K-9 and Company:

Parts: 1 (50-minute)
Writer: Terence Dudley
Airdate: 28 December 1981
Production Code: n/a

Doctor: n/a
Companions: Sarah, K-9 mark three

Story: Sarah Jane Smith arrives in the country village of Moreton Harwood to stay in the home of her Aunt Lavinia. But upon arriving, Sarah finds the house deserted - Aunt Lavinia has apparently left on a lecture tour to the States a full week earlier than expected, without notifying Sarah. A large crate marked for Sarah's attention sits in one corner of the room, but she has no time to investigate it. Sarah is too busy fielding visits and phone calls from her new neighbors and Lavinia's ward, Brendan, who is stuck at a train station and needs a lift to the house.

Upon returning, Sarah and Brendan get a chance to open the box, which Lavinia had been storing for several years. Within it is an inactive metal dog, which soon lifts its head and informs Sarah that it is K-9 mark three, a gift from the Doctor. As Brendan and K-9 are getting along so well, Sarah leaves them to do some investigating - first to see if Lavinia sent her a cable, then to mingle with her neighbors. She learns that no cable was sent, and also that Lavinia had angered the locals with a letter to the paper that had them debating for weeks.

The villagers at Moreton Harwood have a deep belief in the powers of witchcraft, specifically the black arts, believing that it makes their crops grow. The villagers maintain that such practices don't exist any more, but their behavior in private belies that assertion. Sarah begins to grow suspicious that something may have happened to Lavinia...and when Brendan is attacked, Sarah must find out what exactly the small community is hiding. Fortunately, she is aided by a girl's best friend...her dog!

Notes: K-9 and Company was conceived as a spinoff series to Doctor Who, but despite good ratings for this pilot episode ("A Girl's Best Friend"), it was never commissioned as a full-fledged series. Sarah and K-9 did get to appear together once again, in the anniversary episode "The Five Doctors".

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