10 Smartest Doctor Who Characters
Doctor Who is full of characters, but who is the smartest of them all?
As can be expected, for a show that has ran for 57 years, Doctor Who isn’t exactly short on characters. And of course, like the real world, the Doctor Who universe is filled with a few clever clogs.
For a show which deals with science and history, Doctor Who is occasionally rather smart itself. With complex storylines calling back to the past, and sometimes hinting to the future, of the show. But at its core the show is a fun romp along the Time Vortex.
Now of course for a show about time and space, which enjoys spending a lot of time on Earth, we've seen some of the worlds greatest minds. Doctor Who over the years has seen the Doctor and friends meet Ada Lovelace, George Stephenson and H.G. Wells. But these are historical figures rather than characters.
For this list we’re sticking to characters in the main TV series and avoiding expanded media characters. Also, sticking to characters with their own genuine intelligence, rather than those who use a device or other abilities to gain knowledge, such as the Doctor Donna.
So here are 10 of the smartest Doctor Who characters...
10. Adric
Companion to the Fourth and Fifth Doctor, Adric was a mathematical genius of E-Space. But his mathematical capability goes a little further than simple sums. Adric held the badge for mathematical genius on his planet of Alzarius. His greatest fear was facing a problem he could not solve, something which happened at the time of his death, with him quoting he “would never know if he was right”.
Adric was probably one of the Doctor’s most intelligent companions. He showed skill in using the TARDIS, as well as plenty of other alien technologies. To fans, as well as the Doctor himself, Adric was slightly annoying, however, there may be reasoning behind this view. Actor Matthew Waterhouse, who portrayed the character, admitted that he felt the Doctor saw Adric as a bit of a nuisance as he saw a lot of his younger self in him, which is quite the testament to Adric’s intelligence.
In fairness, the early '80s TARDIS team featured more than one intelligent companion. Tegan, while a decent companion, definitely wasn’t as bright as her fellow travellers, as she was originally an Austrialian stewardess. But Nyssa of Traken was highly intelligent like Adric. However, for this list, Adric is the one who takes this.