Alan Jackson Alan Jackson was the father of Maria Jackson and ex - husband of Chrissie Jackson . He was a neighbour of Sarah Jane Smith before he moved to America . Biography . As a youth , Alan loved to skateboard , and even showed off his skateboarding skills when he was older . ( TV : " Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane ? " ) During the 1980s , he and Chrissie Jackson went around taking part in a treasure hunt for a " golden rabbit " . ( TV : " Warriors of Kudlak " ) In 1992 , Alan won the " King of the Concrete " tournament in Romford , which was a skateboarding competition . ( TV : " Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane ? " ) He was , by trade , a computer security consultant . As a result , he had considerable computer expertise , particularly in systems penetration , a . k . a . " hacking " , as well as some unorthodox contacts . ( TV : " The Lost Boy " , " The Mark of the Berserker " ) Despite being divorced from Chrissie , Alan remained on fairly amicable terms with her and had frequent contact with her . They turned to each other on several occasions . Chrissie believed that they were much better as friends than as husband and wife . ( TV : " The Last Sontaran " ) Before Alan moved to Ealing , he had a job at St Cheldon ' s Comprehensive School in Upminster . He noticed a strange metallic smell coming from the technology block Coldfire Construction had built . ( TV : " Revenge of the Slitheen " ) At the end of summer 2008 , Alan moved into 36 Bannerman Road in Ealing opposite Sarah Jane Smith ' s house , number 13 . Unlike his daughter and ex - wife , Alan was affected by the Bane ingredient in Bubble Shock ! . ( TV : " Invasion of the Bane " ) After Maria ' s first day at school at Park Vale School , Alan lent Sarah Jane the plans for St Cheldon ' s ' technology block , including an empty room Coldfire kept to themselves . ( TV : " Revenge of the Slitheen " ) He was briefly turned to stone by the Gorgon , though he retained no memory of this event . ( TV : " Eye of the Gorgon " ) One day Maria was visiting Sarah Jane and was late for school . Alan appeared at the end of their drive . He asked Maria if she was still there , because he had this " crazy idea " it was a school day that day . His eyes were twinkling as they did . Sarah Jane replied that it was her fault and Maria left together with Luke . ( AUDIO : " The Glittering Storm " ) Another day Maria and Sarah Jane built a contraption . They wanted to use this machine to find out what a storm had to do with missing children . Maria told Sarah Jane that Alan was good at " Do - it - yourself " things . She suggested that Alan might have been able to help because he had a lot of tools . Sarah Jane replied that she bet Alan hadn ' t an oxy - acetylene , which she showed to Maria . ( TV : " Warriors of Kudlak " ) Later , Sarah Jane and Maria wanted to borrow Alan ' s car . They wanted to take the newly created contraption to the place where the storm took place . Alan asked them what exactly they were doing . Maria replied that it was a science project for school . Alan asked if it was musical . Maria said yes while Sarah Jane said no . Then Maria added that it was complicated . She hated lying to her dad but she had to . They were going to save 24 children . Maria was sure that Alan would understand this if she could tell him about it . Then Alan told Maria to take care of herself . Maria and Sarah Jane left with Alan ' s car . ( PROSE : " Warriors of Kudlak " ) When his daughter was erased from history by the Trickster , only Alan could remember her thanks to an alien device given to Maria by Sarah Jane , which in turn came from the Verron soothsayer . When he interrogated Andrea Yates about Maria ' s disappearance , the Graske chased him and tried to remove him from time . However , Alan trapped the Graske and forced it to tell him where Maria went . When the day was saved , he was very surprised to find out what his daughter had really been doing with Sarah Jane Smith . ( TV : " Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane ? " ) His eyes now opened to the existence of alien life forms , Alan at first experienced a knee - jerk reaction which led him to consider selling his house and moving Maria away from Sarah Jane . He soon changed his mind and assisted his daughter and Sarah Jane in defeating Mr Smith ' s attempt to destroy the world . ( TV : " The Lost Boy " ) In 2009 , Alan and Maria were holidaying in Cornwall when the Earth was relocated to the Medusa Cascade and subsequently invaded by the Dalek s . ( TV : " The Stolen Earth " ) Alan was offered a new job at the head offices of " CapitolSys Technologies " in America . He accepted , and soon afterwards , he and Maria moved to Washington DC . ( TV : " The Last Sontaran " ) Chrissie and Ivan planned to marry . Alan , Maria , Luke , Clyde and Sarah Jane were invited to their wedding . Maria and Alan wanted to come to the wedding and wished to see their friends from Ealing there again . ( TV : " The Day of the Clown " ) Although living on another continent , Alan and Maria were still able to assist Sarah Jane from time to time . ( TV : " The Mark of the Berserker " ) Before Luke left he threw two farewell parties . Maria and Alan couldn ' t come to his farewell party however they send holographic postcards and for Luke it seemed like they were there as well . ( PROSE : " The Nightmare Man " ) He and Maria were invited to Sarah Jane ' s wedding , but he could not attend due to work obligations . ( TV : " The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith " ) Personality . Alan Jackson was a caring father and was empathetic towards Maria ' s feelings and wishes . In contrast to Maria ' s mother he directly accepted Sarah Jane and Luke Smith as friends of Maria . ( TV : " Invasion of the Bane " ) He knew how important they were for Maria and when he thought about going to Washington DC , he knew how much Maria needed to leave behind . So he decided that he only wanted to go if Maria also wished to go . He mentioned to Chrissie that he lived for Maria and that this was all that his work was ever about . He wanted to look after Maria , so what ever he did , it needed to be right for Maria . ( TV : " The Last Sontaran " ) When Chrissie visited him and didn ' t remember that it was Maria ' s first day at school , he was shocked that she could forget this . ( TV : " Revenge of the Slitheen " ) After having an argument with Ivan , Chrissie moved into Alan and Maria ' s house . Maria had an argument with her parents . She shouted and run away . Chrissie did not understand Maria ' s reaction , but Alan realised what Chrissie ' s lack of consideration had meant for Maria . He told Chrissie that her moving into the house had consequences for him and Maria and that this was why Maria was reacting this way . After this , he looked for Maria to talk with her about it . ( TV : " Eye of the Gorgon " ) Alan also wanted to keep Maria away from danger . When he heard about the danger that Maria faced when she was working with Sarah Jane , he wanted to protect Maria and move to another city . However , he soon realised how much it meant for Maria and changed his mind . Instead , he tried to help Sarah Jane , Maria , Luke and Clyde . ( TV : " The Lost Boy " ) Even Sarah Jane Smith was impressed by the way that Maria and Alan interacted . She asked him how Maria and he were getting like that . Alan said that they had always been like that and that he did not even think about it . ( TV : " Revenge of the Slitheen " ) Alan was a friendly person and was always kind to people . He directly introduced himself to Sarah Jane after moving into 36 Bannerman Road and even after Sarah Jane ' s frosty reaction he stayed friendly . ( TV : " Invasion of the Bane " ) When a nun came to his house he directly offered her money and didn ' t even say anything when she took the bank note instead of the coin . ( TV : " Eye of the Gorgon " ) His computer skills were remarkable . He could even hack into the files of UNIT . ( TV : " The Mark of the Berserker " )