Started
The Sarah Jane Adventures with
Invasion of the Bane.
I watched this on it's original transmission (i think it was a Sunday afternoon) and was a little underwhelmed but i thoroughly enjoyed it last night.
The reason being that despite some ropy effects the whole thing felt natural. The dialogue from Russell T Davies is a great improvement on Steven Moffat's 'every line must be a quip' style of speech which feels is often amusing but isn't how people speak. Davies nails it beautifully. I know many grumble that his series of Doctor Who are too 'soap like' but to me it's his natural writing style and brilliance at capturing a character with a single line of dialogue that made the pre-Moffat years special. The scenes featuring Sarah in showdown with Mrs Wormwood (an excellent Samantha Bond) were also a joy to watch.
The story was a simple beginning and not too far removed from his later
Doctor Who story
Partners in Crime ,but as an introductory piece it was excellent and a lovely way to bring back the wonderful Elizabeth Sladen after her standout turns with Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker in the 70's and bang up to date in the previous years David Tennant episode
School Reunion. As a final thing i loved the photos in her attic of the Brigadier, Harry and other people from her time on
Doctor Who.