Luke Smith
Encyclopedia
Luke Smith is a fictional regular character played by Tommy Knight
Tommy Knight
Thomas 'Tommy' Lawrence Knight is an English actor best known for playing Luke Smith in The Sarah Jane Adventures.-Personal life:...

 in the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 children's science fiction television
Science fiction on television
Science fiction first appeared on a television program during the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary world not limited by the constraints of reality; this makes television an excellent medium...

 series The Sarah Jane Adventures
The Sarah Jane Adventures
The Sarah Jane Adventures is a British science fiction television series, produced by BBC Cymru Wales for CBBC, created by Russell T Davies and starring Elisabeth Sladen...

, a spin-off of the long-running series Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...

. Luke is a regular character in The Sarah Jane Adventures and has also appeared in three episodes of Doctor Who: the two-parter "The Stolen Earth
The Stolen Earth
"The Stolen Earth" is the twelfth episode of the fourth series and the 750th overall episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The episode was written by show runner and head writer Russell T Davies and is the first of a two-part crossover story; the concluding episode is...

"/"Journey's End
Journey's End (Doctor Who)
"Journey's End" is the thirteenth episode of the fourth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who first broadcast on BBC One on 5 July 2008. It is the second episode of a two-part crossover story featuring the characters of spin-off shows Torchwood and The Sarah Jane...

" (2008), and Tenth Doctor finale episode "The End of Time, Part Two
The End of Time
The End of Time: The Next Revolution in Our Understanding of the Universe, also sold with the alternate subtitle The Next Revolution in Physics, is a 1999 science book in which the author Julian Barbour argues that time exists merely as an illusion.-Auto-biography:The book begins by describing how...

" (2010).

Within the narrative of the series, Luke is a human archetype, created by alien species the Bane from thousands of DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...

 samples, who comes to be adopted
Adoption
Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting for another and, in so doing, permanently transfers all rights and responsibilities from the original parent or parents...

 by the series' heroine, Sarah Jane Smith
Sarah Jane Smith
Sarah Jane Smith is a fictional character played by Elisabeth Sladen in the long-running British BBC Television science-fiction series Doctor Who and its spin-offs K-9 and Company and The Sarah Jane Adventures....

 (Elisabeth Sladen
Elisabeth Sladen
Elisabeth Clara Heath-Sladen was an English actress best known for her role as Sarah Jane Smith in the British television series Doctor Who. She was a regular cast member from 1973 to 1976, alongside both Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker, and reprised the role many times in subsequent decades, both on...

). Luke is something of a child prodigy
Child prodigy
A child prodigy is someone who, at an early age, masters one or more skills far beyond his or her level of maturity. One criterion for classifying prodigies is: a prodigy is a child, typically younger than 18 years old, who is performing at the level of a highly trained adult in a very demanding...

, showcasing a remarkable degree of genius
Genius
Genius is something or someone embodying exceptional intellectual ability, creativity, or originality, typically to a degree that is associated with the achievement of unprecedented insight....

 but also a level of social ineptitude owing to being born in adolescence
Adolescence
Adolescence is a transitional stage of physical and mental human development generally occurring between puberty and legal adulthood , but largely characterized as beginning and ending with the teenage stage...

.

Introduction

Luke Smith is introduced as 'the Archetype' in the first episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures, the New Year's Day
New Year's Day
New Year's Day is observed on January 1, the first day of the year on the modern Gregorian calendar as well as the Julian calendar used in ancient Rome...

 special "Invasion of the Bane
Invasion of the Bane
-Sladen and Doctor Who:Elisabeth Sladen, who previously played Sarah Jane between 1973 and 1976. In 1981, she was offered the role again to ease the transition between the Fourth and Fifth Doctors, which she declined, but agreed to star in the pilot for the spin-off series K-9 and Company, which...

" (2007
2007 in television
2007 in television may refer to:*2007 in American television*2007 in Australian television*2007 in British television*2007 in Canadian television*2007 in Japanese television...

