Adric
Portrayed by: Matthew WaterhouseTravelled with: Fourth Doctor, Fifth Doctor
Series: Classic
Adric was a companion of the Fourth and Fifth Doctors after hiding aboard the TARDIS. Adric was born and raised on his home planet of Alzarius. Adric was ranked as an elite on the planet and was awarded a gold star as a badge for his mathematical excellence. His brother, Varsh, was a member of a teenage gang that specialised in theft which Adric wished to join but was refused entry to. Varsh posed the question “Where will you be when the starliner leaves Alzarius?” to which Adric replied that he would be somewhere else entirely, which he ultimately was as he was on the TARDIS when the starliner took off. To try and join his brother’s gang he attempted to steal river fruit but failed to do so. Adric joined the TARDIS crew after hiding on board the TARDIS that the Fourth Doctor and his companion, Romana, would later discover. Adric also cunningly pretended to share the agenda of the Three Who Rule, a trio of vampires that lorded over a small community and attempted to save Romana from being sacrificed, though he ultimately failed and both of them were then saved by the Doctor in State of Decay (Classic Series).
Following Romana’s departure in Warrior’s Gate (Classic Series), the Fourth Doctor and Adric had numerous adventures together, forming a bond of trust with the Doctor coming to genuinely like Adric. Soon after returning to N-Space, the Doctor and Adric visited Traken where they met Nyssa of Traken for the first time and defeating the Master in The Keeper of Traken (Classic Series). Adric was later present at the Doctor’s regeneration into his Fifth incarnation. His relationship with the Doctor deteriorated after the regeneration with the arrival of Tegan Jovanka and Nyssa as fellow companions, believing that the girls were a hindrance to his relationship to the Doctor. Adric was fiercely competitive and regularly frustrated with his clumsiness and struggled to find a useful role for himself in the TARDIS crew. Eventually, Adric told the Doctor that he wished to return to E-Space and provided him with the mathematical computations to engineer such a return, though he confessed that he really wanted to remain on the TARDIS. Unfortunately, Adric became caught up in the attempted Cybermen invasion, which led him to sacrifice his life. Adric remained on Captain Brigg’s freighter which was travelling through time, where, with Adric on board, it crashed into prehistoric Earth causing the extinction of the dinosaurs, as well as the death of Adric in Earthshock (Classic Series).
Adric was a genius mathematician and proud of his Elite status. He claimed he was better than others before of this. He wished to join Varsh’s gang, the Outlers but was refused and stated how tired he was of being pushed around on the Starliner. When Varsh died, Adric kept his belt which was the symbol of Outler membership. Adric managed to pretend to go along with the vampire's plans in a ploy to attempt to rescue Romana, though the attempt ultimately failed with the Doctor rescuing both Adric and Romana. Adric’s life was ended when Captain Brigg’s freighter crashed into prehistoric Earth. Adric had only remained on board in an attempt to prevent it from crashing into Earth at all. He failed and died holding his brother’s belt. Adric’s death deeply upset his fellow travellers, hitting Tegan and Nyssa hard, as well as the Doctor. When the Fifth Doctor came to regenerate, the last word he said was “Adric?”