Sarah Jane Smith, 23, of Hillview Road, South Croydon, is a journalist from Metropolitan magazine. In search of a story, she posed as her aunt Lavinia Smith, a well-known virologist, to infiltrate a scientific conference. A bit of snooping inside the Doctor's TARDIS led to her being transported back to the Middle Ages.
Because of her journalistic background, Sarah is an extremely inquisitive person. Her deductive talents have also been well-honed, and she is very persistent. Sarah does not shy away from asking pointed questions at people, even when her life is in danger. She is extremely courageous, willing to put herself in perilous situations if it will yield her a good story or important information, and maintains her sense of humor and indignation when confronted by a baddie. Sarah copes with fright by tossing out quips and wry observations.
This is not to say, however, that Sarah is fearless. Gruesome monsters, in particular, can elicit a scream or two, and for all her bravado, when her life is in serious jeopardy she does get a bit quivery. She can also be somewhat squeamish, and is disgusted by a lot of the icky things she sees in her travels. Despite these occasional moments of weakness, Sarah is very much the feminist, and gets quite huffy at chauvinistic attitudes. She is always ready to pitch in, although her determination to do something useful can lead her into doing tasks that suddenly seem insurmountable. Usually a bit of goading from the Doctor can get Sarah mad enough to prove him wrong, and gives her the extra boost she needs to get the job done.
Sarah has a very independent spirit and often strikes out on her own, but she and the Doctor work extremely well together. Over time, Sarah becomes almost as adept at time-travelling as the Doctor. She even begins to think on the same wavelength as the Doctor does, and only a few words are necessary to convey what they want to say. In fact, the Doctor even calls Sarah his best friend, a compliment he rarely bestows upon anyone.
Sarah is 5'4" tall, with brown hair and hazel eyes. She has some talent at playing the recorder, she learns dances fairly quickly, and she likes to swim, but doesn't trust herself to stay afloat without her water wings. She hates brandy, and heights give her vertigo.
Despite their closeness, Sarah found it easy to get exasperated with some of the Doctor's habits. Often she asked to be returned home, but she seemed secretly glad that the Doctor constantly failed to get her to Earth. On the occasions that the Doctor actually did reach Earth, Sarah threatened to part company with him, but a plea from the Doctor was usually enough to make her reconsider. Nevertheless, her time to go came when the Doctor was summoned back to Gallifrey and could not take Sarah with him. Reluctantly she allowed herself to part company with him, although their time together was not yet completely over. The Doctor sent her a K-9 unit, which came in very handy when Sarah uncovered a coven of witches operating near Lavinia's house. She also finally made it to Gallifrey when she was snatched to the Death Zone to participate in the race to Rassilon's Tower.
