Sometimes, you really can't make any more stories even when you want to, and have to solemnly close the book on an unwritten page... and leave the rest to imagination.
This is the Tear Jerker page for The Sarah Jane Adventures. For the page for parent show Doctor Who, see here.Season 1
- At the end of "Eye of the Gorgon", when Bea hears the voice of her dead husband one last time.
- Maria desperately trying to get through to Bea when she has Alzheimer's. Time is running out for her to save her dad from turning into stone and the only person who can help her is someone who's mind is trapped in the past.
- Maria realising that Sarah Jane was right about the reality of meeting aliens. It's not always fun or exciting. It has consequences. Her realisation of why Sarah Jane ended up alone and the fact that she says that this is how everyone will eventually end up one day is sad. Bea mentioning that nobody listens to you when you become old is also a heartbreaking moment. Basically every scene that Sarah Jane and Maria have or share with Bea is a tearjerker.
- "Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?", when Andrea Yates tearfully says "But it's my birthday".
- The following scene. A lot of it is in the delivery, particularly Jane Asher's (Andrea's):
Maria: I'm sorry, Andrea, but you were meant to die.
Andrea: Meant? Who says I'm meant to die? I was so young I had so much to do and I did it. Look at me. I lived every single moment because I knew what it was worth.
Sarah Jane: So did I.
Andrea: And you're the chosen one? The golden girl?
Sarah Jane: Oh, nobody was chosen. It was stupid and pointless what happened that day. But this is worse. That thing twisted it. He used you.
Andrea: So I die? At thirteen?
Sarah Jane: And my son gets a chance to live. He's lost out there, Andrea. Somewhere terrible. And I am begging you please: save him. - "The Lost Boy":
- Sarah Jane telling Luke that being back with his real parents will be the best thing that ever happened to him, but it's easy to tell that her heart is breaking.
- When Sarah Jane is arrested, she mouths "I love you" to Luke, who is visably distraught.
- Sarah Jane and Luke's separation. Full stop.
Season 2
- The climax of "The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith" when her parents tell her how much they love her. Then they get into their car and drive away, knowing that they're going to be killed in a car crash.
Season 3
- Pretty much the whole of Sarah Jane and the Doctor's conversation at the end of "The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith".
- Especially the Tenth Doctor's final words to Sarah Jane:The Doctor: Don't forget me, Sarah Jane.
Sarah Jane: No one's... ever going to forget you. - The quote's also a bit ironic, as Sarah Jane knows about Donna's fate. Real Life just makes it worse, considering that these were David Tennant's last words as the Doctor — this was filmed after "I don't want to go".
- Sarah Jane losing her fiancé. Who is, to boot, a perfectly nice guy who truly does love her.
- Especially the Tenth Doctor's final words to Sarah Jane:
- Sarah Jane's narration in "The Gift". It's a tearjerker that requires some context, but after everything we've seen so far, after watching so much death and destruction in Doctor Who and after the frankly chilling events of Torchwood: Children of Earth, hearing Sarah Jane who has seen so much of it saying hopefully that perhaps one day "earth can be a shining example to the universe" can draw a sad smile. Maybe we adults should heed more of what we teach our children.
- "The Eternity Trap": Lord Marchwood continuously searching for his children in vain. When he tells Sarah Jane about how much of a curse that Erasmus Darkening has brought upon himself and his family by taking his children away from him in the blink of an eye, you can see he's close to tearing up and it's genuinely heart-breaking to watch. Even seeing his children plead for him is sad.
Season 4
- Sarah Jane parts ways with her best friend - K9, who she asks to go to Oxford with Luke to protect him in "The Nightmare Man".
- Luke, Clyde and Rani's nightmares are not only utterly heart-wrenching by themselves (especially Luke's) but also painfully relevant to anyone who's ever been suffering from self-esteem issues.
- "Death of the Doctor": From Sarah Jane asking if the Doctor's last body was in pain when she last saw him, to Jo Grant finding out the Doctor's travelling with a married couple and remarking she only left him because she got married and wondering if he thought she was stupid, to Jo mentioning the Time Lords... there's a lot of little beats like this.
- We learn that Harry Sullivan is almost certainly dead.
- The fact that neither Dodo nor Victoria are mentioned leads one to suspect that they have likely passed on as well.
- The Lockdown special reveals that, as of Sarah Jane's death at least, both of them made it to the modern day!
- The fact it ended up being the last adventure the Doctor and Sarah Jane ever had on screen, due to Elisabeth Sladen's untimely death.
- A happy, happy tearjerker - Ace, a delinquent teenager, has apparently turned her life around and is running a charity with Mel and has raised billions.note . The Doctor did work wonders on her.