). The Bane Mrs Wormwood (Samantha Bond) creates the Archetype from thousands of samples of DNA taken from visitors touring their Bubble Shock! drink factory. This enables the Bane to run tests on an archetypal human
Archetype
An archetype is a universally understood symbol or term or pattern of behavior, a prototype upon which others are copied, patterned, or emulated...

. Luke appears to be an ordinary adolescent boy, except for his lack of a navel
Navel
The navel is a scar on the abdomen caused when the umbilical cord is removed from a newborn baby...

 having been grown rather than gestated
Gestation
Gestation is the carrying of an embryo or fetus inside a female viviparous animal. Mammals during pregnancy can have one or more gestations at the same time ....

 and born
Childbirth
Childbirth is the culmination of a human pregnancy or gestation period with the birth of one or more newborn infants from a woman's uterus...

 naturally. He possesses a superhuman
Superhuman
Superhuman can mean an improved human, for example, by genetic modification, cybernetic implants, or as what humans might evolve into, in the near or distant future...

 intelligence and an exceptional eidetic memory
Eidetic memory
Eidetic , commonly referred to as photographic memory, is a medical term, popularly defined as the ability to recall images, sounds, or objects in memory with extreme precision and in abundant volume. The word eidetic, referring to extraordinarily detailed and vivid recall not limited to, but...

.

During one tour of the factory, an alarm is set off when visitor Kelsey Hooper's (Porsha Lawrence Mavour) mobile phone
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...

 disturbs the Bane Mother. The Archetype awakes and proceeds to escape with visitor Maria Jackson
Maria Jackson
Maria Jackson is a fictional character played by Yasmin Paige in the British children's science fiction television programme The Sarah Jane Adventures, a spin-off from the long-running series Doctor Who. She is a 14-year-old girl who discovers that her new neighbour, Sarah Jane Smith, is aware of...

 (Yasmin Paige
Yasmin Paige
Yasmin Paige is an English actress who is best known for her role as Maria in The Sarah Jane Adventures, a spin-off from the BBC science fiction television programme Doctor Who. Having acted and modelled since the age of four, she made her screen debut in the 2003 film Wondrous Oblivion...

)and her investigative journalist neighbour, Sarah Jane Smith. After the Bane Mother sends assassins to kill the group, they return to confront the Bane. The Archetype saves the day by recalling an exceptionally long sequence of numbers necessary to trigger an explosion in the Bubble Shock! factory. In the episode's dénouement, Sarah Jane adopts the boy, naming him "Luke Smith", having also considered the names "Harry" and "Alistair" after her friends Harry Sullivan
Harry Sullivan
Harry Sullivan is a fictional character from the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who and is a companion of the Fourth Doctor...

 and Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
Brigadier Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, generally referred to simply as the Brigadier, is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, played by Nicholas Courtney...

. Her sentient supercomputer
Supercomputer
A supercomputer is a computer at the frontline of current processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation.Supercomputers are used for highly calculation-intensive tasks such as problems including quantum physics, weather forecasting, climate research, molecular modeling A supercomputer is a...

 Mr Smith
Mr Smith (The Sarah Jane Adventures)
Mr Smith is a fictional extraterrestrial computer voiced by Alexander Armstrong which appears in the British children's science fiction television series, The Sarah Jane Adventures, with further minor appearances in the final two episodes of the fourth series of Doctor Who...

 (voiced by Alexander Armstrong
Alexander Armstrong (comedian)
Alexander Henry Fenwick Armstrong is a British comedian, actor and television presenter.-Early life and career:Armstrong was born in Rothbury, Northumberland, the youngest of three children, to Henry Angus Armstrong and his wife Emma Virginia Peronnet Thompson-McCausland, daughter of Lucius...

) forges and distributes all the necessary paperwork to formalise the adoption. Sarah Jane reveals to Luke and Maria that she is a former time traveller
Time travel in fiction
Time travel is a common theme in science fiction and is depicted in a variety of media. It simply means either going forward in time or backward, to experience the future, or the past.-Literature:...

