The stories of Adric (story codes 5R-6B) Season eighteen (1980) Full Circle State of Decay Warrior's Gate Keeper of Traken Season Nineteen (1981-2) Castravalva Four to Doomsday Kinda The Visitation Black Orchid Earthshock All story breakdowns courtesy of Charles Mento, Cheers Charles Cameo Appearences Season nineteen (1981) Time Flight Season twenty (1982) Caves of Androzani Doctor Who's Who's Who [Matthew Waterhouse as himself] (1986)

Watch out for detailed synopsises and reviews of these stories, with special emphasis on Adric's involvement......coming soon!:-)

According the orginal BBC character outline (taken from The Companions (David J. Howe and Mark Stammers), used without permision) Adric was orginally conceived as: Adric is fifteen, small for his age, wiry and strong. With short straight black hair. His dominating elder brother, Afrus [later to become Varsh], is the leader of a juvenile street gang on a planet we'll call Yerfillag, and under his tuition Adric has learnt to lie and steal, activities which are the dark side of his natural optimistic brashness and enormous intellectual curiosity. Adric never fitted into the gang he was pressed into by his brother, [clearly a point where what we saw varied widly with the orginal idea] partly because of his superior education, and partly because he is a born non-conformist, even among outlaws. When he meets the Doctor, his strong sense of self preservation prompts him to assume an air of subdued innocence and false naivete. Though a disguise, this impersonation reminds us of Adric's very real vulnerability as a young mortal ( as opposed to the Time Lords and their all-capable K-9)-vulnerability that is going to play an important part in future adventures. At the end of the story that introduces Adric, his brother Afrus has given up his life to save the Doctor and Romana. With the last of his family ties broken, Adric stows away in the TARDIS, where he remains undiscovered until the opening of the next story. The Doctor subsequently shoulders the responsibility for returning Adric to Yerfillag, but what with one thing and another...Meanwhile, Adric's true character is emerging-enquiring, intelligent, but definitely and irritatingly a mendacious magpie.

note: mendacious, defined by the Oxford dictionary as 'lying, decitful'. Of course you knew that, I'm just checking.....

Obviously, the character and background that we eventually ended up with was somewhat different. For a start, while young, Adric was definitely older than 15. 17 would be my guess. Also, the dynamics of his relationship with his brother (named Varsh in the final script) were dramatically different. Gone was the overbearing, forceful bad influence, instead we got a character whom Adric looked up to, and sought to emulate with his desperate pleading to join Varsh's gang.

From the very beginning, with Adric's introduction, it seemed that this would be no standard Dr. Who companion. Not a screaming female (obviously, athough it has been known for such things to be called into question by the more vocal elements of fandom) nor the classic 'man of action' male companion, in the mould of Jamie, or Ian, or to a lesser extent Harry. Rather, he would be a little bit oddball (ughh, what a cliched word to use). He doesn't fit into any of the ready made slots that most companions do. Is this one of the reasons he is so disliked by fandom? Because no one really knew what to make of him? Perhaps in a similar way to the critisism Colin Baker's Doctor came in for.

Another reason recently suggested for Adric's lack of popularity is his costume. Let's face it, it isn't a good costume, it's a pair of pyjamas with wellies. Your allegiances to companions/Doctors etc are often formed in childhood, and what you do in childhood? Playtime! You play at Doctor Who or whatever, and who wants to be Adric and dress up in your pyjamas and wellies? You want to dress up as characters with cool costumes like Darth Vader, or as a Cyberman.

Handy Dandy Adric quotes

"The trouble with Adric was that from the beginning he was so damn complicated"- Matthew Waterhouse

"As far as I'm concerned, in each four episodes he was a new individual. Every time I started to get a gut feeling about him, about what he should do and think, it was contradicted in the next script"- Matthew Waterhouse

[Of Matthew Waterhouse] "He was not the type to be found on the front of choclate boxes!"- JN-T

"I think Adric is androgynous, in the correct sense of the word. He would have liked hanging out with boys who wear gashes of lipstick but are not necessarily gay. Those people who transcend labels- what the poet Jeremy Reed has called the 'night lost'"- Matthew Waterhouse

"It wasn’t poor Matthew Waterhouse’s fault that Adric was such a pain, but it was Matthew’s fault that he was such a pain. He was young enough to be stupid enough to think there was something clever about him. Well, there wasn’t. He was a smart-arse with people like costume ladies who asked him to take his costume off to eat his lunch. That wasn’t necessary that was just common sense. I have worked with one or two really great actors, and when your at least really big names and can be really nice and generous and if they can be like that then Matthew Waterhouse can be like that. To be fair, he had a terrific break, and he didn’t understand his good luck I don’t think." -Lalla Ward