- One that really hits home like a tonne of bricks - the last thing Sarah Jane thinks about is her mother and father, with her mother holding her, then Luke, Rani and Clyde; it's her family.
- We learn that Harry Sullivan is almost certainly dead.
- Parts of "Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith" are just heartbreaking... particularly the idea that the Monster of the Week began its attack by, in essence, giving Sarah Jane Alzheimer's.
- Sarah Jane forgetting the Doctor's name.
Season 5
- The end of "The Curse of Clyde Langer". Basically, Clyde is dragged away by Sarah Jane, Rani and Sky in order to stop the totem pole from destroying the world. He leaves Ellie without saying goodbye, hoping to find her afterwards. He ends up searching all over Ealing for her, only to find out that she had left town, AND her real name wasn't Ellie Faber, meaning it would almost be impossible to find her again. What's worse is that wherever she is she'll never know why Clyde left her.
- The rage especially of Sarah Jane and Rani towards Clyde, combined with their uncontrolled sadness they can't understand, and Sky's desperate attempts to make them realize that something is wrong is flat-out heartbreaking. This, combined with the realistic depiction of homelessness in this story leads to a complete Tear Jerker episode.
Elisabeth Sladen's death
- Pretty much everything about the series, following Elisabeth Sladen's untimely death. No one will ever forget YOU, Lis.
- This teaser
for the last story, "The Man Who Never Was". - "And the story goes on... forever."
- Especially with this quote that accompanies it:"So we sat at a picnic table and Lis asked me how I would end The Sarah Jane Adventures and I said that she couldn't just retire, could she? I said, 'She'd do something magnificent, and then she'd make sure the kids were fine, and then she'd go...up!' 'What d'you mean, up?' asked Lis, and she was laughing. 'You mean, into the sky?' 'Yes!' I said. 'She'd go up. Onwards. Outwards. Into the stars. Just...up! D'you fancy that?' 'Oh yes,' said Lis. 'That sounds nice.'" - Russell T Davies
- Sarah Jane's reunion with The Brigadier after so very long in "Enemy of the Bane". Let's face it, it sucked to be a Who fan in 2011. Doctor Who lost two of its brightest stars within weeks of each other; to see them onscreen together is almost too much to bear.
- A comment on YouTube concerning the Third Doctor's regeneration reflected that all the actors in the room were long dead. Sladen, Jon Pertwee, Courtney, and Kevin Lindsay had all passed on.
- How can you conceivably watch this show, that's meant to be so child friendly and uplifting, and not break down in the knowledge that Sarah Jane Smith will never again tell us that everything will turn out okay? No, all we have now is Torchwood's message that everyone you love will eventually slip loose this mortal coil, and unrelenting evidence from Doctor Who that, as a species, we're not worth saving.
- This teaser
- Had the series carried on beyond 2011, Tom Baker would have returned as the Fourth Doctor. Just imagine that! The quintessential names of mid-70s Doctor Who back on our screens, together after so long. Who wouldn't have loved the TARDIS to have materialised in the attic and for Sarah Jane to expect David Tennant's or Matt Smith's Doctor to stroll out, only to be greeted with that unmistakable voice: "Hello Sarah Jane...". Just one more thing that we'll never see now.
- The total abruptness of the story's end, cutting off so many plotlines with such great potential. From Clani's UST (which will always remain as such), to the budding relationship between Luke and Sky, the latter's Character Development, presumably more information about the Shopkeeper and the Captain...the abruptness really hammers home just how powerful the loss of Elisabeth Sladen was.
- "Farewell Sarah Jane" (the special minisode released in 2020 that tells the story of Sarah Jane's funeral) in its entirety. It's very obvious that the actors involved are speaking about Elisabeth Sladen just as much, if not more than they are speaking about her character.
- Luke’s monologue also featured a framed photo of himself with Sarah Jane in the background, showing how much she mattered to Luke and likely to his actor Tommy Knight.
- One of the sad things revealed by the minisode is that Sarah Jane died alone. Rani was in The North Pole, Luke with UNIT, and Clyde in New York at the Comic-Con. Sarah Jane chose to be alone, so her son and best friends wouldn't suffer to see her die.
- Luke is now an orphan. Both Mrs Wormwood and Sarah Jane are gone - he has no parents anymore (not that Mrs Wormwood was potential parent material anyway)... and he's only physically in his twenties.
- Luke, Rani and Clyde made it in their passions in life - Luke joined UNIT, Clyde turned his art into successful movies and Rani made it as a reporter. Imagine how proud Sarah Jane must have been of them.
