliens, the Judoon, also appear, with Nicholas Briggs reprising their voices.

For Series 4, Julian Bleach, who previously played Davros in Doctor Who and the Ghostmaker in sister spin-off programme Torchwood, features as the Nightmare Man, while Julie Graham portrays new neighbour Ruby White. Katy Manning reprises her Doctor Who role of former companion Jo Grant alongside Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor. Smith was also originally set to feature in the opening serial of the fifth series as Sky's deliverer, but was unable to due to scheduling conflicts. Cyril Nri, who is introduced as the mysterious Shopkeeper in Series 4, fills Smith's role. Nri and Manning were also both due to reappear in the second half of Series 5 before it was left unproduced following Sladen's death. Additionally, the Men in Black androids who originally appeared in the animated Doctor Who serial Dreamland (2009), make their live-action debut in The Vault of Secrets, with their leader, Mr Dread, portrayed by Angus Wright.

Broadcast
For the first two series, episodes aired once a week on BBC One with the next one airing immediately after on the CBBC Channel, a week ahead of its BBC One broadcast. For Series 3–5, two episodes aired per-week: Series 3 on Thursdays and Fridays on BBC One, and Series 4 and 5 on Mondays and Tuesdays on CBBC. The fifth series was posthumously broadcast following Sladen's death. Additionally, a mini-episode titled "From Raxacoricofallapatorius with Love" aired as a Comic Relief special on 13 March 2009, between the broadcast periods of the second and third series.

Aside from the premiere special, each series is comprised of two-part serials. Certain episode repeats are broadcast in omnibus rather than a traditional part one and two format.

Beginning with Series 3, episodes open with a prologue explaining the programme. They are narrated by Daniel Anthony as Clyde and accompanied by a montage of clips from that particular series. The basis of the prologue originates from a cinema trailer produced for the second series which also features Anthony.

International
BBC Worldwide's children's channel in Canada, BBC Kids, began broadcasting The Sarah Jane Adventures with "Invasion of the Bane" on 13 January 2008, airing the rest of the series back-to-back on Sundays thereafter. The South African channel SABC 2 started airing the series on 9 February 2008, while the Hong Kong channel ATV World, which has also aired Doctor Who and Torchwood, aired the series starting 17 February 2008.

The first series began broadcasting in the USA on Sci Fi on 11 April 2008, but would later stop in the summer of 2010. In Australia, the programme started on 31 October 2008 on Nickelodeon Australia. In Brazil, the show started airing on 19 November 2012 on TV Cultura, right after their broadcast of Series 6 of Doctor Who ended. It also screened in New Zealand on Nickelodeon New Zealand, and in Belgium on Ketnet. In 2013, the show started airing on JeemTV in Arabic, while the programme entered syndication on Swedish children's channel Barnkanalen dubbed in Swedish.

Trailers
Specially-filmed trailers for each series were produced over the programme's tenure. Series 1 focuses on Maria Jackson (Yasmin Paige) expressing her wonder of Sarah Jane's world, while a cinema trailer for Series 2 features Clyde Langer (Daniel Anthony) explaining the premise of the programme.

For Series 3, an interactive trailer was produced. Filmed from a first-person perspective, it sees Sarah Jane and the rest of the main cast joined by a new member (the viewer) venturing through the ruins of a battle-torn street. Following a series of glues, the viewer must decide between three people which one is a disguised Blathereen alien, using Sarah Jane's sonic lipstick to unmask them. The trailer also became a playable feature on the SJA website.

A trailer for Series 4 features Luke, Clyde and Rani in the attic mimicking aliens they've previously encountered using hologram technology before Sarah Jane enters and turns it off, telling them that it's not a toy. Mr Smith then alerts them to the presence of an unknown life form and the teenagers promptly leave the attic. Sarah Jane uses the hologram device to appear as a Shansheeth alien before quickly turning it off again.

Comics
Four digital comics, narrated by Anjli Mohindra, were released on The Sarah Jane Adventures website between October 2009 and November 2010. The first two, "Monster Hunt: The Beginning" and "Monster Hunt: The Ending", formed part of the interactive game Monster Hunt, The latter, "Return of the Krulius" and "Defending Bannerman Road", were released separately. All four were written by Trevor Baxendale and illustrated by Neil Roberts.

Another comic, "The Silver Bullet", features in the serial The Curse of Clyde Langer as a comic strip written and illustrated by Clyde. It was released onto the SJA website in October 2011.

Chute!
Tommy Knight and Daniel Anthony reprise their roles of Luke and Clyde, respectively, in the ninth episode of fellow CBBC programme Chute! with Ross Lee, where the pair end up stuck with Lee in the rubbish tip he resides in at BBC Television Centre with an alien, before getting rescued by Sarah Jane and Maria (off camera) by the end of the episode.

Sarah Jane's Alien Files
A series of webcasts entitled The Alien Files were released weekly on the SJA website alongside the show's third series in 2009. In each 3-minute video, either Clyde or Rani access Mr Smith's video vaults to review aliens they have had previous encounters with. Daniel Anthony, Anjli Mohindra and Alexander Armstrong all respectively reprise their roles from the programme.

