Elisabeth Sladen Elisabeth Clara Heath - Sladen ( 1 February 1946 , Liverpool , England – 19 April 2011 ) played Sarah Jane Smith . She appeared as a regular on " Doctor Who " with both Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker . She also appeared in the pilot for the spin - off series , " K9 and Company " . Most recently , she reprised her role as Sarah Jane on " Doctor Who " and in its spin - off series , " The Sarah Jane Adventures " . Early career . An only child , Sladen developed an interest in performing at an early age , beginning dance lessons when she was five and dancing in one production with the Royal Ballet . She turned to acting and after finishing grammar school , attended drama school for two years . She began work at the Liverpool Playhouse repertory company as an assistant stage manager . Her first stage appearance was as a corpse . She was scolded for giggling on stage , thanks to a young actor , Brian Miller , whispering the words , " Respiration nil , Aston Villa two " in her ear while he was playing a doctor . Sladen was so good as an ASM that she did not get many acting roles , a problem she solved by deliberately making mistakes . This got her told off again , but she started to get more on - stage roles . Sladen moved into weekly repertory work , travelling around England . Sladen and Miller married on 8th June 1968 , after moving to Manchester , spending three years there . Her most notable role in this time was Desdemona in " Othello " , her first appearance as a leading lady . She also got the odd part on Leeds Radio and Granada Television , appearing in 1970 as Anita Reynolds , barmaid of The Flying Horse , in six episodes of " Coronation Street " . In 1972 , Miller was appearing in a play that moved down to London and they moved along with it . Sladen found city life a change , but adapted . Her first television role in London was as a female terrorist in an episode of " Doomwatch " . This was followed by guest roles in " Some Mothers Do ' Ave ' Em " and " Z - Cars " . " Doctor Who " . In 1973 , Katy Manning , who was playing the Third Doctor ' s assistant , Jo Grant opposite Jon Pertwee , was leaving the series . Producer Barry Letts was growing increasingly desperate in his search for a replacement when " Z - Cars " producer Ron Craddock gave Sladen an enthusiastic recommendation . Sladen arrived at the audition not knowing it was for the new companion role and was amazed at Letts ' s thoroughness . She was introduced to Pertwee , whom she found intimidating . As she chatted with Letts and Pertwee , each gave the other a thumbs - up when her back was turned . She was offered and accepted the part of investigative journalist Sarah Jane Smith . Sladen stayed on " Doctor Who " from the start of season 11 to midway through season 14 . She worked with Pertwee as the Third Doctor and Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor , receiving popular and critical acclaim . When she left the series in 1976 , it made front page news — previously only a change of Doctors had received such attention . Bob Baker and Dave Martin intentionally left Sarah ' s departure scene in " The Hand of Fear " unwritten ; Sladen and Tom Baker co - wrote it themselves . She was sad to be leaving " Doctor Who " and cried on her last day . Sladen was heartbroken upon hearing of Jon Pertwee ' s death in 1996 and cried for weeks afterwards . In a later interview , Sladen stated that Pertwee was " her " Doctor . ( BBC interview 1997 ) In October 2009 , Sladen paid tribute to her boss and friend , Barry Letts , who had died that month , calling him one of her best friends . Later career . Sladen returned to Liverpool with her husband and did a series of plays . Notable appearances following that include a two - year stint as a presenter for the children ' s programme " Stepping Stones " , a role as a stand - up comic ' s spouse in " Take My Wife " and a small part in the movie " Silver Dream Racer " as a bank secretary in 1980 , her only motion picture appearance . The new decade also marked her first appearance at a " Doctor Who " convention , Who 1 , in March 1980 with Ian Marter , who had played companion Harry Sullivan on the programme . In 1981 , Letts cast her as the female lead in the BBC Classics production of " Gulliver in Lilliput " . She continued to appear in advertisements and in another Letts production , " Alice in Wonderland " ( in which she played the Dormouse ) and attended " Doctor Who " conventions in the United States . After the birth of her daughter Sadie Miller in February 1985 , Sladen went into semi - retirement , placing her family first . She appeared only occasionally on television . Reprising Sarah . Until " School Reunion " , Sladen ' s last television appearance as Sarah had been in the 1993 charity special " Dimensions in Time " . New " Doctor Who " producer John Nathan - Turner had asked her to return to the series to ease the transition between Tom Baker and