Just to let people know, that in five days it will be five years since Elisabeth Sladen died.

Cannot believe it's been five years already.

I loved Sarah Jane Smith and Lis very much in the world of Doctor Who and the spin-off Sarah Jane Adventures. She shone in every scene she was in. She seemed to make IMO, the stories that looked poor, better; Planet of Evil and The Ark in Space, to name but a few.

I've got every DW DVD featuring Lis, plus all five series of SJA, and K9 and Company (a feature-length special from Christmas 1981).

I've included a poll, to find out what DW story featuring lis, is the best from her original time between 1974 and 1976. We should from that, know which is the worst, too.

Pyramids of Mars, brilliant brilliant episode and she can use a rifle!

So many to choose from. I went for Terror of the Zygons in the end, simply because its one of my favourite ever stories anyway but I think it gives Sarah a chance to show how capable she is - perhaps more so than other companions.

I know Elisabeth Sladen did say she felt Sarah Jane could sometimes be a little "Yes Doctor, no Doctor" but I really think this character stood out because she wasn't as reliant on the Doctor. She certainly had her own mind and was happy to give the Doctor a good telling off when he needed it.

She also didn't wait for his approval to do things - there are many scenes across her time in the show were a mystery needed to be solved and Sarah Jane is very much "OK Doctor, and while you're doing that I'm going to speak with <character> to find out what's been going on".

I loved Sarah Jane SO much. I will admit I actually cried the night I heard Elisabeth Sladen died.

What about the Five Doctors? - should be on your poll perhaps too.

Well, there's some flipping great stuff there. Seeds of Doom gets bronze, but I find it almost impossible to choose between Pyramids of Mars and Terror of the Zygons. Ermmm....

Zygons. Just. Think Sarah had a slightly more proactive part in that one, but there's begger all in it. And I always liked the Doctor/Sarah/Harry team.

I don't know whether I'd call it the best story featuring Sarah Jane but I decided to watch Pyramids of Mars the night the news broke about Lis dying

I picked terror of the zygons too. Could easily have picked ark in space, genesis of the daleks or pyramids of Mars. The tom and liz era is the golden era of the classic series.

It's impossible to pick as she was excellent in every story.
I've chosen The Brain Of Morbius as she did that blind acting really well, but I could easily have gone for Mandragora, or Zygons, or Planet Of Evil, or Pyramids, or almost any story.
Gone, but never forgotten.

I went for The Brain of Morbius. The story itself is a bit of a basic Frankenstein copy but it was executed brilliantly and Sladen did an excellent job at portaying sympathy towards the terrifying Condo and making him a character you feel so sorry for... a touch of humanity in a world of alien planets and nightmarish monsters. Her compassion was a big part of what made her such a compelling character for me against Tom Baker's very odd and often cold Doctor.

She was also great in The Seeds of Doom, Invasion of the Dinosaurs and Pyramids of Mars. Well, she was great in every story she was in, but these are just highlights.

I love the 4th Doctor but agree with your description of him. The show got its warmth from the companions rather than the Doctor during his period.

I remember him telling Tegan her Aunt Vanessa had been killed by the Master in Logopolis and how he casually pushed her towards someone else for a shoulder to cry on (Nyssa, I think).

For me, growing up, Doctor Who was the story of the Doctor and Sarah Jane. It really confused me when she left at the end of Hand of Fear and even more so when the Doctor finished all that silly nonsense on Gallifrey in The Deadly Assassin and then didn't go back for her. The scoundrel!

The Seeds of Doom in my opinion. No competition. There are so many stories I love in that list, but I just find that particular serial remarkably brilliant. Perhaps The Time Warrior would be my second choice.

RIP to Elisabeth Sladen and also to Robert Banks Stewart who wrote the Seeds of Doom and died this January.

And of course to Nicholas Courtney, who died just over two months prior to Elisabeth.

Lots of options, she's great in Terror of the Zygons and The Seeds of Doom. Genesis of the Daleks too. The character is never stronger than she is in The Time Warrior and she's brilliant in Invasion of the Dinosaurs.

However it's still a no brainer for me. Pyramids of Mars got my vote.

I went for Zygons. Great story and Liz was great in this.,

Well the poll is a bit incomplete. Can't really have a poll about someone's best story and miss out some of them.

School reunion is very good as a Sarah Jane episode, and did a brilliant job of introducing the character to someone like me who knew nothing of her other than 'old companion'. By the end of that episode I had been shown her and been given enough to feel something for her relationship with the doctor.

Seems a shame to do an unfinished poll when including the new who stories would have only meant including an extra 2 stories (or 3 if you include the end of time)

Well tiggerpooh clearly stated in the original post - I've included a poll, to find out what DW story featuring lis, is the best from her original time between 1974 and 1976. .

Seems clear enough to me.

Sarah Jane worked best in the classic series for me.

I'm aware of that, but I just don't see the point of asking people to choose their favourite episode, and then not giving them every possible choice.

It would be like me saying choose your favourite Tom Baker story, but I'm not including his last series, or Choose your favourite Capaldi episode but you can only pick from series 8.

The poll is even titled 'What is the best DW story to feature Elisabeth Sladen' which suggests you are picking from any episode in it's title, and as such is at odd's with the opening post.

I do wonder if tiggerpooh simply forgot the new who stories in the poll options, then changed the opening post to reflect that. If not then it just seems strange to me not to include an extra 2 or 3 stories and make it complete.

i love her. its scary that its been 5 years already

I voted Pyramids Of mars, mainly because of the banter and Sarah had a lot to do in this story. It sums up everything I love about the relationship between the 4th Doctor and Sarah and there are some nice little funny scenes such as the gelignite one.

'Perhaps he sneezed.'

Quite! Where does the time go?

I think Elisabeth Sladen's death was perhaps the biggest hit to the Doctor Who 'fandom' of the past decade, on the whole. Sure, it'd be more breaking news if one of the young actors who have been in the main cast for the show since 2005 passed away early, but Elisabeth Sladen, and Sarah Jane Smith through her, had a distinct resonance with both an older and a younger generation. She meant so much to so many - whether she was reprising her role from yesteryear, or a window into a past you never saw the first time around she was extra special. It was so sad to see The Sarah Jane Adventures cut short due to her passing, but commendable that she carried on until the very end.

Doctor Who was all the better for having her back in the day. And it was all the better from 2006 when she was reintroduced. As a template goes, the show wouldn't be any worse off now if it decided to bring back someone else from the past in a similar vein.

Love the next bit: 'don't provoke me'

I only put the stories that featured Sarah during her original run as a companion. Yes, although she was in The Five Doctors, as was seen in School Reunion, she doesn't remember anything that happened in The Five Doctors.

That would have been wiped from her mind, as soon as she left Gallifrey and went back to England and her version of K9 in 1983.

The news that Liz had died was breaking news on both the BBC News channel and Sky News

I was in shock for a few hours after. It took half an hour after I found out before I had to have a 'good' cry. All in all, it took nearly a week after her death, for it to sink in properly.

I wonder what is going to happen to the scripts to Series 5 of SJA that have gone unused? The three two part stories that were sadly not filmed due to Lis's death that is?

One was adapted for Wizards Vs Aliens.

http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/The_Thi...loor_(TV_story)