The series spun-out into a six-part 25-minute TV programme for CBBC titled Sarah Jane's Alien Files that was broadcast alongside Series 4 of the main programme in 2010. As well as Anthony, Mohindra and Armstrong, Elisabeth Sladen and Tommy Knight also reprise their roles of Sarah Jane and Luke, respectively.

"Farewell, Sarah Jane"
As part of the Doctor Who: Lockdown! online project, a special 13-minute webcast written by Russell T Davies titled "Farewell, Sarah Jane" was released on Doctor Who social media channels on 19 April 2020, the ninth anniversary of Sladen's death. The webcast acts as an epilogue to the programme and as a tribute to Sladen with the blessing of her surviving family. It was produced during the COVID-19 pandemic, with most actors and crew members working from home.

The plot deals with Sarah Jane's funeral and sees several allies of hers and the Doctor attending the service. Knight, Anthony and Mohindra all reprise their roles, as well as Mina Anwar as Gita Chandra and Katy Manning as Jo Grant. Additionally, Sophie Aldred reprises her Doctor Who role of Ace, another former companion. The webcast is narrated by Jacob Dudman, who also provides the voice of Mr Smith.

The Attic convention
To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the show, a convention called The Attic: Sarah Jane Adventures 10th Anniversary Reunion was held at Cardiff University Students' Union on 29 July 2017, with proceeds from the event going to the Tŷ Hafan Children's Hospice. A total of £6643.35 was raised by the sale of tickets to the event and merchandise. Members of the cast and crew that attended were Tommy Knight, Anjli Mohindra, Yasmin Paige, Sinead Michael, Mina Anwar, Katy Manning, Paul Marc Davis, Phil Ford, Gary Russell, Joseph Lidster, Sam Watts, Richard Wisker, Cheryl Rowlands, Scott Handcock, Brian Miller, John Leeson, Mat Irvine and Chris Johnson. The convention was recorded and released shortly after as a limited edition DVD and Blu-ray that could be purchased exclusively through the event's website.

Reception
The Sarah Jane Adventures has been generally well received by critics and the viewing public. At the end of the first series, Abi Grant of The Daily Telegraph wrote: "With the debate about the future of children's TV still rumbling on, this is what the BBC does best, and despite lacking the production values of Doctor Who, it's still top tea-time programming." Daniel Martin of The Guardian described the show as looking very promising and more convincing than another Doctor Who spinoff Torchwood. Review website DVD Talk called the series "wonderful", "thoughtful" and "imaginative children's entertainment" that was highly recommended. The series also received praise for its willingness to tackle "darker themes [such as] Alzheimer's, homelessness and loss."

At Metacritic, the first series received a generally favourable score of 66 out of 100 based on five critics. As the series progressed reviews became slightly more positive with DVD Talk reviewer David Cornelius saying that the "second series is even better than the first." However Eric Profancik from DVD Verdict stated that the second series suffered from "poor scripts and horrible acting", criticising it for having "simple plots, too many conveniences and having corny humour." Series three is described by Guy Clapperton of review site ScreenJabber.com as being slightly braver than its predecessors, while Bullz-eye.com described it as "a sweet, fun little show, with some neat ideas" with "its heart very much in the right place." Reviews for the final series were sympathetic for the series' end and the unavoidably incomplete nature of the series (following the death of Elisabeth Sladen) and its story arcs. Stephen Kelly from The Guardian said that it was "a fitting tribute to Elisabeth Sladen" and has occupied a "unique place in the Whoniverse".

Magazines
Unlike Doctor Who and sister spin-off show Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures never received a publication of its own. However, content for the programme featured heavily in standard and special editions of Doctor Who Magazine and sister publication Doctor Who Adventures.

Home media (DVD releases)

 * Notes
 * The Series 3 serial The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith is included as a bonus feature on the Doctor Who Blu-ray sets The Complete David Tennant Collection and The Specials (steelbook edition).
 * The Series 4 serial Death of the Doctor is included as a bonus feature on the Doctor Who special edition DVD The Green Death and the Blu-ray sets The Complete Matt Smith Years and The Collection – Season 10, with commentary by Russell T Davies and Katy Manning featured on the latter.

Toys
Character Options was awarded the licence to produce toys based off of The Sarah Jane Adventures in 2007. The range includes Sarah Jane's Scanner Watch and Sonic Lipstick with light and sound effects, an electronic Alien Communicator device with a UV reveal light pen and pad, and four 5-inch action figure twin packs each featuring an outfit variant of Sarah Jane and one of four aliens: Star Poet, Slitheen Child, General Kudlak or Graske. The range was discontinued in 2008 due to a lack of customer interest.

Trading cards
A limited set of trading cards based off The Sarah Jane Adventures was included as a bonus card pack with the 62nd issue of the Doctor Who: Battles in Time trading card and magazine series published on 21 January 2009. Named the Adventurer series, the pack contains ten "common" cards featuring characters and monsters from the programme that can be used in-game alongside cards from the main Battles in Time range.