Awful

This is quite hard to write.  Elisabeth Sladen, it has just been announced, has died of cancer at the young age of 63.

Firstly, it is a complete shock.  Currently, as I write, it is news on the front page of the BBC Web site (and rightly, the banner headline);  Google haven't yet caught up and indexed the news. So it is, by that measure at least, very raw.

She played Sarah-Jane Smith, the best of the companions without exception, and added pepper and vigour to the Sarah Jane Adventures.  At the opposite end of the Dr Who universe from Torchwood, she made a children's show so much more interesting than one expected.   Sometimes must-see stuff.

I can't but believe that the person we saw on-screen was close to being the real person.  Wonderful, sly, funny and phenomenal.  She will be missed more than many of the actors who played the Doctor over the years.