Did you know that Elisabeth Sladen injured herself while filming “School Reunion”? 

I can’t help but start my post about Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary by talking about one of my favorite fictional characters, Sarah Jane Smith. Played by the late Elisabeth Sladen, Sarah Jane Smith returned just a few episodes into David Tennant’s run in 2006. She original joined the show in 1974 with Jon Pertwee’s Third Doctor. 

While they were filming, there were several scenes where the cast were running around hallways of the school.  During one of these, Elisabeth Sladen fell. 

Instead of letting the production team know, Sladen powered through. She didn’t want to slow down the production. But it was bad enough that once they finished filming for the day, she ended up in the ED. 

During this beautiful, heartfelt performance that closed a chapter of Sarah Jane Smith’s life, Elisabeth Sladen herself was in quite a bit of pain. 

But later she would write in her memoir that she didn’t want to be the old woman who slowed things down. Elisabeth Sladen was never the woman slowing things down. In fact, her return was so well received that she got her own spin-off. Up until her death, Sladen ran around with a bunch of kids who had to keep up with her. 

Over the last decade, I’ve gone to several Doctor Who conventions and had other opportunities to talk with cast, crew, and people whose lives have been touched by the show and collected their stories. 

And I’ve only scratched the surface. 

With 60 years, hundreds of episodes and just as many audio dramas, libraries of books, and several spin-offs, Doctor Who has reached all over the globe. This show has brought people together as they follow the adventures of a Time Lord in a blue box traveling through time and space. 

My journey with Doctor Who started a decade ago, completely by accident. But since I started to watch, it’s become such a big part of my life. Despite the franchise’s ups and downs, I have things I will always love about it. I have beloved characters that I will always return to, I’ve made friends that have become near and dear, and I’ve even had the chance to write an audio short for Big Finish Productions. 

I debated  what to say on this important anniversary. Do I talk about what the show has accomplished in the genre? Do I talk about its legacy? Do I talk about a favorite episode? 

I think I’ll end it with a favorite personal story. I went to a Doctor Who convention a few years ago mainly to be able to meet Katy Manning. She is the last living companion of my favorite Doctor, Jon Pertwee. 

We arrived at the convention hotel and checked in. Road weary, we grabbed an elevator to take to our room. As my friends and I piled in the elevator, Katy Manning herself also slides in with her daughter. Seeing our luggage rack (with our cosplays), she happily starts to look through them as one might do in a shop. 

Her daughter shooed her away from it (“it’s not a shop, mum!”), and I had a great laugh as I told her she’s welcome to look at my cosplays. A couple of days later, I got to chat with Katy for a bit. We talked a lot about Sarah Jane and Elisabeth Sladen (I was wearing a Sarah Jane cosplay). That is an experience I will truly cherish. 

Happiest of birthdays, Doctor Who. Here’s to sixty years of bringing people together, of telling stories, of highs and lows. And here’s to sixty more. 

The Boss Rush Podcast: The Flagship Podcast of Boss Rush Media and the Boss Rush Network

The Boss Rush Podcast is the flagship podcast of Boss Rush Media and the Boss Rush Network. Each week, Corey, Stephanie, LeRon, and their friends from around the internet come together with other creators, developers, and industry veterans to talk about games they’ve been playing, discuss video game and entertainment based topics, and answer questions solicited on social media and the community Discord. 

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