Luke Smith is a

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying character (arts), individuals, events, or setting (narrative), places that are imagination, imaginary or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent ...

regular character In fiction, a character is a person or being in a narrative (such as a novel, Play (theatre), play, Radio series, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life person, in ...

played by

Tommy Knight Thomas Lawrence Knight (born 22 January 1993) is an English former actor best known for playing Luke Smith in ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'' and ''Doctor Who'', Kevin Chalk in the original run of '' Waterloo Road'', Cal Bray in ''Glue'' and Arc ...

in the British

children's A child () is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking countries, the legal definition of ''child ...

science fiction television Science fiction first appeared in television programming in the late 1930s, during what is called the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary ...

series ''

The Sarah Jane Adventures ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'' is a British science fiction television programme that was produced by BBC Cymru Wales for CBBC, created by Russell T Davies, and starring Elisabeth Sladen. The programme is a spin-off of the long-running BBC s ...

'', a spin-off of the long-running series ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

''. Luke is a regular character in ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'' both in

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

and

audio Audio most commonly refers to sound, as it is transmitted in signal form. It may also refer to: Sound *Audio signal, an electrical representation of sound *Audio frequency, a frequency in the audio spectrum *Digital audio, representation of sound ...

adventures. He has also appeared in three episodes of ''Doctor Who'': the two-parter "

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''. It was first broadcast on BBC One on . The episode was written by show runner and hea ...

"/"

Journey's End ''Journey's End'' is a 1928 dramatic play by English playwright R. C. Sherriff, set in the trenches near Saint-Quentin, Aisne, towards the end of the First World War. The story plays out in the officers' dugout of a British Army infantry com ...

" (2008), and the

Tenth Doctor The Tenth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. He is played by David Tennant in three series and nine specials. The character has also appeared in other ''Docto ...

's finale episode " The End of Time, Part Two" (2010). Within the narrative of the series, Luke is a human archetype, created by alien species the

Bane Bane may refer to: Fictional characters * Bane (DC Comics), an adversary of Batman * Bane (''Harry Potter''), a centaur in the ''Harry Potter'' series * Bane (''The Matrix''), a character in the ''Matrix'' film trilogy * Bane the Druid, a Gua ...

from thousands of

DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...

samples, who comes to be

adopted Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, from ...

by the series' heroine,

Sarah Jane Smith Sarah Jane Smith is a fictional character played by Elisabeth Sladen in the long-running BBC Television science fiction series ''Doctor Who'' and two of its spin-offs. Sarah Jane is a dogged investigative journalist who first encounters alien ...

(

Elisabeth Sladen Elisabeth Clara Heath-Sladen (1 February 1946 – 19 April 2011) was an English actress. She became best known as Sarah Jane Smith in the British television series ''Doctor Who'', appearing as a regular cast member from 1973 to 1976, alongside ...

). Luke is something of a

child prodigy A child prodigy is, technically, a child under the age of 10 who produces meaningful work in some domain at the level of an adult expert. The term is also applied more broadly to describe young people who are extraordinarily talented in some f ...

, showcasing a remarkable degree of

genius Genius is a characteristic of original and exceptional insight in the performance of some art or endeavor that surpasses expectations, sets new standards for the future, establishes better methods of operation, or remains outside the capabiliti ...

but also a level of social ineptitude owing to being born in

adolescence Adolescence () is a transitional stage of human Developmental biology, physical and psychological Human development (biology), development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age o ...

Character history

Introduction

Luke Smith is introduced as "the Archetype" in the first episode of ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'', the

New Year's Day In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Day is the first day of the calendar year, January 1, 1 January. Most solar calendars, such as the Gregorian and Julian calendars, begin the year regularly at or near the December solstice, northern winter ...

special " Invasion of the Bane" (2007). The Bane known as Mrs Wormwood (

Samantha Bond Samantha Jane Bond (born 27 November 1961) is an English actress. She played Miss Moneypenny in four James Bond films during the Pierce Brosnan era, and appeared in ''Downton Abbey'' as the wealthy widow Lady Rosamund Painswick, sister of Rob ...

