Sladen, Elisabeth - Elisabeth Sladen - The Autobiography

Fortunately, Philip Hinchcliffe and Robert Holmes agreed.

‘There are only two people who know how the Doctor and Sarah would handle this,’ they said to me and Tom, ‘and it’s you.’

I didn’t see that coming, but what an honour. And they were absolutely right: Tom and I were the keepers of these precious characters. We lived them every day, every week for nine months or more each year.

As I recall, the plot get-out Robert had come up with was that the Doctor had been summoned back to Gallifrey – home planet of the Time Lords, where no humans were allowed – so he would be forced to drop Sarah off in Croydon. That was fine. Even at the end of The Seeds of Doom , after all, Sarah had been angling to get home. She was after a breather from the action as well – but how to make it real?

Tom and I put a lot of thought into this. It was terribly liberating. ‘What about …?’

‘No, he wouldn’t do that. But what about …?’

‘No, she’d run a mile!’

It went on like that all afternoon. And then we realised what was missing …

The cameras rolled and we delivered the most heartfelt lines of our careers. It was two whole pages – a lot bearing in mind we filmed about eight or nine a day normally.

So what did we come up with in the end? It was quite straight-forward, actually.

Sarah said, ‘Don’t forget me.’

‘Oh, Sarah, don’t you forget me ,’ the Doctor replied.

Then: ‘until we meet again,’ from him and Sarah agrees, but too emotional to speak, she just hmm-hmms. Then she scoops up her possessions – including a tennis racquet and that yellow Mac – tells a Labrador ‘He blew it!’ when she realises it’s not Croydon and skips off, whistling ‘Daddy Wouldn’t Buy Me a Bow Wow’.

The dog was a last-minute addition. Maybe Lennie was looking for something for his wife to do, because Pidge was the hound-handler. You can read these things in so many ways. Some fans think the ‘Bow Wow’ song was put in to prepare us for K-9 – it doesn’t matter that the Fourth Doctor’s robotic dog hadn’t even been invented yet.

Some people look for connections everywhere. I’m the other extreme. Shamefully, years later, I would perform a touching tribute to Sarah’s final scene with David Tennant – and not even realise …

Despite the pressure on Tom and me to complete such an impassioned scene, it went very smoothly. In fact, it was great to do. Sometimes you’re in a swirl, like a wave, and you just do it and it works. There’s nothing I’d change – we did what we set out to.

Disappointed as I was with the overall story, I was pretty proud of my exit so I kept the script with those passages and all my rude messages. Apart from the odd costume or accessory it’s the only thing I did hang onto from my Who days. (I know what you’re thinking – and I’m sorry!) Years later, it would go to a very deserving home …

* * *

Recording my farewell scene in the opening week of shooting got it neatly out of the way. Going into the studio sessions after that, the pressure was off. Other problems, however, presented themselves.

All sorts of insects come out in summer, don’t they, and one day we were absolutely tormented by this one bluebottle. You don’t realise how loud those creatures are until you’re in a silent studio, waiting to deliver your lines, and suddenly you hear this buzzing somewhere up near the lights. How can something so tiny cause so much chaos? Take after take had to be halted every time the noise started up again. There’s one scene that we had to keep where you can actually see the fly walking, cool as you like, across Glyn’s brow!

It turned out, Glyn got off lightly. I was repeating ‘Eldrad must live!’ for the hundredth time when I felt this tickle in my throat. I had to cough – and the bloody fly shot out! Still, it stopped it buzzing …

When my last recorded scene came I was really happy with it. Not happy with my performance or the writing or anything like that; it’s just we had such fun doing it. That’s how I wanted to remember Who .

Not everyone saw the joke, however.

We were filming a scene set on the planet Kastria. Tom and I had to climb up this craggy surface. He was carrying Eldrad, played by Judith Paris, who was covered in an unwieldy rock costume. All I had to do was get myself up, but I slipped.

I don’t know if it was the tension releasing, but as soon as my foot slid from under me I couldn’t help laughing. Then Tom slipped and we both started giggling.

‘OK, quiet everyone, we’re going again.’

So we did it again – and slipped again. Poor old Judith, she was being thrown around like a sack of potatoes and I think she got pretty pissed off.

‘Look, can we just do this so I can go and have a fag?’

But we just kept on slipping and that made us laugh even more. You know when you don’t know what you’re laughing at but you can’t stop? That was us.

Meanwhile Marion was losing her patience and Lennie was tearing his hair out.

‘Look, would you stop messing about!’

But we couldn’t help it. It was quite uncontrollable. And, you know what? I’m glad we couldn’t. If I have to remember anything of my time on Who , it would be just having a blast with Tom. Me and him, Doctor and companion – us against the universe.

* * *

At least my farewell came at the end of recording. (David Tennant’s took place a while before he left Cardiff.) We all piled down to the Kensington Hilton to let our hair down and party. Brian was there, and so many faces from the last few years. Usually there’s a whipround when someone leaves, so I’d been asked if I wanted anything in particular. ‘Oh, yes,’ I said. ‘I’d love some silver picture frames to put people’s pictures in.’ Just as well, because I posed for so many photos that night – I didn’t want to forget anyone. I remember a little boy turning up and taking loads of snaps as well. Years later he sent them to me on a disc. He’s not so little any more!

The frames were just what I wanted but there was something quite special still to come. George Gallaccio handed me a small box and said, ‘It’s in case you ever want to come back.’

Inside was a key to the TARDIS!

‘Oh, George, that’s so sweet.’

‘Everyone should have access to the TARDIS, Lis.’

After the Hilton the party carried on at Tom’s house. He was with gorgeous Marianne Ford at the time – they were such a brilliant couple. Whenever we had to go to functions for the BBC he liked her to come along and look after him. He really loved that. So, I’d met her many times, although this was the first time I’d ever seen their house. When we arrived I gasped. The garden was absolutely festooned with fairy lights. It was quite magical.

‘What do you think?’ Tom asked proudly.

I said, ‘Tom, it’s beautiful. Do you always have these lights on?’

‘Of course I bloody don’t,’ he scowled. ‘I put them up for you!’

* * *

So that was that. Three years, eighteen serials, eighty half-hour episodes. Without trying, I’d accidentally become the longest-serving companion – just pipping Katy’s record. (I think Frazer Hines had appeared in more episodes, but over a shorter period.) These stats matter to some people but I was oblivious. The only statistic I cared about was the number of empty days that lay ahead of me.

Tangiers, here I come …

Chapter Twelve

Bippetyboo, Bippetyboo

WAKING UP that first day as a free woman was sensational. Not because I was released from the shackles of a three-year job; it was just amazing to have the whole day ahead of me and absolutely no plans. There were no calls for costume fittings; no one phoning to say a new script was in the post – I had nothing to learn and nowhere to be.