Sarah Jane Smith - Reception, Impact and Legacy

Reception, Impact and Legacy

Sarah Jane Smith has been consistently voted the most popular Doctor Who companion, although in recent times the character has vied in popularity with Rose Tyler. Ace has also been a previous winner. Sladen felt that part of her popularity was working alongside Pertwee and Baker, who were popular Doctors. Daniel Martin of The Guardian named her the best companion in 2007, writing that her "jolly-hockey-sticks good nature" made her so beloved. The Daily Telegraph's Gavin Fuller also ranked Sarah number one, praising Sladen's portrayal and saying that she displayed "great determination and bravery".

In 2012, Toby Whithouse, who wrote Sarah Jane's return to the series in "School Reunion", said she was his favorite companion from the classic series. Concerning the impact of the character, he said:

"Because she was a comic companion, and I think that she, more than any other before her, redefined the role of the companion. And there are elements of Sarah Jane Smith that you can see in every companion afterward down to Amy. She changed the companion from being a rather helpless hysteric to being a feisty, opinionated, strong equal to the Doctor. And, at the time, you know that was quite an extraordinary thing to do. That was not the role the companion, or women, were meant to be playing. They were meant to be playing the victim, they were meant to be decoration. I think what Lis Sladen did with that character is quite extraordinary. We forget how revolutionary she was at the time."