) 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. Luke appears to be an ordinary adolescent boy, except for his lack of a navel having been grown rather than gestated and born naturally. He possesses a superhuman intelligence and an exceptional

eidetic memory Eidetic memory ( ), also known as photographic memory and total recall, is the ability to recall an image from memory with high precision—at least for a brief period of time—after seeing it only onceThe terms ''eidetic memory'' and ''photogr ...

. During one tour of the factory, an alarm is set off when visitor Kelsey Hooper's (Porsha Lawrence Mavour)

mobile phone A mobile phone or cell phone is a portable telephone that allows users to make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while moving within a designated telephone service area, unlike fixed-location phones ( landline phones). This rad ...

disturbs the Bane Mother. The Archetype awakes and proceeds to escape with visitor

Maria Jackson ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'' is a British television science fiction, British science fiction television programme that was produced by BBC Cymru Wales for CBBC, created by Russell T Davies, and starring Elisabeth Sladen. The programme is a sp ...

(

Yasmin Paige Yasmin Paige (born 1991 or 1992) is an English actress. She played the film role of Jordana Bevan in ''Submarine'', and has appeared on television as Beth Mitchell in ''Pramface'', and Maria Jackson in ''The Sarah Jane Adventures''. Life and ca ...

) and her investigative journalist neighbour,

(

). 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 A story structure, narrative structure, or dramatic structure (also known as a dramaturgical structure) is the structure of a dramatic work such as a book, play, or film. There are different kinds of narrative structures worldwide, which have be ...

, Sarah Jane adopts the boy, naming him "Luke Smith", having also considered the names "Harry" and "Alistair" after her friends Harry Sullivan (

Ian Marter Ian Don Marter (28 October 194428 October 1986) was an English actor and writer known for his role as Harry Sullivan in the BBC science-fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' from December 1974 to September 1975, with a non-regular, one-ser ...

) and Brigadier Sir Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart (

Nicholas Courtney William Nicholas Stone Courtney (16 December 1929 – 22 February 2011) was an Egyptian-born British actor. He was best known for his long-running role as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart in the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. ...

). Her sentient

supercomputer A supercomputer is a type of computer with a high level of performance as compared to a general-purpose computer. The performance of a supercomputer is commonly measured in floating-point operations per second (FLOPS) instead of million instruc ...

Mr Smith (voiced by

Alexander Armstrong Alexander Henry Fenwick Armstrong (born 2 March 1970) is an English actor, comedian, radio personality, television presenter, singer and farmer. He is the host of the BBC One game show ''Pointless'', and is a weekday morning-show presenter on C ...

) 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 is the hypothetical activity of traveling into the past or future. Time travel is a concept in philosophy and fiction, particularly science fiction. In fiction, time travel is typically achieved through the use of a device known a ...

, having been a companion of

the Doctor The Doctor, sometimes known as Doctor Who, is the protagonist of the long-running BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. An extraterrestrial Time Lord, the Doctor travels the universe in a time travelling spaceship called th ...

(

Jon Pertwee John Devon Roland Pertwee (; 7 July 1919 – 20 May 1996), known professionally as Jon Pertwee, was an English actor. Born into a theatrical family, he became known as a comedy actor, playing Chief Petty Officer Pertwee (and three other roles) in ...

and

Tom Baker Thomas Stewart Baker (born 20 January 1934) is an English actor and writer. He is best known for having played the Fourth Doctor, fourth and longest-serving incarnation of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor in the science fiction television ...

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

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

Series

'' Revenge of the Slitheen'' sets up

Series 1 The IBM Series/1 is a 16-bit minicomputer, introduced in 1976, that in many respects competed with other minicomputers of the time, such as the PDP-11 from Digital Equipment Corporation and similar offerings from Data General and HP. The Seri ...

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 ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'' is a British science fiction television programme that was produced by BBC Cymru Wales for CBBC, created by Russell T Davies, and starring Elisabeth Sladen. The programme is a spin-off of the long-running BBC sc ...

( Daniel Anthony), 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 from Raxacoricofallapatorius, and that Luke has assisted unknowingly their plan to switch off the

Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

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?'', although Maria successfully restores it in the second part. Sarah Jane is forced to give Luke up in series finale '' The Lost Boy'' 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 The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

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 Series 4 could refer to: * Aston Martin Lagonda Series 4, the automobile model * BMW 4 Series, the automobile model line * GeForce 4 series The GeForce 4 series (codenames below) refers to the fourth generation of Nvidia's GeForce line of graph ...

