1. Elisabeth Sladen became best known as Sarah Jane Smith in the British television series Doctor Who, appearing as a regular cast member from 1973 to 1976, alongside both Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker, and reprising the role many times in subsequent decades, both on Doctor Who and its spin-offs, K-9 and Company and The Sarah Jane Adventures.
Elisabeth Sladen moved to London in 1970 and won several television roles, with her acting in the police drama Z-Cars leading to her being recommended for the role in Doctor Who.
Elisabeth Sladen returned to the public eye in the 2000s with more Doctor Who related appearances, which culminated in taking a regular lead role in The Sarah Jane Adventures.
Elisabeth Sladen made regular guest appearances on the main television series and provided voice-over commentaries and interviews for its releases to DVD.
Elisabeth Sladen was the only child of Tom Elisabeth Sladen, who fought in the First World War and served in the Home Guard during the Second World War, and Gladys.
Elisabeth Sladen developed an interest in performing at an early age, beginning dance lessons when she was five, and dancing in one production with the Royal Ballet.
Elisabeth Sladen was a primary school contemporary of future politician Edwina Currie, appearing in at least one school production with her.
Elisabeth Sladen went on to secondary school and attended Aigburth Vale High School for Girls.
Elisabeth Sladen then joined the Hillbark Players, for their open-air production of Much Ado About Nothing, playing Hero.
Elisabeth Sladen was such a good assistant stage manager that she did not get many acting roles, a problem that was solved when she accidentally made a mistake on one occasion.
Elisabeth Sladen eventually moved into weekly repertory work, travelling to various locations in Britain.
Elisabeth Sladen appeared in numerous roles, most notably as Desdemona in Othello, her first appearance as a leading lady.
Elisabeth Sladen got the occasional part on Radio Leeds and Granada Television, eventually appearing as barmaid Anita Reynolds in 1970 in six episodes of the long-running soap opera Coronation Street.
Elisabeth Sladen then appeared as a terrorist in an episode of Doomwatch, followed by guest roles in further episodes of Z-Cars, Public Eye, Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em and Special Branch.
Elisabeth Sladen arrived at the audition not knowing it was for the new companion role, and was amazed at Letts's thoroughness.
Elisabeth Sladen was introduced to Pertwee, whom she found intimidating at the time.
Elisabeth Sladen stayed on Doctor Who for three-and-a-half seasons, alongside Pertwee as the Third Doctor and Tom Baker as the Fourth.
Elisabeth Sladen returned to the character of Sarah Jane Smith on several later occasions.
Elisabeth Sladen declined but accepted his second offer of a pilot for a spin-off series called K-9 and Company, co-starring K-9, the robot dog from Doctor Who.
Elisabeth Sladen reprised the role in the 1993 Children in Need special Dimensions in Time, and in the 1995 independently produced video Downtime alongside former co-star Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and Deborah Watling as Victoria Waterfield.
In 1997, Elisabeth Sladen won Hall of Fame Actress in Cult TV Awards.
Elisabeth Sladen contributed interviews and DVD commentaries to many of the classic Doctor Who serials she co-starred in.
Elisabeth Sladen won best guest appearance in the annual Cult TV Awards.
Elisabeth Sladen read original audio stories on CD for The Sarah Jane Adventures, which were released in November 2007: The Glittering Storm and The Thirteenth Stone.
Elisabeth Sladen returned to Doctor Who in the show's fourth series in the concluding episodes "The Stolen Earth" and "Journey's End" and was credited in the title sequence of both episodes.
Elisabeth Sladen's final appearance in Doctor Who was a scene in the concluding part of "The End of Time", Tennant's last episode as the Tenth Doctor.
Just before her death, Elisabeth Sladen had been interested in being involved in the Doctor Who Fourth Doctor Big Finish series.
Elisabeth Sladen has appeared in various television adverts and in another Letts production, Alice in Wonderland.
Elisabeth Sladen appeared in a Bernice Summerfield audio drama, Kate Orman's Walking to Babylon.
In 2008 and 2009, Elisabeth Sladen appeared in a pantomime production of Peter Pan at the Theatre Royal Windsor, playing Mrs Darling and a beautiful mermaid.
Elisabeth Sladen married actor Brian Miller on 8 June 1968 in Liverpool.
Elisabeth Sladen was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in February 2011 and died on 19 April 2011; she had previously fought the disease in 1999.
At the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, during the film clips of people who had died in the past year, Elisabeth Sladen was the final person to be shown.