Brendan Richards started life as an alien baby, Bray Dun, a member of the Terrae, who lived on the Moon in 1969. He was rescued by Patricia Richards, and with the help of Anne Travers and Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart his species was saved. However, by that point Bray Dun had began to take on a human physiology, and so he was given over to Richards. She officially adopted him and he was given the name Brendan Richards. It was said that for a short while he would age differently to human babies, but that would eventually settle down to a normal human rate of growth. (PROSE: Moon Blink)
By the late 1970s, he became the ward of Lavinia Smith. He first met Lavinia's niece, Sarah Jane Smith, during a school break on 18 December 1981. He and Sarah Jane promptly opened the crate that had been sent to her by the Fourth Doctor in 1978 and discovered K9 Mark III. Two days later, he was kidnapped and nearly sacrificed by the Hecate Cult in Moreton Harwood but was saved by Sarah Jane and K9.
Lavinia once told Sarah Jane that she had invested in Brendan's education so that he would not believe everything that he read in the newspapers. He attended Wellington College but sought to convince Lavinia to allow him to attend the local comprehensive school in Moreton Harwood as he did not like boarding. He had a close friend at Wellington named Travis, whose father was in the market gardening business. Lavinia's estate also included a market garden. He was taking three extra O-Levels during the 1981-1982 academic year: Additional Maths, Physics and Biology.
Having a keen interest in computer technology, he was extremely impressed by K9 and his computational abilities. Although the original K9 unit had been built by Professor Marius in the year 5000, Brendan was nevertheless familiar with many of the components used in his construction.
Brendan and K9
As Lavinia was then in the United States, he, Sarah Jane and K9 spent Christmas Day 1981 with Howard and Juno Baker, whom Sarah Jane had mistakenly believed had been part of the Hecate Cult only four days earlier. (TV: A Girl's Best Friend)
After this happened, Sarah, Brendan, Lavinia and K9 continued to investigate and stop other cults and witchcraft covens present in Britain. (PROSE: Powerstone, The Shroud of Azaroth, Hound of Hell, The Monster of Loch Crag, Horror Hotel, The Curse of Kanbo-Ala)
He had a deep, honking laugh. (TV: A Girl's Best Friend; PROSE: The Sow in Rut)
Sarah believed that he had many irritating habits. (PROSE: The Sow in Rut)
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Brendan studied at the University of Cambridge. (PROSE: Housewarming) After he returned, he assisted Sarah and K9 in investigating a supposedly demonic pig spirit. When K9 became possessed by this spirit, Sarah worked out a way of exorcising it by electrocuting K9, defeating it. (PROSE: The Sow in Rut)
His computer skills eventually led to him getting a job in Silicon Valley, near San Francisco. He was unable to attend Lavinia's funeral as a result of his work in California. (AUDIO: Comeback) In 2008, he was still working in Silicon Valley. He got a job in a software development company. (PROSE: The Lost Boy)
In 2009, Brendan was running an ecology project in San Francisco with Mike Yates. He was invited to Sarah Jane Smith's aborted wedding with Peter Dalton, but couldn't make it so fast because he was in the United States. (PROSE: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith)
Behind the scenes
- Had K9 and Company been commissioned, Brendan would have been a regular character on the series.
- Brendan and K9 modified the "Doctor Who?" running joke. After K9 declared that he was a gift from the Doctor, Brendan asked, "Who's the Doctor?" and K9 replied, "Affirmative."
- Brendan's origin story was developed by Sadie Miller, daughter of Sarah Jane Smith actress Elisabeth Sladen. By the end of Moon Blink it is made clear that he would never know of his alien origins, and then he would end up becoming a normal human child.