(2008) episode "

Turn Left "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. David Tennant only makes a small cont ...

", wherein a plot by the Trickster created an alternate reality where the Doctor is dead. Consequently, Luke, Sarah Jane, Clyde and Maria die in an alternate version of the ''Doctor Who'' episode " Smith and Jones". Subsequently, the ''Doctor Who'' Series 4 finale features Luke, Sarah Jane, Mr Smith and robot dog K9 witness a

Dalek The Daleks ( ) are a fictional extraterrestrial race of extremely xenophobic mutants principally portrayed in the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. They were conceived by writer Terry Nation and first appeared in th ...

invasion of Earth. With Earth having been transported across space for use in the Daleks' "Reality Bomb", Luke assists the

(

David Tennant David John Tennant (; born 18 April 1971) is a Scottish actor. He is best known for portraying the Tenth Doctor, tenth and Fourteenth Doctor, fourteenth incarnations of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor in the science fiction series ''Docto ...

) and his associates, through

web conferencing Web conferencing is used as an umbrella term for various types of online conferencing and collaborative services including webinars (web seminars), webcasts, and web meetings. Sometimes it may be used also in the more narrow sense of the peer-l ...

, in using the

TARDIS The TARDIS (; acronym for "Time And Relative Dimension(s) In Space") is a fictional hybrid of a time machine and spacecraft that appears in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' and its various spin-offs. While a TARDI ...

in conjunction with Mr Smith and the

Cardiff Rift ''Torchwood'' is a British-American science fiction television programme created by Russell T Davies. A spin-off of the 2005 revival of ''Doctor Who'', it aired from 2006 to 2011. The show shifted its broadcast channel each series to reflect it ...

to tow Earth back to its rightful place. Following this, Series 2 of ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'' (2008) sees Luke part ways with Maria when she moves to America in ''

The Last Sontaran ''The Last Sontaran'' is the first serial of the second series of the British science fiction television series '' The Sarah Jane Adventures''. The first part of the two-part story aired on BBC One on 29 September 2008, with the second part pre ...

'', and befriend investigative new girl

Rani Chandra Rani Chandra (2 June 1949 – 12 October 1976) was an Indian actress and model, a winner of Miss Kerala. She died when Indian Airlines Flight 171 crashed in Bombay in 1976. She acted in several landmark films such as '' Nellu'' (Malayalam, ...

(

Anjli Mohindra Anjli Mohindra () is an English stage, screen and voice-over actress and writer. She is best known for her television roles as Rani Chandra in the ''Doctor Who'' spin-off '' The Sarah Jane Adventures'' (2008–2011) and would-be suicide bomber ...

) who comes to discover the extraterrestrial activities that he, Clyde and his mother are involved with in ''

The Day of the Clown ''The Day of the Clown'' is the second serial of the second series of the British science fiction television series ''The Sarah Jane Adventures''. It was first broadcast in two weekly parts on the CBBC channel on 6 and 13 October 2008. ''The Da ...

''. In the Series 2 serial, '' The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith'', Luke meets his grandparents in a time travel plot set up by the Trickster. In Series 3's '' The Mad Woman in the Attic'' (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'' and assists him in defeating the Trickster for a third time. Luke is entirely absent from the two-parter '' The Eternity Trap'' due to Tommy Knight's real-life school exams. In the series finale '' The Gift'', 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, spurring Sarah Jane to take up arms against their enemy. In the final part of the ''Doctor Who'' special " The End of Time" (2010), Luke is nearly hit by a car while crossing the road and talking on his mobile phone; he is saved by the Doctor prior to his pending regeneration. The Doctor then waves to Sarah Jane and Luke before stepping into his TARDIS and disappearing. At the beginning of ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'' Series 4 (2010), Luke is written out during the episode '' The Nightmare Man'' as the character departs to attend the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

after having taken his

A Levels The A-level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational a ...

ahead of schedule, although makes regular

cameo appearance A cameo appearance, also called a cameo role and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief guest appearance of a well-known person or character in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking on ...

s episode-to-episode in communicating with his friends and mother via

webcam A webcam is a video camera which is designed to record or stream to a computer or computer network. They are primarily used in Videotelephony, video telephony, live streaming and social media, and Closed-circuit television, security. Webcams can b ...

