N.B. there might (or might not) be spoilers in this article!

It’s a story with “… of Sarah Jane Smith” in the title, which means the Trickster is up to his usual, ahem, tricks again!

“I’m busy with something normal for a change.”

Sarah Jane, The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith, Part One

The big draw here is the Doctor finally showing up to one of Sarah Jane’s adventures, arriving before the nick of time to put a stop to her wedding to the suitably charming and debonair Peter Dalton (the ever-excellent Nigel Havers).

The Doctor’s arrival of course is the first episode’s big moment, but The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith is a story of many good moments.

Whether’s it’s the shutting-off (finally, although sadly likely only temporarily) of Mr Smith’s fanfare (I almost applauded Luke’s “Mister Smith, I need you quickly and quietly” line!), the particularly amusing discord brewing between Mr Smith and K9 in Part One (trying to outsmartarse each other), Clyde getting the “bigger on the inside” line, Rani’s measuring two glasses of juice by eye and giving Clyde the one with slightly less liquid, Gita’s lament about her honeymoon (“Brussels — there’s nothing there!”) the revelation — to the Doctor, at least — that our eponymous heroine ‘doesn’t like being called Sarah’, there’s lots here to enjoy.

And, in true soap opera fashion, Maria and her Dad can’t make the wedding, the Brigadier’s back in Peru and there’s a lovely moment near the end where Sarah Jane wonders if this is the last time she will ever see the Doctor. Knowing the Tenth Doctor was on his last lap, rounding the final bend by this point, makes this all the more poignant.

One thing, though: how does Clyde know on first sight the TARDIS is a wooden box? Actual blue police boxes were predominantly concrete, weren’t they?