10 Doctor Who Characters More Important Than You Realised

Poor Matthew Waterhouse, he just can't catch a break. Sworn at by Tom Baker on his first day in the job, teased by his co-stars, sick in a bush while filming Castrovalva. He didn't even get the distinction of being the first Doctor Who companion to die horribly (that honour goes to Katarina, who was blown out of an airlock after only five minutes in the TARDIS).

However, Adric is actually the most important Doctor Who companion of all time – from an in-universe perspective, at least.

After all, he single-handedly saves humanity twice – yes, twice – in Earthshock. Firstly, he saves the galactic conference by sending the freighter back in time before it can land on top of their heads. Of course, the Fifth Doctor tries to put the poor kid down by suggesting he's going to nullify Earth's existence entirely. Still, Adric makes more adjustments, eventually ploughing into the Earth and wiping out the dinosaurs.

Now ask yourself this: if Adric hadn't crashed a freighter full of Cybermen into prehistoric Earth, would we evolved the ability to create this list?

Exactly. The boy's a hero.