Eccleston Didn't Enjoy Working on Doctor Who

[Logan Westbrook]

Eccleston Didn't Enjoy Working on Doctor Who

Christopher Eccleston talks about why he quit playing the Doctor after only a single season.

Playing the titular Time Lord in Doctor Who may seem like the best part in the world. Getting the chance to battle monsters and travel through time and space sounds like a pretty good way to make a living. But according to Christopher Eccleston, who played the ninth Doctor when the series rebooted in 2005 [http://www.amazon.com/Doctor-Who-Complete-Billie-Piper/dp/B000E41MS6/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1277736546&sr=8-7], the truth is far from the fantasy.

Speaking to the Radio Times [http://www.radiotimes.com/], Eccleston said that he didn't like the working conditions on set, which is what prompted him to leave. "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 Eccleston is quick to add that he doesn't want his departure from the show to be the focus. Instead, he feels that the fact he played Doctor 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."

Source: BBC [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment_and_arts/10312426.stm]


Permalink

 

[Balaxe]

I kind of thought it was weird that he only did one season but David Tennant did a much better job as the Doctor, so quitting early maybe wasn't a bad thing.

 

[Seventh Actuality]

He's handled the whole thing like a real gentleman...but I'm still not sure I can forgive him for leaving us with only one season of awesome and inflicting four years of David Tennant on us.

 

[DragonsAteMyMarbles]

I've heard the same things about Chris Barrie's departure from Red Dwarf. Plus I'd imagine there's a lot of pressure on the Doctor Who team to live up to expectations.

I enjoyed Eccleston's Doctor, but he probably did the right thing. If he'd stayed, he'd likely have gone down the Colin Baker road - they were in similar situations, but Baker stuck with it and there were times where his dislike for the working conditions showed in his performance.
Being put in that coat didn't help.

 

[Pegghead]

I've heard the same things about Chris Barrie's departure from Red Dwarf.

So that's why that happened, well that's unfortunate, if you can't already tell I thought Rimmer was the best character on that show.

I don't think I've ever seen an Eccleston episode (Try saying that five times fast) and I only got into the new series with David Tennant.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Forced to spend time listening to Davies, Piper and Barrowman? That must have been hell.
At least he's gone onto better things...like G.I.Joe...

 

[Booze Zombie]

I could imagine being The Doctor being very hard, you've got to live up to the legacy and you're just some actor, you're figuring "I don't want this pressure".

It's not so hard to imagine.

As for the things he said he didn't agree with, he didn't go into much detail, so other than pressure, I don't really know what would make him leave.

 

[Witty-Name]

I'd always been kind of suspicious that his departure after one year was part of the plan all along. The first series seemed to be structured in order to drip feed the core elements of the franchise to a new generation rather than overloading them with Doctor Who lore. Regeneration and the shift in tone from one Doctor to the next was probably the hardest sell of them all. It made sense to go for it early on rather than having Eccleston around for three or four years and having to explain regeneration when the show was more established.

As for difficulties on set, who knows? If he was unhappy on set, I'm happy for him that he left, just like I would be for anybody in the same situation with a regular job.

 

[Eri]

Shame really..He was probably my favorite.

 

[samsonguy920]

Shows his true character that he gave more than he got. I only had the opportunity to see a couple of his episodes, and I loved the energy he put into the character. Really made the thought of being the Doctor fun. Shame the dorks behind the camera have yet to realize what fun is.

 

[luvd1]

eccleston is ever the professional. I was surprised when he did the gig. He's not the sort of actor I would have thought who would have done the part.

 

[Niccolo]

I kind of thought it was weird that he only did one season but David Tennant did a much better job as the Doctor, so quitting early maybe wasn't a bad thing.

He's handled the whole thing like a real gentleman...but I'm still not sure I can forgive him for leaving us with only one season of awesome and inflicting four years of David Tennant on us.

The best thing is these two posts are directly after each other.

I liked Eccleston, but I preferred Tennant... the newer episodes (Past couple of seasons) have been pretty damn good.

 

[Frequen-Z]

Shame really..He was probably my favorite.

Yeah, most Who fans always have 'their' Doctor, one they prefer above all the others for various reasons, most people here see Tennant as their Doctor, Eccleston is mine. I do wonder how he would like working under Steven Moffat compared to RTD.

 

[Crazy_Bird]

Honestly I found Eccleston to be one of the worst doctors of the whole cannon.
David Tennant and Matt Smith do(did) a much better job in my opinion.

Though I wonder what was the cultural problem he was speaking about? Was it about peer pressure, a real cultural thing or Russel T Davies' ego?

 

[Macgyvercas]

I'm not surprised he thinks this after the way he was treated by Russell T Davies. Although I thought he played the 9th Doctor very very well, gritty and determined yet funny and spontaneous. I was touched when I heard he thought the letters he got form children meant a lot to him. That proves despite his reservations he acted like a professional and he was happy people enjoyed his preformance.

I'd love to see him team up with David Tennant and Matt Smith, that would make me explode from the awesome.

Add Paul McGann in the mix (8th Doctor). What would happen then?!?

OT: Basically what you said. RTD was not a very good director/writer. Steven Moffat all the freakin' way!

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

The "Doctor" will always be Tom Baker to me, but Matt Smith's catching up fast. Tennant rarely had the chance to properly shine.

 

[Mr Cwtchy]

I thought Eccleston's acting was alright, decent but nothing on Tennant's performance. I for one am glad he left so early, as we then had four glorious years of the Tenth Doctor

P.S. I find it ridiculous how people love shoving the blame on Davies, even on this topic. It seems he's the big scapegoat for the revived series. If you had an issue, even some minute cosmetic detail Davies had no part in, he's to shoulder the blame for it.

I think TVTropes says it best with this [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ScapegoatCreator], and partly this [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheyChangedItNowItSucks]. The rest of the haters seem to do it because it's the 'cool' thing to do.