The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Mark Of The Berserker

Doctor Who has had its successes with its Doctor-lite episodes (e.g. Blink and Turn Left), but it has also had its dismal failures (Love & Monsters), so can The Sarah Jane Adventures carry off a story with little input from the titular character?

The Mark Of The Berserker, filmed at the same time as Journey's End, has Luke staying over at Clyde's house while Sarah Jane is away for the weekend.

Meanwhile Rani comes across a kid at school who has come into possession of an alien pendant that grants a person the power to make others obey his every word. Rani gets hold of the artifact and hopes Sarah Jane will know what to do with it.

But, of course, Sarah Jane is away... so Rani leaves the amulet hanging up in Sarah Jane's attic, so they can discuss it upon her return.

Clyde is surprised by the sudden arrival of his estranged dad, Paul (Gary Beadle), and in trying to impress his father he reveals what he, Luke, Sarah Jane et al get up to - saving the universe, battling aliens etc.

Naturally, his dad doesn't believe him, so Clyde takes him up to Sarah Jane's attic to introduce him to Mr Smith and show him some alien technology. Paul steals the amulet and discovers its powers when they are confronted by Rani's father in the driveway.

Things escalate from there as Paul - with Clyde in tow - goes on a 'shopping spree' that ends at the coast, with the pair about to sail off in a yacht.

The Mark Of The Berserker is a parson's egg as it has some great material in it, a fantastic cameo from Maria and her dad in Washington (they actually contribute to the story and movew the plot along, rather than just waving over a webcam) and these two episodes prove that the younger members of the cast are all capable of carrying the show for a while without the solid presence of Lis Sladen.

However, the central MacGuffin - the pendant - has powers that really seem to have any relevance to its history according to the UNIT files that Mari and her dad dig up and given Clyde's apparent dislike of his father, I find his willingness to betray the trust of his friends rather convenient for the story.

These two plot holes aside, The Mark Of The Berserker continues The Sarah Jane Adventure's successful drive to embed itself firmly in the mythology of the Whoniverse - with multiple mentions of The Doctor in the last story, UNIT and daleks being name-checked in this one and The Trickster and The Graske returning in the next story.