, having been a companion
Companion (Doctor Who)
In the long-running BBC television science fiction programme Doctor Who and related works, the term "companion" refers to a character who travels with, and shares the adventures of the Doctor. In most Doctor Who stories, the primary companion acts as both deuteragonist and audience surrogate...

 of the Doctor
Doctor (Doctor Who)
The Doctor is the central character in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who, and has also featured in two cinema feature films, a vast range of spin-off novels, audio dramas and comic strips connected to the series....

 (Jon Pertwee
Jon Pertwee
John Devon Roland Pertwee , was an English actor. Pertwee is best known for his role in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who, in which he played the third incarnation of the Doctor from 1970 to 1974, and as the title character in the series Worzel Gummidge...

 and Tom Baker
Tom Baker
Thomas Stewart "Tom" Baker is a British actor. He is best known for playing the fourth incarnation of the Doctor in the science fiction television series Doctor Who, a role he played from 1974 to 1981.-Early life:...

) and lives a dangerous life investigating alien invasions and schemes on Earth.

Series

Revenge of the Slitheen
Revenge of the Slitheen
Revenge of the Slitheen is the second story of the British science fiction television series The Sarah Jane Adventures. It comprises the first and second episodes of the show's first series, aired on BBC1, broadcast in two parts on September 24 and October 1, 2007, with the second being broadcast a...

sets up Series 1 of The Sarah Jane Adventures (2007), depicting Luke's first day at school and his difficulties and early bonding anxieties with Sarah Jane. Luke struggles to adapt to life at school owing to his inability to lie or master humour and his apparent genius-level intellect which sets him apart from his fellow pupils. He and Maria (who is also new to the school having moved recently to the area) meet and befriend Clyde Langer
Clyde Langer
Clyde Langer is a fictional character played by Daniel Anthony in the British children's science fiction television programme The Sarah Jane Adventures...

 (Daniel Anthony
Daniel Anthony (actor)
Daniel Jevoughn Anthony is a British television, musical theatre and voice actor. He has appeared in several television shows as minor recurring or regular roles and is known for his role as Clyde Langer in the Doctor Who spin-off programme The Sarah Jane Adventures.-Biography:Daniel Anthony was...

), whilst Luke makes an enemy of Carl (Anton Thompson McCormick), an intelligent boy who envies his effortless intellectual superiority. The friends discover that Carl and three members of staff at the school have been replaced by members of the alien Slitheen family
Slitheen
The Slitheen are a family of massive, bipedal extraterrestrials from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who and they are adversaries of the Doctor. They first appeared in the 2005 series episodes "Aliens of London" and "World War Three", and subsequently recur in later episodes of...

 from Raxacoricofallapatorius, and that Luke has assisted unknowingly their plan to switch off the Sun
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...

 by providing them with the equation they needed to run the machine that will absorb its energy. Luke tricks the Slitheen into resetting their machinery and most of the Slitheen are trapped in their secret room in the school and explode. Luke, Clyde and Maria assist Sarah Jane against alien Gorgons in their second adventure, and the war-faring alien Uvodni in their third. A plot by extra-dimensional villain the Trickster erases both Luke and his mother from history in the story Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?
Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?
Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? is the fifth story of the British science fiction television series The Sarah Jane Adventures. It forms the seventh and eighth episodes of the show's first series...

, although Maria successfully restores it in the second part. Sarah Jane is forced to give Luke up in series finale The Lost Boy
The Lost Boy (The Sarah Jane Adventures)
The Lost Boy is the sixth story of the British science fiction television series The Sarah Jane Adventures. It forms the ninth and tenth episodes of the show's first series...

when a couple allege that Luke is their biological son, casting doubts on his original origin. This later transpires to be a plot by the original Slitheen that Luke believed he had killed, who attempt to harness Luke's latent psychic abilities to telekinetically bring the Moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...

 crashing into the Earth. Luke and Sarah Jane are reunited after their plot is foiled.

Luke is mentioned, but does not appear, in the Doctor Who Series 4
Doctor Who (series 4)
The fourth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who began on 25 December 2007 with the Christmas special "Voyage of the Damned". Following the special, a regular series of thirteen episodes aired, starting with "Partners in Crime" on 5 April 2008 and ending with "Journey's End"...

