Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) is scheduled to visit her Aunt Lavinia (Mary Wimbush) for Christmas. Lavinia is planning to do a book tour in America after the holiday, however, she is asked to change her plans and come a month earlier. Lavinia sends off a cable to Sarah to let her know she will be away. Lavinia’s ward Brendan Richards (Ian Sears) is at school and Lavinia expects him to stay there until Sarah picks him up after the holiday. Sarah never receives the cable and arrives to an almost empty house. The only ones around are Lavinia’s partner, Commander Bill Pollock (Bill Fraser), gardener George Tracey (Colin Jeavons) and Tracey’s son Peter (Sean Chapman).
Before she can settle in Sarah receives a call from Brendan telling her he left school early and is at the train station waiting to be picked up. When they return from the station Sarah finds a large box that Lavinia had been holding for her for several years. When she opens it, she finds a robotic computer fashioned to look like a dog. The robot’s name is K-9, and he was a gift from the Doctor. While Brendan acquaints himself with K-9’s abilities Sarah visits some of the townspeople trying to find out where Lavinia is.
Sarah finds out that Lavinia has gotten on the wrong side of some of the residents by accusing some of them of participating in witchcraft. She had written letters to the local paper and the editor, Henry Tobias (John Quarmby), published them.
In the meantime, Brendan is attacked in Lavinia’s home. K-9 comes to his rescue. One of the attackers, who turns out to be Peter, is temporarily captured but then manages to escape. When Sarah returns, she learns of the kidnapping attempt. Suspicion revolves around George and Peter. When Brendan is actually kidnapped Sarah goes to the police but gets no help. Now believing there is something sinister going on K-9 hides in the Tracey home. He overhears a discussion about the coven and about a sacrifice in honor of the solstice. Sarah and K-9 are running out of time to find Brendan before he is ritualistically killed.
“K-9 and Company” was released in 1981 and was directed by John Black. It is a British mystery, science fiction pilot based on the character Sarah Jane Smith and the robotic dog K-9 from the Dr. Who series. The episode title was “A Girl’s Best Friend”. It aired on BBC One as a Christmas special in 1981. The series was actually green lighted by Bill Cotton, the controller of BBC One. He was then replaced by Alan Hart who cancelled the show before production began.
The show was a good idea and, with the fan base that Dr. Who enjoyed, it would have done well. It may not have had as large a following as Dr. Who, but it would have been a hit with kids. The pilot does provide a bridge for Sarah Jane moving from a Dr. Who companion to the “Sarah Jane Adventures”. The episode itself was interesting but it had a somewhat strange plot.
The voice of K-9 was done by John Leeson. The robot, K-9, was introduced in 1977 in the Dr. Who story “The Invisible Enemy”. He was a companion to the 4th Doctor, Tom Baker. There were three main versions of K-9. The first version, K-9 Mark I, stayed with Leela on Gallifrey, K-9 Mark II stayed with Romana in E-Space, and the Doctor made the mark III version as a gift to Sarah-Jane Smith. There was also a K-9 Mark IV that appeared briefly. The character was in three spin-offs, this one pilot, “K-9 and Company” (1981), “The Sarah Jane Adventures” (2007–2011) and “K-9” (2009–2010).