Adam Mitchell

Adam Mitchell

Adam Mitchell is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, played by Bruno Langley. Adam is introduced in the first series of the programme's revival as the second television companion of the Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston). However unlike the Ninth Doctor's primary companion, Rose Tyler (Billie Piper), who provided an effective human contrast to the Doctor's centuries-old alien, Adam was created to provide an example of an inept time traveller.

The character is introduced as a boy genius from the year 2012 who attracts the attention of the Doctor's traveling companion Rose after she and the Doctor meet him in his place of work. Despite Rose's willingness to accept Adam as a fellow traveller, the Doctor is skeptical. After Adam attempts to use information from the future for his own gain he throws Adam out of his time machine, the TARDIS. This was the first example of the Doctor forcing a companion to leave because of negative behaviour.

Adam was created during executive producer Russell T Davies original pitch to the BBC as part of his plans to revive Doctor Who for the channel. Though established early in the series' planning, Adam was always intended to be a short term character. Though reviewers generally reacted negatively to the character, Adam's role as a foil to the stock companion figure has been praised alongside the moral lessons of his departure.

Appearances
Adam first appears in the first series episode "Dalek" as a young researcher under the employ of Henry van Statten (Corey Johnson), who is the owner of a museum of extraterrestrial artifacts in an underground bunker in Utah. Adam mentions that he is a genius, having successfully hacked into the United States Department of Defense computers when he was eight years old. He quickly forms a mutual attraction with the Doctor's companion Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) and informs her of his desire to see the stars. When a live Dalek manages to break free and slaughter its way through the base, Adam finds himself fleeing along with Rose. At the end of the episode, when van Statten's museum is closed down, Rose asks the Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) to take Adam along with them in the TARDIS. The Doctor refuses, but Adam is forced to jump in the TARDIS when the museum is to be filled with cement.[1]

In the next episode, "The Long Game", the Doctor, Rose, and Adam arrive on a space station in the year 200,000, and Adam is overwhelmed by culture shock. Tempted by the wealth of information and technology available to him, he has an advanced computer interface port, activated by a click of the fingers, installed in his head that allows him to access the future's computer system. He attempts to transmit information back to 21st century Earth using Rose's modified mobile phone, but this backfires when the villains running the station attempt to extract information on the Doctor directly from Adam's brain. As punishment of Adam's breach of trust, the Doctor returns him home, despite his pleading, and destroys his answering machine. When Adam's mother (Judy Holt) returns home, she reacts with shock and horror after inadvertently activating the implant installed in his forehead.[2]

In the comic book series Prisoners of Time, released to celebrate the 50th anniversary, Adam is the villain. After his mother dies he acquires a Vortex Manipulator and plans to kidnap the Doctor's companions for revenge due to the Doctor erasing technology that could have saved her.[3] At the end of the story, The Master, with whom he has collaborated in this ploy, kills him- but at the very end, he is reconciled with the Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler and acknowledged as a "true companion" on his gravestone, receiving posthumous validation.

Conceptual history
Executive producer Russell T Davies (pictured) created Adam specifically to be an inept companion.The character of Adam Mitchell was first conceived, along with Henry van Statten, during Russell T Davies' 2003 pitch to the BBC, in a story heavily based on Robert Shearman's audio play Jubilee, which would later form the base for the episode "Dalek". It was always the intention of the production team for Adam to join the TARDIS after Rose developed a liking for him. To play this role Langley was chosen, mostly because of his role on Coronation Street as Todd Grimshaw.[4] He had auditioned for the role on the same day as doing publicity for his leaving storyline in Coronation Street. Reacting to his casting Langley, remarked that "I couldn't have asked for a better next role because Doctor Who is another great institution." Langley describes Adam as "a bit nerdy" and states of his character's attraction to Rose that "she's a very pretty girl and Adam hasn't seen any girls for a long time."[5]

Since 1963, the perennial companion figure in Doctor Who generally serves to remind the Doctor of his "moral duty".[6] However, Adam was never meant to be a long-term companion. In the behind-the-scenes book Doctor Who: The Inside Story Davies explains that he "always wanted to do a show with someone who was a rubbish companion" and dubs Adam "the companion that couldn't".[4] In an episode of Doctor Who Confidential he characterised Adam as "a little bit ambitious and "a little bit too clever for his own good."[7] Langley added that the character ends up "on the wrong side of the tracks" because he likes "meddling with things" and that "him thinking he's a genius gets him into bother".[8] Explaining Adam's downfall, Davies states that he "doesn't realize he's out for his own good until he's put in a situation of temptation, where knowledge, information and power are put in front of him." Davies felt that Adam's story provided "a chance to see someone starting on that path" before the Doctor cuts his ambitions short.[7]

