Concept and creative process
‘K9 & Company' was originally conceived as a child oriented spin-off series from 'Doctor Who' in which the robotic dog K9 had appeared and had built up a popular fan base amongst the children in the audience. It was released at Christmas 1981 as a special but was never made into a series, despite achieving an audience of over 8 million viewers. The titles were simply just a vehicle to show off the robotic dog and the show's heroine Sarah Jane Smith, played by Elisabeth Sladen, also known from her sidekick role in 'Doctor Who'. The scenes for the titles were filmed live action on location. The animated graphics were filmed on a rostrum camera and combined in the video edit. The whole sequence ended up over a minute long, twice the length of an average drama title sequence! According to Wikipedia, in David Walliams' show 'Awfully Good TV', the title sequence for 'K9 & Company' was Number 1 in TV's Top 5 worst title sequences!