new Doctor Peter Davison . She declined , but accepted his second offer of a pilot for a spin - off series called " K9 and Company " , co - starring with K9 , the popular robot dog from " Doctor Who " . The pilot was not picked up for a series . Sladen would reprise the role of Sarah in 1983 for the twentieth anniversary special , " The Five Doctors " . In 1995 she played the role once again in the independent non - BBC film " Downtime " , her last on - screen appearance as the character until 2006 . Sladen played Sarah in many audio stories . Two were produced for BBC Radio : " The Paradise of Death " ( 1993 ) , and " The Ghosts of N - Space " ( 1996 ) , with Pertwee as the Doctor and Nicholas Courtney as the Brigadier . In the early 2000s , Sladen reprised the role for a Big Finish Productions audio series , " Sarah Jane Smith " , set in the present day . A week before her death , she and Tom Baker had signed a contract to begin recording a new series of Big Finish audio stories . Sladen was one of several " classic series " cast and crew interviewed for " Project Who " , a BBC Radio documentary on the revival of " Doctor Who " that aired in March 2005 . On 25 July 2005 , the BBC confirmed that Sladen would appear as Sarah Jane Smith in Series 2 of the revived " Doctor Who " . The BBC later announced that John Leeson would also be returning as the voice of the robot dog K9 . The positive response to Sladen ' s appearance in the story , " School Reunion " , led to the BBC commissioning another attempt at a Sarah Jane spinoff series , this time created by Russell T Davies . " Invasion of the Bane " ( not technically a pilot , as the BBC had already agreed to a season ) , a special premiere episode of " The Sarah Jane Adventures " , aired on 1 January 2007 and was followed by a ten episode series later in the year . Series 2 aired in 2008 , followed by Series 3 in 2009 , and Series 4 in autumn 2010 . A fifth series was in production , with six episodes ( half the series ) completed when Sladen fell ill with cancer . Filming was immediately postponed but was expected to eventually resume . However , Sladen died in the early hours of 19 April 2011 . Although some tabloids reported that production of " SJA " was to continue regardless , it was quickly announced filming would not resume and the three completed stories would air as a tribute . The three completed stories aired in October 2011 , the last of them ending with a montage that gave a sense of closure to the show . Sladen also narrated a series of non - fiction behind - the - scenes audio releases from BBC Audio dubbed " Doctor Who at the BBC " . In July 2008 , Sladen returned to " Doctor Who " once more for the two final episodes " The Stolen Earth " and " Journey ' s End " . In an interview with " Doctor Who Magazine " in 2008 , she said she expected her appearance in the two - parter to be her final appearance on the parent programme . Her prediction was wrong ; she made one more appearance in " The End of Time , Part 2 " , in which the Tenth Doctor briefly arrives at Sarah ' s house before his impending regeneration in order to say a silent goodbye to his old friend . While that may have been her last appearance on " Doctor Who " , it wasn ' t the last time she had an adventure with the Doctor . David Tennant appeared as the Tenth Doctor in the third series episode " The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith " and Matt Smith appeared as the Eleventh Doctor in the fourth series episode " Death of the Doctor " . That made it nine Doctors she had worked with , thanks to " The Five Doctors " and " Dimensions in Time " . Elisabeth Sladen died on Tuesday 19 April 2011 from cancer . She was sixty - five years old . Many people paid tribute to Sladen , including : Russell T Davies , David Tennant , Matt Smith , Alexander Armstrong , Colin Baker , Nicola Bryant , Damian Kavanagh , Keith Jones , Roger Carey , Stephen Fry , Steven Moffat and Tom Baker . The " Doctor Who " story " The Impossible Astronaut " , which went to air the following Saturday , was dedicated to her memory . Due to an editing mistake in the beginning of her career , the date listed for her birth on the dedication was incorrect - she was actually born in 1946 . It was followed immediately by " " , a very touching tribute special on the CBBC channel featuring actors and actresses she had worked with . Sladen had begun working on her autobiography and had completed the final draft before she was diagnosed with cancer , when she put the project aside . Following her death , it was decided ( with the support of Sladen ' s family ) that the autobiography would be published posthumously . " Elisabeth Sladen : The Autobiography " was published on 7 November 2011 , with a foreword by David Tennant and an epilogue by Brian and Sadie Miller . The audiobook version was released on 1 December 2011 narrated by Caroline John , with Tennant and Brian and Sadie Miller reading their contributions .