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Story: Lost in Time
Year: 2010
Written by: Rupert Laight
Directed by: Joss Agnew

Synopsis:

Sarah Jane, Luke and Clyde go to investigate a reported alien sighting in a local antique shop, and are confronted by the mysterious Shopkeeper and his parrot, Captain. The Shopkeeper announces that they must retrieve three fragments of chronostine, a metal forged within the time vortex with the power to reshape destiny, that are lost at various key points in time, or the world will be in terrible danger. Without further ceremony opens a time window that drags them each through to different points in time.

Clyde ends up on a beach during World War Two, with a boy called George, watching a small party of Nazis landing. They try to inform the Home Guard but the phone line is down. Discovered by the Nazis, they are locked up but manage to escape, and discover their plan to destroy Britain's radar defences. Clyde realises that the strange object they are using as a power source is one of the pieces of chronostine they are looking for. He uses his mp3 player to trick the Nazis while George steals the object, and they escape with it. As Clyde touches it, it takes him back to 2010...

Meanwhile, Rani has ended up in the tower of London, and thanks to a case of mistaken identity she is acting as maid and companion to Lady Jane Grey, who is in the ninth day of her short reign and soon to be executed. Rani thwarts an attempt on Jane's life by another of her maids, and realises that the knife used is the chronostine object she was looking for, and that she has corrected the course of history by saving Jane's life, if only for a brief time. After staying at Jane's side until she is taken away, Rani touches the knife and it returns her to the shop...

Sarah Jane finds herself locked in a cupboard in a large house. The year is 1889. A young girl, Emily, lets her out and explains that she is investigating claims that the house is haunted, hoping for proof of the supernatural after her mother recently died in a fire. As the clock strikes eight, they hear noises and scraps of conversation, and they piece together enough to know that they are hearing echoes of a future event – two children will die in a fire in the house, having been locked in by a negligent babysitter in Sarah Jane's time. As they witness the events a second time, Emily is upset by the similarity to what happened to her mother, and Sarah Jane realises that her emotional connection might just be enough to let her break the barrier to the other time period and open the door to let the children out. Trying her hardest, Emily finally manages it, and the children are freed.

Sarah Jane takes the key from Emily, knowing now that it is the chronostine she was sent to retrieve. But as she begins to disappear, Emily protests that she wants her to stay, and takes the key back...

As the three of them arrive back at the shop, the Shopkeeper frantically puts the pieces of chronostine into a special case – time has almost run out. He demands the key from Sarah Jane but she doesn't have it. All seems lost, but a woman enters with the key – Emily's granddaughter.

Once the key rejoins the other pieces, the world is safe, and the Shopkeeper makes a swift exit, without ever explaining his origins or purpose.

Sarah Jane goes for a cup of tea with Emily's granddaughter Angela, while Clyde is delighted to find that George is a decorated war hero and still living happily in Cromer, and Rani reads up on Lady Jane Grey and feels happy that she was able to give her some comfort before her execution.

Sarah Moments:

* She convinces Emily that she's not a ghost

* Emily confides in her about her mother
* She walks through a door like a ghost
* She and Angela go for a cuppa

Capture, Rescue and Mortal Peril:

* The whole world is in unspecified terrible danger from the chronostine fragments, but Sarah Jane, Clyde, Rani and their new friends save the day
* Rani saves Jane from being murdered by Matilda
* With Sarah Jane's help, Emily saves the children from dying in a fire

Quotes:

* 'Lady Rani, from the court of the Taj Mahal...' - Rani, improvising
* 'I'm rather handy with locks.' 'Oh, yeah... you and me both.' - Emily and Sarah bond over their sneakiness
* 'You're just a gang of bullies, picking on others for what they look like, and that is why you'll lose this war! Underestimating the enemy through blind, stupid prejudice!' - Clyde tells those Nazis
* 'We did it. We saved them!' 'No Emily – you saved them, and your mother would be very very proud of you!' - Emily and Sarah. Daww.

Wardrobe Appreciation

It's the usual again for Sarah today, and looking pretty good as ever, with the pink shirt and the waistcoat with the buttons: