S01E05: 'Warriors of Kudlak' Part One

The Sarah Jane Adventures continues to impress with the latest adventure, concerning the abduction of children by aliens running a laser game centre.

Of particular note, this story's monster – Mr Kudlak – is extremely well realised and looks convincing, with his face incorporating a mix of prosthetics and CGI. It's as impressive as anything we've seen on Doctor Who to date. Kudlak's initial reveal to the audience was perhaps lacking in tension and build up, but a nice mystery has been generated as we have no idea about the identity of his boss, represented by a female voice in the episode.

This episode develops the previous themes based around feelings of isolation and broken homes, adding bullying to the mix. It's quite warming to see the show teaching the young CBBC audience a lesson in morality, relating to the treatment of missing kid 'Corporal' Lance, without coming across as patronising.

The cliffhanger was slightly clichéd, with the monster hissing at Sarah Jane, but overall this was an exciting and suitably dark first part of the adventure.