10 Actors Who Won't Return To Doctor Who

The part of precocious boy genius Adric was something of a poisoned chalice, requiring a certain degree of teenage arrogance. But actor Matthew Waterhouse didn’t help himself, often behaving in a questionable manner on set (famously, he dared to offer acting advice to his more experienced co-stars).

Still, Adric’s death is repeatedly ranked as one of the show’s most harrowing and emotional moments. Characters needn't stay dead in Doctor Who however, and Waterhouse briefly returned for the very next story to play an Adric apparition.

But might he return again in the future? Well... it’s not looking good.

According to an anecdote shared by Waterhouse on Twitter, he wasn’t invited back for the 2023 anthology series Tales of the TARDIS (and he only found out about the project by accident, after bumping into Frazer Hines and Wendy Padbury in Cardiff).

Now that the iPlayer news is out I can tell you about a weird thing that happened end of Sept. After a con in Swansea my husband and I went to spend his birthday in Cardiff. Shortly after arriving at the St David's Hotel, I went out to explore....

— Matthew Waterhouse (@MinettaLane) October 31, 2023

"Sadly, they have been unable to record any 4th Doctor introductions", he lamented. "Adric being dead, Tom rarely venturing forth, Lalla abroad, and Louise far too busy!"

While he may not ever appear again physically, Adric was namedropped in both The Power of the Doctor and The Giggle. So y'know, swings and roundabouts!