Former ‘Doctor Who’ star Tom Baker says he will always be “grateful” for working with the late Elisabeth Sladen.

The actor – who was the fourth Time Lord – appeared alongside Elisabeth in the BBC One sci-fi series in the 70s as his assistant Sarah Jane Smith, and Tom admits he will always look back on their time together with fond memories.

He said: “Those sweet memories of happy days with Liz Sladen – the lovely, witty, kind and so talented Liz Sladen. I am consoled by the memories. I was there, I knew her, she was good to me and I shall always be grateful. I shall miss her.”

Elisabeth, 63, lost her long battle with cancer on Tuesday (19.04.11), and Tom can’t believe she has passed away.

Writing on his official website, he said: “Sarah Jane dead? No, impossible! Impossible! Only last week I agreed to do six new audio adventures with her. She can’t be dead. But she is. Cancer.

“I had no idea she was ill – she was so private, never wanted any fuss. Now gone. A terrible blow to her friends and a shattering blow for all those fans of the programme whose lives were touched every Saturday evening by her lovely, heroic character, Sarah Jane Smith.”

Elisabeth first appeared in ‘Doctor Who’ in 1973 to 1976 alongside Jon Pertwee and Tom, and in addition to her first run in the series, she also reprised the character following the programme’s return in 2005 starring in the Tenth Doctor story ‘School Reunion’ alongside David Tennant.

She appeared in two-part series four finale ‘The Stolen Earth’/'Journey’s End’ and had a cameo in David’s last adventure ‘The End of Time’.

Elisabeth also played the character in four series of ‘The Sarah Jane Adventures’ on CBBC and appeared alongside current Doctor Matt Smith in the show’s episode ‘Death of the Doctor’.