19 Fantastic British Sci-Fi Series You Can Binge Right Now

Daniel Anthony, Anjli Mohindra,Elisabeth Sladen and Tommy Knight in “The Sarah Jane Adventures”. (Photo: BBC)

The Sarah Jane Adventures

Another spinoff of popular sci-fi series Doctor Who, this follows the story of the Doctor’s former companion, Sarah Jane Smith. Elisabeth Sladen originally played Sarah Jane opposite the Third (Jon Pertwee) and Fourth (Tom Baker) Doctors in the mid-1970s. She was fantastic, and has frequently been voted one of the most popular Who companions of all time.

The Sarah Jane Adventures follows the story of Sarah Jane’s life following her meeting with the Tenth Doctor in a Season 2 Who episode called “School Reunion”. She decided to continue fighting alien threats in her own way, with the help of her alien supercomputer (Mr. Smith), her robot dog (K-9) and some of the neighborhood children.  She even adopts a genetically engineered alien boy named Luke Smith.

This is very much a kids show with two-part, half-hour episodes and a considerably lighter tone than Doctor Who. So no one should be too surprised the monsters and threats tend to fall on the side of silly, rather than scary.

But if you’re a Who enthusiast in any way, you won’t want to pass up the chance to watch the always amazing Elisabeth Sladen work. Unfortunately, Sladen passed away during the filming of the show’s fifth season and filming was never completed. The completed portion of episodes eventually aired with an ending tribute to Sladen, including a video montage that featured scenes from her time on Doctor Who.

Number of Seasons: 5

Where to Watch: Amazon Prime