SJA - Erasmus DarkeningFollowing on from The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith was always going to be a tough job.   How do you follow up having the Doctor guest star?

With a really solid story apparently.

This was a pretty standard haunted house affair.  Sarah Jane, Clyde and Rani head out to help Professor Rivers investigate a haunted Manor where people have seen ghosts and disappeared for years.  It soon emerges that at the centre of things is Erasmus Darkening, an Alchemist from the 17th century.

This was a really nicely done story for one thing in particular.  Its atmosphere.  The production team weren’t afraid to really build up a creepy atmosphere in the house as they piled on the mysteries of who (or what) Erasmus Darkening was, why do the ghosts keep appearing, and what is prowling around the grounds of the Manor?  The whole production really relished the haunted house aspect of the story, and was all the more enjoyable for it.

Noticeably absent though was Luke.  I’ve noticed him getting sidelined quite frequently throughout this series (especially noticeable during the Mad Woman in the Attic) and its down to the real life issues of Tommy Knight having to sit his GCSE’s.  With the actors playing Clyde and Rani being a bit older, exams aren’t an issue for them, but it does still leave a slightly strange feeling to a story, when Sarah Jane is heading out on adventures and leaving her son behind.

Fortunately it didn’t detract too much from this story though.  There was a great supporting cast (with the possible exception of the Professor’s assistant, a character I didn’t think worked well at all and felt out of place in this production), and it was nice to see Smallville’s Major Zod, Callum Blue in his guest role as Lord Marchford, the restless ghost working against Darkening and longing to be reunited with his children.

Another great story in this series of Sarah Jane Adventures.  And I can’t finish off the review without mentioning the nice little nod to the upcoming Dr Who specials, when Clyde and Rani are trapped in the shed, and the creature knocks on the door four times :)