 (2008
2008 in television
The following is a list of events affecting American television in 2008. Events listed include television show debuts, finales, cancellations, and new channel launches.-January:-February:-March:-April:-May:-June:-July:-August:...

) episode "Turn Left
Turn Left (Doctor Who)
"Turn Left" is the eleventh episode of the fourth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was written by showrunner Russell T Davies and broadcast on BBC One on 21 June 2008....

", wherein a plot by the Trickster created an alternate reality where the Doctor is dead. Consequently, Luke and Sarah Jane's gang die in an alternate version of the Doctor Who episode "Smith and Jones
Smith and Jones (Doctor Who)
"Smith and Jones" is the first episode of the third series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 31 March 2007. It sees the debut of Freema Agyeman as new companion Martha Jones...

". Subsequently, the Doctor Who Series 4 finale features Luke, Sarah Jane, Mr Smith and robot dog K-9
K-9 (Doctor Who)
K-9, or K9, is the name of several fictional robotic canines in the long-running British science fiction television series, Doctor Who, first appearing in 1977...

 witness a Dalek
Dalek
The Daleks are a fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Within the series, Daleks are cyborgs from the planet Skaro, created by the scientist Davros during the final years of a thousand-year war against the Thals...

 invasion of Earth. With Earth having been transported across space for use in the Daleks' "Reality Bomb", Luke assists the Doctor
Tenth Doctor
The Tenth Doctor is the tenth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He is played by David Tennant, who appears in three series, as well as eight specials...

 (David Tennant
David Tennant
David Tennant is a Scottish actor. In addition to his work in theatre, including a widely praised Hamlet, Tennant is best known for his role as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, along with the title role in the 2005 TV serial Casanova and as Barty Crouch, Jr...

) and his associates, through web conferencing
Web conferencing
Web conferencing refers to a service that allows conferencing events to be shared with remote locations. Most vendors also provide either a recorded copy of an event, or a means for a subscriber to record an event. The service allows information to be shared simultaneously, across geographically...

, in using the TARDIS
TARDIS
The TARDISGenerally, TARDIS is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s...

 in conjunction with Mr Smith and the Cardiff Rift
Cardiff Rift
The Cardiff Rift is a fictional wormhole in the science fiction television series Doctor Who and Torchwood, one end of which is located in Cardiff Bay, Wales. The other end is apparently floating freely through spacetime, and matter and radiation can pass through the Rift, allowing extraterrestrial...

 to tow Earth back to its rightful place. Following this, series two of Sarah Jane (2008) sees Luke part ways with Maria when she moves to America in the The Last Sontaran
The Last Sontaran
The Last Sontaran is the first story of Series 2 of The Sarah Jane Adventures and is a continuation of events from Doctor Who two-part story "The Sontaran Strategem" and "The Poison Sky"...

, and befriend investigative new girl Rani Chandra
Rani Chandra (The Sarah Jane Adventures)
Rani Chandra is a fictional character played by Anjli Mohindra in the British children's science fiction television programme The Sarah Jane Adventures, a spin-off from the long-running series Doctor Who...

 (Anjli Mohindra
Anjli Mohindra
Anjli Mohindra is an English actress from West Bridgford, Nottingham, best known for her role in The Sarah Jane Adventures as Rani Chandra.-Biography:...

) who comes to discover the extraterrestrial activities that he, Clyde and his mother are involved with. Initially, he dislikes Rani due to her replacing Maria. In series two serial The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith
The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith
The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith is a story of The Sarah Jane Adventures which was broadcast on CBBC on 17 and 24 November 2008. It is the fifth serial of the second series.-Part 1:...

, Luke meets his grandparents in a time travel plot set up the Trickster. In series three's The Mad Woman in the Attic
The Mad Woman in the Attic
The Mad Woman in the Attic is a two-part story of The Sarah Jane Adventures. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 22 and 23 October 2009. It is the second serial of the third series.-Part 1:...

