K9 & Company is a Masterclass in Spin offing a Show. Sarah Jane is easily one of the most beloved Companions ever, a personal favorite of mine as well, thanks to Liz Sladen's amazing Performance. She is obviously great here as well, but the Big Star here is the Robot Dog: K9, just the Theme Song alone makes you excited to see what this has in store. The whole Plot is bonkers, but greatly bonkers!

Overall this is truly the greatest Spin Off, which sadly never got to the ground, it deserved better!!

i actually love this so much. i adore the bonkers intro, the insane plot, k9 trying to be festive and attempting to sing a christmas carol - it may be my favourite spin off that i've seen so far <3 i would have liked to see what they would have done with it next, but the fact that there's only one does also make it very special, and i'm grateful that it exists

K9 & COMPANY: STORY 1

It’s impossible to talk about A Girl’s Best Friend, the pilot for the (never continued) spin-off K-9 and Company, without mentioning that intro.

It’s so stupid, and I love it.

In fact, that last sentence could also be applied to the whole episode.

It’s so bonkers, with one of the strangest plots in the Whoniverse.

Sarah Jane and her cousin Brendan, with the help of K-9, must stop a cult from... I actually don’t really know what the story was about, as a lot was annoyingly left unexplained.

The most unforgettable part of the episode for me is the finale, where K-9 slaughters everyone in the cult, and no one cares!

This is one of the weirdest stories in the world of Doctor Who, and, while it will definitely not be to everyone’s taste, I love it because of how strange it (unintentionally) is.

I do like to wonder what it would be like if the series actually went ahead, but I think that would just be too much, even for me.

Oh well, we’ll always have Australia’s K-9 series.

Ah. K9 and Company. How many ways do I love thee.

The glorious theme tune - 1 part Dynasty, 2 parts Ulysees 31 (seriously, listen to the two back to back); K9 on a wall - how, just how; Elisabeth Sladen jogging, drinking wine and reading a newspaper.

Linda Polan - what a brilliant performance as Juno Baker. She knows the script is supposed to suggest she's the head of the black magic cult so ramps her performance up to 85% weird/15% Margo Leadbetter. Her husband, Neville Barber, is 20% Jerry Leadbetter, 80% relatively normal compared to his wife!

Gillian Martell playing the flipside of Juno, Lily Gregson - all country oo-ar, simple folks we are, would you like a cup of tea (I'm a black magic cultist really under my frumpy exterior....(sorry - spoilers!)

Bill Fraser in full on 'gruff but kindly' mode so we don't suspect him of being the other cult leader.

A surrounding guest cast of simple, country folk from the farmer who doesn't trust science but his own gut instinct to the simple lad used as a heavy and the policeman who's got in too deep.

Brendan, Brendan, Brendan. This is Adric if he was a bit more likeable (and I don't even mind Adric all that much). Ian Sears is great as Brendan and of all the characters from this spin-off he's the one who I would most have liked to see in a full series. He's a bit of the Sarah Jane Adventures' Luke crossed with a bit of Clyde and a bit of Maria.

The ridiculous plot of black magic cults in an English village - why is this the first story they went to for a K9 spin-off? A futuristic robot dog! It literally makes no sense and I love it all the more because of it.

Characters smoking and drinking left, right and centre - you can tell this is kid's TV in 1981!

John Leeson being awesome as K9 - of course - and singing We Wish You a Merry Christmas as the credits roll - sublime.

Elisabeth Sladen acting as if she has quietly realised this isn't exactly what she thought it might be and isn't really very good. But she's a professional and she'll give her best shot.

The K9 Annual this spin-off gave rise to. If you haven't read it, get the K9 and Company DVD - it's on there as a PDF - and treat yourself to story after story of black magic cults around the world (even the writer, interviewd in the most recent issue of DWM admits he may have gone a bit overboard with the cults!).

The climactic scenes which, now, remind me of Hot Fuzz's climactic reveal. In fact, I'd go so far as to say someone responsible for that film remembers K9 and Company, even if just subconsciously - Pegg's a fan isn't he?

K9 and Company is rubbish, but it's fun rubbish and its heart is in the right place. The cast give it their all and the main reason it just doesn't work is because the setting and plot just don't fit the idea of creating a show based round K9. It feels much more like a Sarah Jane spin-off with K9 added in rather than the other way round.

I implore those of you debating whether to include it in your marathon to do so. It's so clearly part of 80s Who - the look and feel of it has distinct echoes of the Pertwee era atmosphere (with obvious parallels to The Daemons) mashed up with the production design of the Davison era.

Sod all the Doctor Who Christmas specials - watching this should be an annual Christmas tradition!

The best bit of A Girl's Best Friend is the theme music. Once that ends, this is just 50 or so very boring minutes where not that much actually happens. It totally lost my interest at the start and did not regain it at any later point in the episode.