It all began when teenager Maria Jackson moved into Bannerman Road. It seemed like an average suburban street but the woman living opposite her new home was anything but average - she was a journalist who had visited the stars and walked through eternity. She was Sarah Jane Smith and Maria and her new school mates would soon become embroiled in her adventures!

Maria and Sarah Jane became firm friends whilst investigating the evil 'Mrs Wormwood', the head of a company producing the hugely popular drink, Bubble Shock! They soon discovered Wormwood was an alien and her drinks empire part of a scheme to gain control of the human race. Her plan also involved the 'Archetype' - a living creature who looks like, and to all intents and purposes is, a teenage boy. After Wormwood was defeated, Sarah Jane adopted the lad, giving him the name Luke. He's intelligent and loving towards his new mum, but can sometimes lack street sense... Good job he's got Clyde as a friend, then!

Clyde Langer, alongside Maria and Luke, made up the trio of friends who helped Sarah Jane in a number of adventures where she defended Earth from familiar foes such as Sontarans and the Slitheen, and new menaces including the Uvodni, later glimpsed in The Pandorica Opens. The Bannerman Road gang are also assisted by Sarah Jane's powerful talking computer, Mr Smith and on occasions, K-9. When Maria moved with her father to the US, Rani Chandra joined Sarah Jane's group, and together they faced more terrifying threats. But somehow they were always able to enjoy the wonder of their situation, marvelling at the rich, exotic aliens they encountered and appreciating the positive aspects of humanity and some of the extra-terrestrial life forms they came into contact with.

Sarah Jane encountered the Tenth Doctor on three further occasions... she was by his side as he defeated Davros and the Daleks and he visited her when she was due to marry Peter Dalton, exposing the relationship as part of a plan hatched by the Trickster. Finally, he bid her a silent farewell shortly before he regenerated...

Sarah Jane is about to meet the Eleventh Doctor, in the forthcoming episode, Death of the Doctor. She's weaved in and out of the Time Lord's travels for decades, sharing his battles and appetite for adventure. But now she's aware that life beyond the TARDIS can be as exhilarating - and as eye-opening - as any voyage to Venus or beyond.

As she once said to Maria and Luke, 'I saw amazing things, out there in space. But there's strangeness to be found, wherever you turn. Life on earth can be an adventure, too. You just need to know where to look.'