Great news for Sarah Jane fans. The BBC have officially announced not one, but two further series of The Sarah Jane Adventures have been commissioned. The press release follows.

CBBC Controller Damian Kavanagh has commissioned two new series (24 x 30-minutes) of hugely successful Doctor Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures, which will see the intrepid investigative journalist and her gang of young sidekicks continue to enthral children for the foreseeable future.

Created by Russell T Davies, and featuring one of Doctor Who’s most famous companions, Sarah Jane Smith, The Sarah Jane Adventures is made by BBC Cymru Wales and has been a huge hit on CBBC since its debut in 2007, with viewing figures continuing to grow year on year.

The fourth series, set to air this autumn, will again star Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane. Young actors Tommy Knight, Daniel Anthony and Anjli Mohindra return as popular regulars Luke, Clyde and Rani.

The new adventures will feature the usual mixture of thrills, scares and fun with enemies old and new, including the terrors of the Nightmare Man, the sinister Shansheeth, the series’ first visit to an alien world, and even a dangerous journey back into history.

The series will go into production in Cardiff later this month with series three producer Nikki Wilson stepping up alongside Russell T Davies as executive producer and new producer Brian Minchin joining the team.

Damian Kavanagh says: “We are thrilled to be making many more episodes of The Sarah Jane Adventures.

“It is been a huge ratings and critical success on CBBC and we hope our viewers are going to be hooked on Sarah Jane’s action-packed adventures for some time to come.”

BBC Wales Head of English Language Programmes, Clare Hudson, says: “The idea for The Sarah Jane Adventures sprang from the success of Doctor Who and it has since rocketed in popularity in its own right, thanks to the vision, talent and hard work of the show’s brilliant cast and crew.”

The fifth series will go into production in 2011 for transmission later that year.

Writers on the fourth series include Phil Ford (also co-producer), Joseph Lidster, Rupert Laight, Gareth Roberts and Clayton Hickman.

The Sarah Jane Adventures is a BBC Cymru Wales/Children’s BBC Production.