Christopher Eccleston talks about Doctor Who.

[Crazedwraith]

Christopher Eccleston talks about Doctor Who exit

Actor Christopher Eccleston quit Doctor Who after one series because he "didn't enjoy the environment and the culture" of the show.

Eccleston, who is about to star in BBC Four biopic Lennon Naked, took on the role of the Time Lord when Russell T Davies revamped Doctor Who in 2005.

He told the Radio Times he was proud of the show but "wasn't comfortable" working on it.

"I think it's more important to be your own man than be successful, so I left."

Eccleston, the ninth Doctor announced he was leaving after just one series to be replaced by David Tennant.

"I was open-minded but I decided after my experience on the first series that I didn't want to do any more," he said.

"I didn't enjoy the environment and the culture that we, the cast and crew, had to work in.

"I thought if I stay in this job, I'm going to have to blind myself to certain things that I thought were wrong."

But the 46-year-old said the fact that he played the Doctor - and not that he had quit - was "the most important thing".

"I really feel that because it kind of broke the mould and it helped to reinvent it.

"I'm very proud of it."
BBC apology

In an initial statement announcing his exit in March 2005, the BBC said the actor was afraid of being typecast and had found the series gruelling.

The corporation later accepted the statement was incorrect and that it had not spoken to Eccleston before releasing it.

"They handled it very badly but they issued an apology and I dropped it," he added.

Interesting stuff. I had heard previously (on here I think) That Eccleston was hard to work with and paid a lot of attention to the scripts he was given and the character it portrayed and so forth.

[Tsyroc]

That's certainly gets me curious about what he considered practices he didn't like. Sci-fi series seem to have a reputation for lots of long hours. Maybe that's it?

His statements make me think it's unlikely that we'll see the 9th Doctor crossing paths with the 10th or 11th anytime soon.

[Temujin]

What about creative differences with RTD? He might have picked up on RTD's fanboyishness early on and sensed where the series was headed.

[Admiral Valdemar]

Since Eccleston was easily the best NuWho Doctor, and in the best of the relaunched series, it may be that he did see a problem forming that RTD was behind and he wanted out before it inevitably got carried away on the success they were vying for, and went OTT (which we can see happening easily by series three).

I actually expected Eccleston to stay on, but seemingly he has more integrity than to simply stick with a show that is big and popular, though has a clash with his creativity. He was also in Heroes back when it was good too just after he quit DW, before jumping ship there, so either he's lucky, or he's able to spot where something is going tits up.

I'd liked to have seen more Nine. At least that typecasting excuse was bull, which I always thought from the beginning.

[Temujin]

I really was disappointed to see him go as well. While Smith is growing on me, and I have hopes for continual improvement in the series, Eccleston still remains my favorite of NuWho Doctor.

[Lord Woodlouse]

From everything I heard the personal relationship between the two men was pretty good. RTD was very understanding about him wanting to move on, and deliberately wrote the ending so as to potentially go either way.

I think it was more to do with the fact that it's very hard work and he didn't enjoy doing it enough to keep doing it.

[mr friendly guy]

I should note Eccleston has also starred in some stinkers like GI Joe and the Dark is Rising (although it wasn't his fault), so I would tend to go with what Lord Woodlouse said rather than he could see which way the wind was blowing and jumped ship. If he could sense the series was going to turn crap he could have still quit after season 2, which was still good before RTD got carried away.

[Big Orange]

Eccleston left the show too soon and Tennant stayed with the show one year too long. I heard Christopher Eccleston had to attend to an ill parent and he also lost his cool with one of the directors (who directed "Rose" and the Slitheen episodes). With Heroes he was a guest star who turned up in only a couple of episodes and Heroes creatively bombed out worse than NuWho (enough to have its ratings significantly plummet and get cancelled). G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra was very cheesy, but made almost twice its money back.

[Srelex]

I always felt Eccleston's deparature was a bit premature, but if he didn't like working with that team, then fair enough. As for GI Joe, I considered that to be a fun little bit of popcorn entertainment.

[CaptainChewbacca]

I wouldn't blame Eccleston for Dark Is Rising. That was one of my favorite childhood stories, and they rewrote it so much as to be almost completely unrecognizable.

[mr friendly guy]

I wouldn't blame Eccleston for Dark Is Rising. That was one of my favorite childhood stories, and they rewrote it so much as to be almost completely unrecognizable.

That is correct. Even Eccleston's coolness couldn't save that script after they butchered it up so bad it looked a car after an accident. However it has been suggesting that he could sense that NuWho was starting to lose it and jumped ship. If he could do that, that ability deserted him when he chose to make the Dark is Rising.

[Big Orange]

^Ah well, at least it had a good trailer featuring that sweary bearded guy from Deadwood.

G.I Joe wasn't a very good movie, but was not on the same scale of fail as the headache inducingly bland, continuity raping X-Men Origins: Wolverine or the hugely tedious and just plain nasty Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. At least G.I. Joe was reasonably enjoyable if you looked past the unfortunate Hollywood physics (like the broken ice cap sinking into the ocean and superpowerful plasma pistols that somehow don't kill their users).

Anyway I don't think Christopher Eccleston left the show because he had a sixth sense, but supposedly because he doesn't have a particular emotional attachment to Doctor Who like David Tennant does, while Christopher on a more personal level perhaps felt that being in a TV production was more stressful or monotonous than being in a more truncated movie production (585+ minutes vs 90+ minutes). I don't sense any behind the scenes shit slinging, RTD worked with both actors before with one staying and one leaving, and I genuinely hope Christopher Eccleston has not burned his bridges when the inevitable multi-Doctor story crops up.