Why Every Classic Companion Left Doctor Who
7. Matthew Waterhouse - Adric
Young Doctor Who fan Matthew Waterhouse got the opportunity of a lifetime when he was cast as new companion Adric in 1981. Adric was initially intended as a sort of Artful Dodger type character, but was often written as a precocious maths nerd. This inconsistency in the writing of the character led to frustrations on the part of Matthew Waterhouse. He was therefore quite philosophical about the idea of being written out at the end of Earthshock.
That was until it turned out Adric would be killed off, with no hope of returning to the series! It's said that Waterhouse didn't speak to JN-T for 2 weeks after finding out Adric's fate.