This follows on the end of the previous story. The Doctor
is considering what Jackie told him, but he knows there is a lot Rose
still doesn’t know about him and until she does
he can’t let their relationship move on. He takes her to meet an old friend.
Two old friends, in fact. There is no actual canonicity to
suggest that Sarah Jane and Harry Sullivan became an item after their
life with The Doctor. But they were close friends and there is no reason
why not. In any case, in real life Ian Marter
who played Harry rather sadly died in 1986 at the tragically young age
of 42.
My reunion with Sarah is less angst-ridden
than that in School Reunion in which Sarah still felt aggrieved at the
way The Doctor left her and never returned and Rose is jealous of his
former relationship. The same questions arise in Rose’s mind, however,
and in both my version and 
the TV episode she asks how many companions The Doctor
had before her. It is an obvious question, and in both cases
Rose learns that she IS the latest of many female friends of The Doctor,
although he assures her that she is special to him. In his way, so did
Dave Tennant’s Doctor in School Reunion. The idea that there is something
different, more intense, about The Doctor’s relationship with Rose is
born out in both cases.
The Doctor’s reaction to K9 is rather less
enthusiastic in my version. My thought was that Christopher Eccleston’s
Doctor is not a ‘gadget man’ in the same way previous incarnations had
been. His character was one very much a minimalist compared to previous
incarnations. My thinking was that he would
find K9 a bit superfluous. He serves as comic relief, and the story really
is a transition to the meeting with Jo in