. In the series finale, ''

Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith ''Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith'' is the sixth and final serial of the fourth series of the British science fiction television series '' The Sarah Jane Adventures''. It first aired in two parts on CBBC on 15 and 16 November 2010. It is the last stor ...

'', 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 (born 24 July 1965) is a Scottish actress from Irvine, Ayrshire. Her credits include ''Taggart'' (1986), '' The Fruit Machine'' (1988), ''Nuns on the Run'' (1990), '' Harry'' (1993–1995), '' The Near Room'' (1995), '' Preaching ...

), 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 The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the planetary surface, surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere of Earth, atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from ...

'' (2011), on a web cam, his clothes subsequently being lent to

Sky Smith ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'' is a British science fiction television programme that was produced by BBC Cymru Wales for CBBC, created by Russell T Davies, and starring Elisabeth Sladen. The programme is a spin-off of the long-running BBC ...

(Sinead Michael), 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'' is a 1956 British espionage thriller film produced by André Hakim and directed by Ronald Neame. It stars Clifton Webb and Gloria Grahame and features Robert Flemyng, Josephine Griffin and Stephen Boyd. It is b ...

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

"Farewell, Sarah Jane"

Luke appears in " Farewell, Sarah Jane" (2020), an epilogue for the series. Set several years after the events of the main series, Luke has come out as gay, is happily married to Sanjay and is now working for UNIT. While in Geneva, Luke learns that Sarah Jane has passed away and along with Clyde and Rani, he organises her funeral where everyone is celebrating Sarah Jane's life.

Audio

Knight reprised his role in 2023 for the second volume of ''Rani Takes on the World'', a Big Finish audio-drama spinoff set fifteen years after the events of ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'', reuniting with his former castmates

Anjili Mohindra Anjli Mohindra () is an English stage, screen and Voice acting, voice-over actress and writer. She is best known for her television roles as Rani Chandra (The Sarah Jane Adventures), Rani Chandra in the ''Doctor Who'' spin-off ''The Sarah Jane Ad ...

(Rani) and Daniel Anthony (Clyde). Luke was mentioned in the series' first volume "Beyond Bannerman Road" but does not appear. The second volume, "The Revenge of Wormwood", was released in December 2023 and features the return of

as Mrs. Wormwood.

Planned character developments

If the series not been prematurely ended by Sladen's death, Davies had intended for Luke to be

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

. References had been made to Luke's friend Sanjay, whom Davies intended would be introduced properly as Luke's boyfriend. Although this was a development suggested by the network (

CBBC CBBC is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 to 12. Its sister c ...

), Davies still ultimately chose to cut a line which hinted at this development in the Luke-centric two-parter '' The Nightmare Man''. The cut line is from the scene in which Luke saying goodbye to Sarah Jane as he departs for university. Luke was selected by Davies because producers "wanted us to have a gay character on children's BBC. Just a normal gay character," and Luke fit this description. Dave Golder of '' SFX'' was critical of this reasoning, and felt that a character of non-alien origins or without special abilities, such as Clyde, would have emphasised normality better. By contrast, editors at Hypable felt that "in hindsight," a number of Luke's "socially awkward scenes" from earlier in the series "could be seen to have forecast Luke's sexual orientation, and they even inspired some

fan fiction Fan fiction or fanfiction, also known as fan fic, fanfic, fic or FF, is fiction typically written in an amateur capacity by fans as a form of fan labor, unauthorized by, but based on, an existing work of fiction. The author uses copyrighted ...

of that sort." The mini episode ''Farewell, Sarah Jane'', published on the official ''Doctor Who'' YouTube channel confirmed Luke's sexuality when he states that he and Sanjay have been married for five years.Farewell, Sarah Jane https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8sU45ax2Hs

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Luke Television characters introduced in 2007 Fictional people from London The Sarah Jane Adventures characters Fictional genetically engineered characters Adoptee characters in television Fictional gay men English male characters in television Teenage characters in television Fictional LGBTQ characters in television Fictional characters with eidetic memory