Elisabeth Sladen: The Autobiography

He rang back later and said, ‘Barry Letts is writing and directing it.’

That’s all I needed to hear.

‘OK, tell them I’m in!’

I would have walked over hot coals to work with Barry again. When I left Who he’d told me, ‘I’m going to write to some people and recommend they see you.’ And he did – I saw a copy of it. He said: ‘I really think you should see this person because I think she could become one of the best actresses of our generation.’ I’m not sure much ever came of it – I did go to see people but perhaps I don’t sell myself well enough. All I know is, he didn’t have to do that. So the opportunity to work with him, however small the role, was not to be missed.

The day after I agreed to do Flimnap, Barry rang me himself and I remembered yet again why he was so special.

‘I’m so pleased you’re going to do it,’ he told me. ‘I’m going to write the part up just for you.’

What a gentleman.

*   *   *

Barry coming back into my life seemed like an omen and while he beavered away on the script I accepted an invite to another US Who convention. This one hadn’t been organised by Lucy but if it was half as much fun, I’d be in for a treat. Once again Ian Marter was also on the list – as was Barry, something I was really excited about – and there was a ticket for Brian. I couldn’t wait. Fort Lauderdale, here we come!

The event opened at two o’clock on 5 February 1981. At about ten past Ian and I were still standing outside the hall – it was so packed we couldn’t get in. Boy, when Americans decide they like something, they really go for it! I probably hadn’t thought about Who more than once since the LA convention – and that was during the meeting with John Nathan-Turner. I’d forgotten how massive the show had become over there. I never expected that level of attention. And I definitely didn’t expect to have to be physically passed over the audience’s heads just to reach the stage!

We had a brilliant time. It was blissful being with Ian and Barry again without the shadow of work hanging over us, although we weren’t alone. Our hosts had pulled out all the stops and I loved meeting lots of ex- Who alumni for the first time. In audiences’ minds we must seem like one big family but the truth is that I didn’t meet most of the other Doctors and their crew until I started frequenting conventions. Even though we’re strangers, we have such a rich shared history and meeting them is like having your own support network. No one else knows what you go through on that show.

A relief for me was seeing Brian fit in so easily. He and Ian really hit it off – it would have been awful if he’d felt like a spare limb. I think they both had their experiences of being at the periphery of the Who spectrum – even Ian – and so they bonded over that. Most of that bonding, naturally, took place at the bar way into the small hours. On one occasion it also included a drunken paddle in the surf.

Ian, Barry and the rest left after a week, then Brian and I drove down to Key West for another fortnight’s amazing holiday. We’d only been there a few days when we were stopped by a policeman.

‘Is everything all right, officer?’ Brian asked.

‘It will be if Sarah Jane will give me her autograph!’

As I’ve said, it’s amazing where you find Who fans.

*   *   *

Filming on Gulliver in Lilliput began in June 1981. I was so excited to be working with Barry again, and I was even looking forward to slipping into the old rehearsal/record routine at the Acton Hilton and Television Centre.

Technically it was quite a tricky shoot. Gulliver was so much bigger than me that the actor – Andrew Burt – had to stand at one end of the studio and I was up the other end by the blue screen. Luckily the Beeb still used monitors then so I was able to position myself on Gulliver’s outstretched palm. If he moved, I could react – I don’t know why they ever took the screens away.

We had several weeks of filming but time was extremely tight by the end. It was touch and go whether we’d complete on time and Barry’s nerves passed down to the cast. I remember at the very end of our studio time I had to blow Andrew a kiss but I just didn’t do it. I was so anxious about cocking it up and making the whole production run over schedule that I just skipped it.

Costumes on the whole film were stunning – thanks to Amy Roberts – but mine was out of this world. I was scaffolded inside the narrowest corset they could find. So decadent, it felt like being in an opera – people kept wandering in just to see our underwear! (There was one marvellous scene where I had to tease my husband pulling on my stockings. Still a favourite, I believe, for some fans.) The downside is it took so bloody long to get into that outfit there was never time to take it off again. From early in the morning until ten at night, I was trussed up like a Christmas turkey. For lunch I could just about manage a hard-boiled egg and I still felt as though I’d eaten a whole chicken. When I was cut out at night, my body was covered in striations.

It was such a minxy part and there was not a minute of Gulliver that I did not enjoy. I know Barry felt the same. I have a letter from him in which he says that production was one of the highlights of his career. Mine too, Barry.

If only I could have said the same about my next project.

*   *   *

Unbeknownst to me, John Nathan-Turner had not taken my earlier ‘no’ for an answer. Just because I’d refused to return to the main programme to oversee the transition between Tom and the Fifth Doctor, Peter Davison, he reasoned, that didn’t mean I never wanted to appear as Sarah Jane Smith in anything else. Then at the start of 1981 he discovered the perfect vehicle. Following the announcement that K-9, the Fourth Doctor’s robot dog, would be phased out of Doctor Who, there had been uproar among the fans and in the press so, he decided to give K-9 another show – with me as the human star.

‘We’ll call it Sarah and K-9!’ John enthused. ‘You’ll have your own show – it will be brilliant!’

I had to agree that it sounded a fabulous idea: Sarah Jane striding out into the world on her own, pursuing her