Press and Publicity Articles for School Reunion

Popular 1970s character Sarah Jane, played by Elisabeth Sladen, will join new Doctor Who actor David Tennant.

However Rose, played by Billie Piper, will remain the Doctor's full-time companion throughout the new series.

The Doctor's "striking" new outfit consists of a striped suit, trenchcoat and trainers.

"Most importantly Billie tells me she likes it - after all she's the one who has to see me in it for the next nine months."

Casanova star Tennant replaced Christopher Eccleston in the lead role, appearing briefly at the end of the last BBC series in June.

Piper said she was "thrilled" to be playing companion Rose again.

"We plan to make series two even bigger and better and challenge the viewers' imaginations like never before," she said. "Wait until you get a load of the new doctor!"

The character Sarah Jane previously appeared in the series from 1973 to 1976, alongside Doctors played by Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker.

A journalist with outspoken feminist views, she was given robot dog K-9 as a goodbye present from the Doctor and appeared in spin-off pilot show K-9 and Company.

The new 13-part series will also feature Buffy the Vampire Slayer star Anthony Head and an episode will be written by comic Stephen Fry.

Penelope Wilton will return to play Harriet Jones in a Doctor Who Christmas special, as the alien Sycorax threatens the earth in an episode currently being filmed in Cardiff and London.

The Cybermen will return in the new series, and the Doctor and Rose will meet Queen Victoria and an evil race of Cat Women.

Coyote Ugly star Adam Garcia will make an appearance and further episodes will be written by Russell T Davies, Mark Gattis and Tom Macrae among others.

Davies, who remains the show's executive producer, said: "We were delighted and honoured by the first series' success, and we can promise new thrills, new laughs, new heartbreak and some terrifying new aliens."

The Doctor is to be reunited with his faithful robot dog, K9, in the next series of Doctor Who.

K9, who was the loyal friend to Tom Baker's Doctor between 1977 to 1981, joins the Doctor, Rose, Mickey and his current mistress, Sarah Jane Smith, in a fight against the evil Krillitanes.

"I am delighted to have been invited back on board the series - and a little gathered rust is no object to a fully functional K9!" said John Leeson, the original voice of the robot dog.

Producer, Phil Collinson adds: "It is great to be welcoming K9 back to Doctor Who. A whole generation fondly remember him as an ever faithful companion and best friend to Tom Baker's Doctor. I hope the new generation of viewers will fall in love with him in the same way. I'm sure he's going to prove an invaluable help to the Doctor in the fight against intergalactic evil."

Elisabeth Sladen, who'll be making her first TV appearance as Sarah Jane since 1983, is also delighted to be returning to the TARDIS. "I am so thrilled to be back and I feel so empowered by the affection that [the whole team] have for Sarah Jane Smith and for the programme.

"Toby Whithouse's script is wonderful - it's an absolutely truthful progression of Sarah. I just hope I can live up to their expectation, and I hope I can still run as fast after 30 years!"

The episode, which will be seen next spring, sees the team investigate sinister events at a modern-day comprehensive school. Buffy The Vampire Slayer's Anthony Head also stars.