Christopher Eccleston talks more about Doctor Who

[frelling_tralk]

Christopher Eccleston says he “lost faith and trust and belief” in Doctor Who bosses while filming

After recently claiming he was “blacklisted” by the BBC after leaving Doctor Who, former Ninth Doctor Christopher Eccleston has now revealed more about the tensions he felt on set during filming for the sci-fi series

Comments

[honeymink]

This one person on a message person I infrequently post at claims that RTD always wanted Tennant and Eccleston was always meant to be a "transition" Doctor and never the real thing or something? I don't know where he got that from though.

So the source of this snippet was a 'Radio Times' interview?

I'm sad to hear he had such a bad experience with the show. I've been casually re-watching New Who and I must say that that first season with him and Piper still has so many of my favourite episodes.

[frelling_tralk]

Hmm interesting, I can definitely see CE feeling letdown if it did somehow come out that RTD only saw him as a transition Doctor. They both precisely spoke so highly of one another in the press though, so I was actually very surprised to hear Chris saying that things with RTD were so tense from early on

And I really enjoyed the first season as well, it had such strong character arcs for both Rose and the Doctor

[domluver]

That makes me so sad because now I enjoy his episodes a lot more then Tennant's. That sucks that he was treated that way because he would've been amazing in more seasons.

[frelling_tralk]

I did as well, while the rest of the fandom fell in love with the Tenth Doctor, he was always a bit too hipster cool for me tbh

[domluver]

True, I like Rose/Ten more than I do Rose/Nine but I really started to dislike Ten after a while. I've reverted to Nine as being my NuWho Doctor.

[author_by_night]

It honestly doesn't surprise me whenever something like this happens. There's probably at least a little bit of drama behind the scenes of almost everything we love.

It sucks for Eccleston, though. I had heard a long time ago he just didn't know what he was getting into; then something closer to what you thought. Sounds like it was maybe somewhere in between, where he knew what he was getting into, but obviously didn't realize he'd be treated badly (because no one should expect that).

[frelling_tralk]

I know that everyone involved talked about not being prepared for the production demands and the long hours in the beginning, I seem to remember a friend of CE’s commenting at the time that Chris was very overworked and having health flare ups because of all the night shoots. Obviously the later actors did benefit from the lessons learned early on about just how much work 13 episodes would entail, thus bringing in the tradition of one Doctor-lite episode each season.

I suppose that RTD felt under a lot of pressure when he was the one responsible for bringing back a British institution and making a success of it, so perhaps there was a tendency to be unsympathetic and brush off any issues being raised with the workload or whatever, when they were already stressed out about being behind?

[lovepollution]

It always make me sad that he had such a rubbish experience on the show since he's my favourite Doctor.

The above idea honeymink posted about CE being used as something of a temporary Doctor actually makes a lot of sense as to why he would have been unhappy. If he we think he was never told that and went in thinking he was truly wanted for the role, but then found out they wanted DT, that coupled with his insecurities could've made for an unhappy working environment (not to mention the alleged over working of cast and crew). CE certainly seems someone who would think, "Fine, you want someone else, you can have them." and finish off after 1 series because of it.

[frelling_tralk]

Yeah I’m not sure what to think, but I do remember that RTD did seem to have DT in mind *very* quickly after CE was confirmed to be quitting, and there was all the talk of how much he loved him in Casanova, so I wouldn’t be shocked if DT was secretly his first choice. I recall that CE explicitly said at the time that he knew he would never be thought of for the part, so he was the one who originally contacted RTD and really pushed for it. Idk maybe it was the BBC who favoured him over the more or less unknown DT and forced RTD’s hand, it did legitimatise DW in a lot of people’s eyes once a ~serious~ actor was attached to the project.

[rogueslayer452]

I always felt sad that Christopher Eccleston only had one season as the Doctor. He was my first introduction to the Doctor, and will always remain my Doctor (I loved Nine/Rose so much, their interactions were adorable and endearing). He was so delightful and wonderful, he embodied the character fantastically. Reading about the troubles he had with not just the BBC (esp with them blacklisting him) but also production of the show and clashing with RTD makes his departure even more devastating. I feel like, had things been different, his run on the show could've been marvelous. And RTD/BBC just mistreated him like that and it makes me so, so sad on his behalf. He deserved better than that. :(

[frelling_tralk]

I totally agree, it always seems like his Doctor (and Nine/Rose as well) were very much overshadowed by what came later with most viewers immediately preferring DT’s more youthful Doctor, but I’ve always had a soft spot for the first season. I loved the character arcs for Rose and the Doctor, and how they both came into the others lives when they most needed it. It is tough to know how badly things were handled behind the scenes