(2009), an alien shows Luke a vision of the future in which he appears to be graduating from university at a young age. He meets the Doctor in person for the first time in The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith
The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith
The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith is a two-part story of The Sarah Jane Adventures. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 29 and 30 October 2009. It is the third serial of the third series. It guest stars David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor, marking the first appearance of parent programme Doctor Whos...

and assists him in defeating the Trickster for a third time. Luke is entirely absent from the two-parter The Eternity Trap
The Eternity Trap
The Eternity Trap is a two-part story of The Sarah Jane Adventures which was broadcast on CBBC on 5 and 6 November 2009. It is the fourth serial of the third series. The story involves the scientific investigation of a haunted castle.-Part 1:...

due to Tommy Knight's real-life school exams. In the series finale The Gift
The Gift (The Sarah Jane Adventures)
The Gift is a two-part story of The Sarah Jane Adventures which broadcast on CBBC on 19 and 20 November 2009. It is the sixth and last serial of the third series. This story features "the Blathereen", a family of Raxacoricofallapatorians distinct from the previously seen Slitheen.-Part 1:The story...

, Luke and Sarah's relationship becomes at times strained by the difficulties of parenting a teenager. Due to infectious alien spores, Luke becomes sick for the first time and nearly dies, spurning Sarah Jane to take up arms against their enemy.

In Doctor Who special The End of Time (2010), Luke is saved from being run over by a car while talking on his mobile phone to Clyde by the Doctor just before his pending regeneration. The Doctor then waves to Sarah Jane and Luke before stepping into his TARDIS and disappearing. At the beginning of Sarah Jane Series 4 (2010), Luke is written out during the episode The Nightmare Man as the character departs to attend the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

 after having taken his A Levels
GCE Advanced Level
The Advanced Level General Certificate of Education, commonly referred to as an A-level, is a qualification offered by education institutions in England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Cameroon, and the Cayman Islands...

 ahead of schedule, although makes regular cameo appearance
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...

s episode-to-episode in communicating with his friends and mother via webcam
Webcam
A webcam is a video camera that feeds its images in real time to a computer or computer network, often via USB, ethernet, or Wi-Fi.Their most popular use is the establishment of video links, permitting computers to act as videophones or videoconference stations. This common use as a video camera...

. In the series finale, Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith
Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith
Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith is a two-part story of The Sarah Jane Adventures which was broadcast on CBBC on 15 and 16 November 2010. It is the sixth and final story of the fourth series.-Part One:...

, Luke makes a full appearance in part two. He drives down from Oxford to assist Rani and Clyde against nefarious alien Ruby White (Julie Graham
Julie Graham
Julie Graham is a Scottish television and film actress.-Career:Graham's television roles have included The Houseman's Tale BBC TV Series , Alison McGrellis in Casualty ; Alice in Harry ; Alison McIntyre in Life Support ; Lisa Kennedy in The Bill ; Megan Hartnoll in...

), who has his mother held captive. He puts his intelligence to good use, and with some long-distance assistance from K-9 (who is based in Oxford), he defeats Ruby and saves his mother. He also appears in the Series 5 opener, Sky
Sky (The Sarah Jane Adventures)
Sky is a two-part story of The Sarah Jane Adventures which was broadcast on CBBC on 3 and 4 October 2011. It is the first story of the fifth and last series.-Part One:...

, on a web cam, his clothes subsequently being leant to Sky Smith
Sky Smith
Sky Smith is a fictional character in the British children's science fiction television series The Sarah Jane Adventures, a spin-off of the long-running series Doctor Who, played by Sinead Michael. She appears as a regular in the show's final series, first appearing in Sky...

 (Sinead Michael
Sinead Michael
Sinead Michael is an English actress best known for playing Sky Smith in The Sarah Jane Adventures. She was also one of the main characters in the mini-series 'The Childen' and the TV movie 'Enid'.- Television:-Film:...

), another genetically-engineered child who becomes Luke's adopted sister at the episode's conclusion. He makes a final appearance in the series finale, The Man Who Never Was
The Man Who Never Was (The Sarah Jane Adventures)
The Man Who Never Was is a two-part series finale of The Sarah Jane Adventures which was broadcast on CBBC on 17 and 18 October 2011. It is the third and final story of the fifth and final series.-Part One:...

. When Luke visits from Oxford, he and Sky finally meet one another in person and bond for the first time.

External links

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