Here Today: A perfect return to Bannerman Road. Here Today captures the spirit of The Sarah Jane Adventures, with its bright-eyed optimism warming your heart. It's very much Rani and Clyde, but dealing with the new problems of adulthood. I loved all of the references to The Sarah Jane Adventures, and the story itself feels exactly what we would have got had that show ever made a Groundhog Day episode. It all ends with a beautiful moment, as we get an unexpected offscreen cameo from a child Sarah Jane. While Gita samples the canapés and criticises the flower arrangements, Rani senses something amiss...The perfect wedding comes at a price -but who will be paying? This path ultimately leads to The Witching Tree and its full on folk horror vibes. Leads for potential podcast subjects are short so, despite misgivings, Rani heads to the countryside. She’s there visiting a restaurant with a gnarled old willow tree that’s spent centuries growing up from the basement, right through the dining area, and up into the ceiling. It’s a cool talking point for guests, as are the legends of it being used long ago to hang witches. Except some people claim it appeared virtually overnight just a few years ago. And some even say that if you turn away so it’s just a blur in the corner of your eye… it moves.

It's an absolute joy to revisit these beloved characters. They've grown up a bit since we last saw them, and it's great to catch up with where they're at in their lives now. But, at the same time, we've consciously kept the youthful, energetic, vibrant spirit of The Sarah Jane Adventures at its heart. While there’s no artwork available yet, we do have a cute reunion snap of Anjli Mohindra and Daniel Anthony (Clyde)… Flexing the series’ comedy chops, writer James Goss pairs Rani with Gita for a trip to private island. The occasion is the wedding of an old school friend, Tiffany, who’s apparently marrying a Hollywood star. Rani and Gita Chandra (guest star Mina Anwar ) have been invited to a dream wedding on a luxury island resort. But how did Tiff from school end up marrying a film star? And why has she asked all the worst people from her life alongside the Hollywood A-listers?Mohindra, Anthony and Anwar all return as if they’ve never been away even as their characters have changed and grown This story was very fun and did a great job of exploring Rani in more depth. The actual plot to this is quite fun, with an ongoing mystery that kept me captivated and an ongoing threat that had me surprisingly worried for the main cast. Rani's mother is amazing, like I love this character. Don't get me wrong, she can be very unlikable, but in the most relatable, understandable and weirdly wholesome way possible. Also a shout-out to when her gossiping nature was used in this story to prod the main villain. Sarah Jane is gone. Childhood ends. Everyone grows up eventually. But the story doesn’t stop there. When Rani and Clyde are reunited, adventure finds them once again. They’re ready and waiting to take on the world! Talking of villains, the main cause for the events of this story, worded weirdly to avoid spoilers, has such a relatable reason for doing what they did that while they were lovably irritating for a hot minute, they come out as a very compelling character by the end. This story also teases where they're going to go with Rani's character in future installments and I'm all for it. While Gita samples the canapés and criticises the flower arrangements, Rani senses something amiss… The perfect wedding comes at a price – but who will be paying? The Witching Tree by Lizzie Hopley

Spinning off the events of The Sarah Jane Adventures Rani Chandra is getting on with her life after the death of the incomparable Sarah Jane Smith. And just when she thinks it’s all coming together … everything falls apart. Now the threads of the SJA continue in a new audio drama series. Fashioned around Sarah Jane’s protégé Rani Chandra (Anjli Mohindra), it brings her up to date; Rani is now a successful investigative journalist. She’s not the only returnee either — Daniel Anthony reprises the likeable Clyde Langer, while Mina Anwar pops up as Rani’s irrepressible mother Gita.

Rani Chandra Goes Beyond Bannerman Road

Rani Takes on the World is such a special project to produce. I'm especially excited about this release. It’s bursting with heart, humour, friendship, fun, aliens, adventure, life and love. I can't wait to share it with everybody." While Gita samples the canapés and criticises the flower arrangements, Rani senses something amiss… The perfect wedding comes at a price – but who will be paying? His characterizations are spot on. Moreover, he makes the best use of a meta-level easter egg to parallel a certain character’s journey with Sarah Jane’s. Like the present day Rani herself, Rani Takes on the World is a series still finding its feet. Keen not to simply replicate the Sarah Jane Adventures formula, each story in Beyond Bannerman Road feels like an experiment. It asks itself how dark and adult is too dark and adult; how much should Rani and Clyde have changed and how much should they have stayed the same? It may not always be consistent in the answers to those questions. But that mirrors the pair’s own anxieties about life and their places in it. And with the final moments unveiling a Rani Chandra with a new sense of purpose, a new mission, and a new determination, it suggests there are exciting answers ahead of us. The Revenge of Wormwood, to be released in December 2023, will be the second volume in the Rani Takes on the World audio series from Big Finish, and stars Anjli Mohindra as Rani Chandra, and Daniel Anthony as Clyde Langer.