Hello peeps. Here’s a photo of me shattering my thin veneer of professionalism and grinning like a loon next to Sarah Jane Smith’s car. It was taken on Friday, in the drive of 13 Bannerman Road in Ealing... Oh, alright - a street in Penarth, near Cardiff!
Although the Sarah Jane Adventures team are close to completing filming for season two, on Friday they happened to be shooting some pick-ups for the second episode of the series. So I was able to watch as Maria and her Dad said their goodbyes to their friends, before leaving for a new life overseas...
Elisabeth Sladen was the consummate professional, coming over to chat with the assembled journos (sweating in the afternoon sun) and making sure that we were all being watered. After the shoot there was time to interview Lis, Tommy Knight (Luke Smith), Danny Anthony (Clyde Langer) and new girl Anjli Mohindra, who plays Rani Chandra (a girl whose family moves into Maria's old house).
Highlight of the day? Well, the catering van’s vegetable curry was pretty impressive (mmmm, curry), but it’s got to be either Tommy and Danny doing the lambada in-between takes to keep themselves entertained, or the gobsmacking sight of Sarah Jane Smith flipping the bird at a passing car! Gasp! Why? Well, you’ll have to wait until a future issue of SFX to find that out...
Ian Berriman
Season two of The Sarah Jane Adventures airs on BBC One this Autumn.
