Doctor Who: 10 Most Traumatic Companion Departures

1. Adric (Earthshock)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVlVSd-xPlI Companions have been killed on screen before, but not when they'd been in as many adventures as Adric, or quite so suddenly. He appeared in forty episodes of the show across eleven adventures with both the fourth and fifth Doctors. He originally joined the team on the TARDIS after stowing away, and became a companion properly in the following adventure. Earthshock was his final adventure, in which the Cybermen have taken control of a space-bound freighter and are attempting to ram it into the Earth during prehistoric times. In the end, Adric is the last one left on board as the vessel approaches the planet after he refuses to use the escape pods. The TARDIS controls are damaged and the Doctor is unable to return to the vessel to save him in time. But then, it looks as if disaster might be adverted as he enters codes into the navigational computer to unlock it and allow him to steer it away from the planet. As he is about to enter the last code, the computer is destroyed by a Cyberman. The Doctor and his other companions look on as the freighter hits the Earth, killing Adric and everyone on board and becoming the event that wiped out the dinosaurs. The episode ends with the credits running in silence in honour of Adric's death. Although Matthew Waterhouse re-appeared as Adric in two cameos during the fifth Doctor era, the departure of a companion has never felt so final as the death of Adric has. It was designed to shock, and by god, it worked. Anyone I missed? Any memorable departures that stay in the imagination? Let me know below!