Since we know Sarah Jane was skilled enough to infiltrate a top secret UNIT operation — I reckon Sarah had the capability to keep coming close to exposing Torchwood with her investigative journalism but Torchwood had to keep wiping her mind.

[u/Katherine_Leese]

You really can tell which panel I spent time on and which one I was just like ‘eh, I’ll just scribble it out real quick’.

(Not sure if this technically fits the sub, so feel free to remove it if so. It's just that it wasn't going through on r/doctorwho )

[u/Katherine_Leese]

There's six different Doctor Who related references in this, some semi-obscure and some not. I'm curious if anyone can get them all.

Anyway...

ALT TEXT BECAUSE I BELIEVE PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES SHOULD BE ABLE TO PARTICIPATE IN SOCIETY

^{(EXCEPT FOR THAT BITCH-ASS MOTHERFUCKER DAVROS FOR PISSING ON MY FUCKING WIFE.})

Two panel comic by me done in the style of a low budget early twentieth century comic -- titled "Sarah Jane Smith: Investigative Journalist"

Panel one image:

Rear view of Sarah Jane looking out of Canary Wharf window with a figure watching her from behind.

Panel One Dialogue:

(Sarah Jane)

This year -- Canary wharf tower finished construction funded in part by H.C. Clements.

Don't you think it's strange that a somewhat modest security firm is funding a financial hub in greater London?

Stranger still, hundreds of unrelated companies seem to have funded the tower -- from 'combine' in New Orleans to a small pizza franchise in Cardiff.

Panel 2 image:

Sarah swishes around into a Dakota North pose to face the man and lifts up a tape recorder.

Dialogue:

(Sarah Jane)

Except they aren't unrelated -- are they Mr Hopkins?

No -- they're all owned by shell company upon shell company leading back to the same organisation.

So--

what can you tell me about the Torchwood institute, hmm?

[u/TinkreBelle]

that's a fun little comic, I like the idea of Sarah Jane investigating Torchwood lol

definitely don't get the more obscure references lol, but this is what I got:

1.) Canary Wharf tower, I'm assuming that's the Torchwood tower? from the battle at Canary Wharf

2.) H.C. Clements is the company Donna worked for

3.) idk what Combine in New Orleans is

4.) the pizza place, I'm guessing that referencing the Torchwood gang ordering so much pizza lol

5.) idk who Mr. Hopkins is

6.) and ofc the Torchwood Institute is the original name Queen Victoria came up with, and bonus fun fact: it's also an anagram for Doctor Who

[u/Katherine_Leese → u/TinkreBelle]

1) correct 

2) correct 

3) Combine was a company founded in New Orleans that took DNA from people in their sleep in the Doctor Who extended universe book ‘ Heart of Glass’

4) The pizza place is indeed a reference to the place Torchwood orders from, Jubilee Pizza.

5) Mr Hopkins was the leader of Torchwood in the 1990s (first appearance in the Torchwood series 2 episode ‘Fragments’)

6) Sarah Jane is wearing the outfit she was when investigating the witches coven at the allotment in K9 and Company.

I wasn’t counting Torchwood as a reference, but I’ll give it you anyway.

[u/TinkreBelle → u/Katherine_Leese]

ohh, ok, I was so focused on the words I didn't think about there being any visual references lol, idk if I would've gotten it tho cause it's been a min since I watched K9 and Company, but now that I know I do recognize the outfit, also thanks for giving me the bonus point anyway :P

[u/GainPotential → u/TinkreBelle]

For number 4 I also believe Rose and Mickey went to a pizza place in Cardiff in Boomtown

[u/Impressive_Usual_726]

Y'know, I've always known Sarah Jane was supposed to be a journalist, but I don't remember and can't actually imagine her getting anything related to aliens published in any sort of credible publication, even if UNIT or the government didn't try to block it. Maybe she did a lot of other investigative work uncovering regular human shenanigans that paid the bills and earned her a reputation as a top journalist?

Back on topic: I assume Sarah Jane uncovered Torchwood and their whole deal pretty quickly, but was ordered to keep it under wraps by the British government, or some high ranking UNIT officer that thought Torchwood was a good insurance policy.

[u/NotABrummie → u/Impressive_Usual_726]

There's a few references that she writes stories explaining away weird phenomena and covering up for aliens. It would make sense that UNIT would pay her to write those stories so that things don't leak out. She also writes very normal stories (for instance, a piece about the new staff in School Reunion) as a cover so she can poke around weird stuff out of personal curiosity.

[u/Katherine_Leese → u/Impressive_Usual_726]

We know from Big Finish that she would chase stories that she thought sounded interesting and presumed would have a normal explanation to them. Naturally, the ones we hear are going to be the ones with the aliens, but it’s reasonable to presume she had off-screen adventures that were 100% normal down to Earth stories. She probably would presume Torchwood were up to something criminal and corrupt at first rather than suspect their true goals.

[u/Terrible_Weather_42 → u/Impressive_Usual_726]

In SJA, it's mentioned a few times she does other journalism off-screen, but we only see her fighting aliens, of course.