DOCTOR WHO BOSS SHARES RULE HE BROKE ON SARAH JANE ADVENTURES
Doctor Who boss Russell T Davies has shared the rule he broke on The Sarah Jane Adventures.
Speaking to SFX Magazine, the showrunner explained that, during an episode of the beloved spin off series, he broke his own rule by including an alien planet and the death of a monster.
"I remember when I came in and wrote 'Death Of The Doctor', Phil Ford turned round and said, 'But you told us no alien planets, and no killing the monsters.' Which is exactly what I did on that!"
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One rule Davies said he didn't break was the decision to omit the cybermen from the kids show, even after Doctor Who writer Matt Jones pitched the idea.
"Matt Jones once pitched a Cyberman invasion of Bannerman Road, and I sat there thinking, 'What the Cybermen do is remove your brains and put them into metal – that's horrible."
Describing the Cybermen as too horrible for afternoon viewing, Davies said that he chose to leave out another notorious Doctor Who villain from the spin off – the Daleks.
According to Davies, it didn't make sense to include the Daleks as their defeat by Sarah Jane and the kids would have weakened their credibility.
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"I don't think Cybermen fit five o'clock in the afternoon. I don't think Daleks do. We were always dying to get the Daleks in there, but if Sarah Jane and a bunch of kids could defeat a Dalek that makes the Daleks pretty soft!
"You wanted great big villains, you wanted the end of the world," Davies explained. "But she's not the Doctor, so you have to temper that by saying they're brilliant, brave amateurs."
Davies, who is returning to the BBC sci-fi series for its next series as well as its 60th anniversary, recently teased that an episode from the new series is "one of the greatest things" he's ever done.
Doctor Who returns later in 2023 on BBC One in the UK and Disney+ elsewhere. Meanwhile, in the US, the show airs on BBC America, with series 1-12 available on HBO Max. Classic Doctor Who streams on BritBox in the UK.