The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Day Of The Clown

More zombies.

First we get:


...clown zombies, and then later...


... schoolkid zombies! In a new twist however, in this one they are actually referred to as 'zombies'.

The subplot introduces new girl Rani, who, like Maria, lives in the same house across the road, like Maria goes to Luke and Clyde's school, and (like Maria) keeps the whole aliens thing a secret. All that said though, she is actually introduced very well, mainly because the writers don’t patronise us by suddenly forgetting Maria, just as the viewers won't have.

The waxworks look like people, and Odd Bob's laugh is the same soundbite over and over, but as usual The Sarah Jane Adventures soars over these things with its clever characters and sense of humour. Even Clyde's stream of jokes at the end – to counter the clown's fear – are jokes that are actually funny. That must have taken some brainstorming and care to script.

"Two fish were in a tank. One said to the other: 'Do you know how to drive this?'"

Bradley Walsh is terrific as Elijah Spellman.

The ending was a bit easy, but with so much going so well in this series, that's hardly enough to spoil things.

Hoping for a story with no zombies in it soon though.