Clowns are terrifying jesters that work in Circuses. However, they are nightmarish creatures in the universe of Doctor Who and The Sarah Jane Adventures, having many terrifying representations. The Doctor and his companions have encountered clowns many times and each time they have sent a shiver down their spines. Many people suffer from coulrophobia, a fear of clowns.

The Greatest Show in the Galaxy

★★★☆☆

TX: 14/12/1988 – 04/01/1989

Written by Stephen Wyatt    Directed by Alan Wareing

The Seventh Doctor takes his companion Ace to the planet Segonax to visit the Psychic Circus. All visitors to the circus are forced to entertain the Gods of Ragnarok. As soon as they stop entertaining the Gods, the unfortunate attendees are destroyed. This includes the Circus’s biggest fan Whizz Kid, a biker called Nord and also Flower Child. The Doctor and Ace meet Mags and the selfish intergalactic explorer Captain Cook. Captain Cook sacrifices the Doctor to the Gods and turns Mags into a werewolf using the Devil Moon effect. But Mags kills Cook instead of the Doctor. With no other entertainment, the family orders the Ringmaster and Morgana to perform, but they fail to entertain and are also killed. Ace and Dead Beat recover his medallion piece from the bus and, once attached, Dead Beat recovers his Kingpin personality. Kingpin helps defeat the Chief Clown and his robots before they return to the circus, only to find the Doctor has again been called to entertain the family. The Doctor has determined that the family are really Gods of Ragnarok, who feed on entertainment and kill those who do not satisfy them. The Doctor instructs Ace and Kingpin to throw Kingpin’s medallion, linked to the dimensional portal that the Gods use, into the energy well while he tries to give them time by performing for them. Ace and Kingpin complete this task just as the Doctor is about to be obliterated; the medallion falls into the ring—as the well was a dimensional portal—and the Doctor uses the medallion to reflect the Gods’ powers back onto them. The Doctor leaves the main tent as it explodes. The Doctor regroups with Ace, Mags, and Kingpin. Kingpin and Mags decide to reclaim the circus and take it to a new planet to start it anew. The Doctor and Ace say their goodbyes.

The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Day of the Clown

★★★★★

TX: 06/10/2008 – 13/10/2008

Written by Phil Ford    Directed by Michael Kerrigan

A new girl called Rani Chandra has moved into the house opposite Luke and Sarah-Jane on Bannerman Road, Ealing, London. Rani’s dad is the strict new headteacher at Luke’s school and he immediately identifies Clyde Langer as a troublemaker. Mr Chandra is therefore reluctant to listen to Clyde’s genuine claims that a Clown is terrorising the school and the surrounding areas. Sarah-Jane, Luke and Rani discover that a meteorite fell to Earth containing the essence of the Pied Piper. The Pied Piper was real and he has evolved down the years since to become the Clown, Odd Bob. In the same vein as the Pied Piper, Odd Bob the Clown intends to kidnap the children of the school and bring them into limbo at Spellman’s Magical Museum of the Circus. However, Mr Smith calls the mobile numbers of all the hypnotised children, releasing them. Odd Bob kidnaps Luke and Sarah-Jane enters limbo to rescue him. Clyde and Rani release that the key to defeating Spellman is laughter, so they both tell jokes in order to repel Odd Bob the Clown for good. Rani is delighted to join Sarah-Jane and her gang on further adventures.