Originally, there were several aspects of the character that were cut before appearing on screen: in early drafts, he was the son of Henry van Statten.[9] In the DVD commentary for "The Long Game" director Brian Grant and actor Bruno Langley discuss Adam's scripted motive of bringing future medical knowledge back home to cure his father, who was suffering from ill health, though this motive did not remain in the final episode.[10] To promote the character during the week "The Long Game" was first broadcast, the in-universe tie-in website "Who is Doctor Who?" announced that "14 year-old Adam Mitchell from Nottingham" had won a competition arranged by van Statten the previous week. Adam's winning essay on "Why I Want To Meet An Alien" mentions a desire to acquire advanced knowledge from them with the explanation "I don't think it's cheating, really. It's just a shortcut".[11]

Reception
Dek Hogan of Digital Spy reacted negatively to Adam's introduction in "Dalek" stating he "didn’t really see the point of Todd Grimshaw out of Corrie popping up." He suggested it would have been more entertaining had the episode featured Langley's screen mother from Coronation Street instead.[12] Ian Hyland of the Sunday Mirror also disliked Adam's introduction, describing "the introduction of a puppy-love sequence between Rose and a cute English boy" as "very, very irritating".[13] SFX Magazine commented on the similarity between Adam's introduction to the future and that of Rose in "The End of the World" stating "it was clearly a deliberate parallel on Russell's part, as part of his scheme to contrast and compare the reactions of Rose and Adam". Their website reviewer observed that Adam's "comedy faint" marked him out as an unsuitable traveller.[14] Marc Edward DiPaulo of the University of Oklahoma notes that Adam's role in "The Long Game" is to provide satire on the media and to function as "a condemnation of those who cannot stop immersing themselves in television, the Internet, iPods, and other nonstop broadcasters of what the Doctor calls "useless information.""<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-15">[15] Fraser McAlpine, reviewing Adam's appearances as companion for BBC America's Anglophenia blog describes him as a "craven meddler" and a "social climber". By virtue of his failures, Adam becomes "the companion that proves the worth of all of the other companions".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-16">[16] "Adam was always designed as a “Companion who couldn't”, and although he's not the most memorable character, the pay-off to his sheer ineptitude is more than worthy of mention." —Den of Geek on the character of Adam.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-DenofGeek_17-0">[17] In their book Who is the Doctor, Graeme Burk and Robert Smith described Adam in "Dalek" as "somewhat annoying".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-18">[18] Burk referred to him in "The Long Game" as "arrogant and narcissistic", which made Rose appear shallow for insisting he travel with them, but felt that Langley did "a superb job" conveying the character's flaws.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-b33_19-0">[19] He stated that it was "a shame" that the backstory of Adam's motivations were cut from the script, as it would have made his character more believable.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-20">[20] The two found a logical flaw in the Doctor's decision to drop Adam off, as it was a possibility that someone could get their hands on the future technology.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-21">[21] Radio Times reviewer Patrick Mulkern gave a positive overview of Adam, describing the character as "bumptious yet likeable" and his departure as "literary precision". He commented that Adam "adds an interesting dynamic, subtly different" from Mickey Smith and Captain Jack Harkness, who also worked with Rose and the Ninth Doctor. Instead of threatening the Doctor and Rose's relationship, Adam "serves to strengthen it".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-RT_Long_Game_22-0">[22] In 2010 Mark Harrison of Den of Geek listed the character's exit from the TARDIS as the tenth greatest companion farewell scene stating that it was "great to get a glimpse of the Doctor outright booting someone out." He felt that the character "struck out in spectacular fashion" by attempting to steal future technology and that his eventual fate was an example of poetic justice.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-DenofGeek_17-1">[17] Charlie Jane Anders also praised the concept of Adam's story arc positioning his departure as the seventh most depressing exit from a companion in Doctor Who ' s history. She felt that to have "a companion who flunks out" was one of Davies' "cleverest ideas" as executive producer of the series and that Adam's human flaws made him relatable.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-23">[23] In 2010 readers of the Radio Times voted Adam the 45th most popular companion, out of forty-eight viable options.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-24">[24]