The BBC have excelled themselves tonight with a stellar assault on my emotions. First there was the rollercoaster ride that was the season opener of the new Doctor Who series- of which more probably tomorrow - and immediately afterwards, on CBBC, the programme nobody ever wanted to see, or make - My Sarah Jane. This was a tribute to actress and Who icon Elisabeth Sladen who died on Tuesday.
You could tell that this programme had been put together with love and tenderness by people who were shocked and grief stricken at the unexpected loss of a friend and inspiration.
There were heartfelt words from Matt Smith, David Tennant and Steven Moffat. From the kids who'd been her gang on the Sarah Jane Adventures, all of whom talked about how Lis had really looked out for them on set. It was the music that really set me blubbing. Not just a moist eye, but full blown, noisy, proper blubbing which followed a flash of "you bastards, BBC, how could you have picked something so perfect?".
What made it perfect was looking across the room, past the Matt Smith cardboard cutout (really!) over at my husband on the other sofa. He regards my Doctor Who obsession with a certain resigned, but benevolent tolerance. And there he was, blubbing his eyes out too. It's moments like these that confirm that you are absolutely with the right person.
We haven't had to wait very long to see the programme come up on iPlayer too - view it here. But have a nice soothing cuppa and a box of tissues ready as you'll need one to get you through this tender, tasteful tribute.
And to those of you on Twitter who say there should have been a Nick Courtney tribute - well, of course there should. But let's not take away from Lis and what she gave to mine and my daughter's generation. We'll miss her so much. I still feel very sad and a little choked when I think about her no longer being with us, but we'll always have her excellent performances and portrayal of a character who combined kindness, compassion and curiosity with an inability to take crap from anyone or to conform to expectations to inspire us.
And although Tom Baker wasn't part of tonight's tribute programme, he wrote this blog post about Lis earlier this week.
1 comment:
Thank you for this. We just got done watching with our 2 grand daughters, ages 5 and 7, and this was beautifully done. Lis was the measure by which we compared all the other companions, and the world of the Doctor is a sadder place this week.
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