Matthew Waterhouse

Matthew Waterhouse
Born	(1961-12-19) 19 December 1961 Hertford, Hertfordshire, England, UK
Occupation	Actor, author
Years active	1980 - present
Television	Adric in Doctor Who

Matthew Waterhouse (born 19 December 1961) is an English actor and writer best known for his role as Adric in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who from 1980 to 1982.

Early life

Waterhouse was born in Hertford, Hertfordshire, but brought up in Haywards Heath, Sussex. The son of a solicitor, he was educated at St. Wilfrid’s Primary School, West Sussex and Shoreham Grammar School.^[1] Waterhouse was a great fan of Doctor Who in his younger days, claiming that he was "obsessed" with the show.^[2]

Doctor Who

Adric was a companion of Tom Baker and Peter Davison's Doctors from 1980 to 1982. Waterhouse was the youngest actor to play a companion (Sarah Sutton was the youngest female actor and second youngest to play a companion; several companions since the series' 2005 revival have been portrayed in their youths by actors younger than Waterhouse, notably 10-year-old Caitlin Blackwood who originated the role of Amy Pond before it was taken over by her adult cousin, Karen Gillan), and had only appeared in one television drama prior to being appointed in the role. He played the schoolboy Briarley in the BBC2 adaptation of To Serve Them All My Days with John Duttine, and it was only shortly before he filmed his appearance on the miniseries that he found out he had secured the role of Adric.^[3] Waterhouse enjoyed making the episodes ‘'Black Orchid’' and ‘'The Keeper of Traken’' the most.^[4]

Waterhouse returned to the sphere of Doctor Who and took part in the audio commentaries for the DVD releases of Earthshock and The Visitation released in 2003 and 2004 respectively. He also provided commentary for The Keeper of Traken, released in 2007 as part of the New Beginnings box set. Though released separately, all commentaries were recorded in the same week, as noted by Waterhouse in his commentary for The Keeper of Traken. More recently, in late 2008, he made an audio commentary, jointly with Peter Davison, Janet Fielding and Sarah Sutton for the DVD releases of Four to Doomsday and Black Orchid. He also talks about his complete tenure on the show in the featurette "The Boy With the Golden Star" dedicated to Adric on the Warriors' Gate DVD.

On 31 July 2013, Big Finish Productions announced via their Facebook page that Waterhouse would be returning to play the role of Adric in a series of Fifth Doctor audio plays beginning in 2014.

Other work

Waterhouse guested on a number of shows after it was announced that he would be playing Adric. This included Saturday Night At The Mill (BBC Pebble Mill, 1980) and Top of the Pops (BBC, 1980) with Dave Lee Travis. He also guested on Peter Davison's This Is Your Life (UK TV series) (Thames TV, 1982) and Children in Need (BBC, 1985) with a range of Doctor Who actors. Waterhouse's only film appearance was in the 1986 sci-fi thriller, The Killing Edge,^[5][6] directed by Lindsay Shonteff. Waterhouse, in a minor role, played a knife man.

In 1996 he made the science fiction pilot drama Ghostlands for MJTV Productions, and played the character Tom, alongside actors Jacqueline Pearce and Sylvester McCoy. Coincidentally, McCoy played the 7th Dr Who, although Waterhouse had left the show several years before.

Waterhouse has appeared in a wide range of theatre productions in the UK, and has appeared in the Shakespeare productions A Midsummer Night's Dream (as Puck), Twelfth Night (as Fabian), Macbeth (as Fleance) and Hamlet (as the title role). He also appeared in theatre productions of I Am David, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Brighton Beach Memoirs (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Peter Pan (directed by actor Clive Swift) and Torch Song Trilogy.

In August 2006, Waterhouse self-published his debut novel, Fates, Flowers: A Comedy of New York (ThisPress). The book was republished in June 2010 by Hirst Books, along with two other books released later that year -- Vanitas: A Comedy of New York and the memoir Blue Box Boy.^[7] A third, entitled Precious Liars, was released in 2013. Waterhouse described the novels as "metaphysical camp".^[8]

Waterhouse also wrote and appeared in his own one-man show Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Chipping Norton and UK Tour) which was directed by actor Murray Melvin (Bilis Manger in the Doctor Who spin-off drama Torchwood in 2007).

In February 2011, it was announced that he was guest-starring in the Dark Shadows audio drama The Creeping Fog as John Cunningham.^[9] It was released on 30 June that year.^[10] In November 2013 Waterhouse appeared in the one-off 50th anniversary comedy homage The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot as one of the former companion actors in Steven Moffat's nightmare sequence.^[11]

Personal life

Waterhouse has lived in Connecticut in the United States since July 1998, but occasionally returns to the UK for conventions, signings, performances and recording audio commentary for the Doctor Who DVDs. As mentioned in his memoir Blue Box Boy he is gay. He lives with his American partner.^[12]

Trivia

Waterhouse's name was used by comedians Matt Lucas and David Walliams for a character in their sketch show Little Britain. Waterhouse in the programme is an unsuccessful inventor of bizarre and ridiculous new versions of things such as board games and breakfast cereals. Little Britain has also featured two other characters named after Doctor Who companion actors, Michael Craze and Mark Strickson, while the programme is narrated by Waterhouse's Doctor Who colleague, Tom Baker.^[13]

References

External links

• Matthew Waterhouse at the Internet Movie Database