News Christopher Eccleston opens up about why he left the show...and why he didn't return

[The Nth Doctor]

At the NYCC yesterday, Christopher Eccleston talked about why he left Doctor Who and why he didn't return for the 50th anniversary despite praising Moffat's work during his solo season.

Why he left:

I left only because of those three individuals and the way they were running the show. I loved playing the character. I felt I was going to play the Doctor my way and I wasn’t going to get involved with those politics and that wasn’t workable, so off I went. I became the invisible man.
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io9 conjectures that he's presumably referring to showrunner Russell T. Davies, and executive producers Julie Gardner and Phil Collinson.

Why he didn't return:

When I read it, I felt that it was basically myself, Matt and Dave riffing off the fact that we used to be the Doctors. I personally didn’t feel like the narrative was strong enough, particularly for the Ninth Doctor because I’d taken quite a lot of abuse in my own country when I left.

As the show was being celebrated I was being abused in the press and that was hard to take and very confusing. So I looked at it and I thought is this really the way I want to come back and I decided it wasn’t. There were other factors, political factors.
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Considering what we've slowly learned about that first season and the development of the 50th anniversary, I'm not at all surprised by Eccleston's comments about his perspective of those two events.

I'm relieved that he's opening up about his experiences (along with his recent admissions about struggling with his mental health), as well as finally going to conventions so he can talk to fans about the role he loved performing despite the issues he had during that time.

 

[yotsuya]

I loved his Doctor and was disappointed when he left. I still don't get what his problem was. Sounds like a personality conflict. I wish he'd come back for at least one moment in the 50th... to finish the regeneration scene. And maybe a cool first line. Some actors, as good as they are, aren't cut out for certain roles or productions. They had to rehire for Janeway when they were doing the Voyager pilot because the first actress didn't work out. That happens more than we often realize. That Chris did the entire first season before bowing out was fantastic considering the issues he was having.

 

[STEPhon IT]

Being abused by the press is puzzling for me; I thought the press was respectful to him when he did Doctor Who and putting it on the map in taking it seriously. I do recall there were criticism of his other project he was involved in, the summer movie "G.I.Joe". A marginal successful movie but had mixed reviews when released.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Being abused by the press is puzzling for me; I thought the press was respectful to him when he did Doctor Who and putting it on the map in taking it seriously. I do recall there were criticism of his other project he was involved in, the summer movie "G.I.Joe". A marginal successful movie but had mixed reviews when released.

I think he was talking about in the intervening years after doing Doctor Who and how it was sometimes critical of him about not talking about why he left, etc. Eccleston has always been a very private person and I definitely got the sense that the press hounded him a lot about why he left.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

The UK tabloid media are some of the worst on the planet, i am sure everyone remembers its personal dislike of Davidson when he took over as the Dr, and within weeks they were labeling him the wet vet, which they then proceeded to repeat ad nsuaum, but as a rule of thumb if a UK tabloid tell you the sun is bright you should always check for yourself.

 

[The Wormhole]

I think he was talking about in the intervening years after doing Doctor Who and how it was sometimes critical of him about not talking about why he left, etc. Eccleston has always been a very private person and I definitely got the sense that the press hounded him a lot about why he left.

Also, I gather he got sick of every interviewer wanting to talk about Doctor Who back in 2013. Indeed, when he did interviews to promote Thor, he made it a rule he didn't want any Doctor Who questions.

 

[ClayinCA]

^That was true of when he was doing Heroes as well. Of course, at that time, he had only just left Doctor Who, so it's even more understandable that he didn't want to talk about it.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

If anyone is interested, I just happened to stumble on Eccleston's entire panel at NYCC. It's definitely worth watching whole thing:

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[Professor Zoom]

That's a great interview.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

A couple of points of interest that really stood out to me:

• The number of fans reaching out to Eccleston with their own history or family history with mental health is heartening. This is precisely why I love it when celebrities open up about their own experiences with mental health. It really helps those people who think they're alone with their struggles with it. I thought it was especially wonderful how Eccleston warmly recieved their comments and questions about it and responded with such empathy.
• The media didn't focus on this point (shocking) but Eccleston had a lot of praise for the final script for "Day of the Doctor" and how it utilized John Hurt as The War Doctor. It seemed clear to me that he really much preferred that version over the one that was offered to him, even if it meant that he wasn't involved. I think he's open to returning if the right script comes along and properly uses The Ninth Doctor. I really like the moderator's suggestion of him teaming up with Jodie.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

It stands to reaosn that the early version of Day that Eccleston is aware of is one of the early versions that Moffat had written when he wasn't sure of anything regarding the special. He had the basic idea and plot, but a lot of character mechanics and what not were still up in the air and he probably wasn't convinced from what he saw at the time. And he needed convincing, which Tennant, a die-hard fanboy, clearly didn't.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I'm back! I was in the hospital for a week, been recuperating, and am now getting back up to speed.

Facebook Memories tells me that, on this day in 2013, the BBC started releasing promo pictures of "Day of the Doctor," since I was geeking out big time over pictures of John Hurt with Tennant and Smith and hoping that Moffat would make some sort of Merlin reference in the episode.

I would not have geeked out anywhere near as much with pictures of Eccleston with Tennant and Smith. That's not a slight on Eccleston -- the script, as filmed, was written for him and barely rewritten to accommodate another actor (the forest scene, the "it must be recent for you" dialogue, and Clara's observation about the eyes are the most obvious scenes written for Eccleston) -- I just always wanted John Hurt as the Doctor. I'd take Hurt as the Doctor in a flawed story over Eccleston as the Doctor in a perfect story every single day.

I don't know what was in the script Eccleston read, but I think he's right about the narrative. I've spent more time thinking about "Day" over the years, and I have increasingly thought it's a really messy episode narratively. It hangs together better than many of Moffat's puzzle box stories, but some of the story mechanics make no sense at all (escaping the painting, which makes perfect sense if you don't think about it and no sense if you do) and neither the tenth Doctor nor the War Doctor have great narrative arcs. I think I'm being charitable saying the tenth Doctor has a narrative arc (his storyline exists to explain the episode's inciting incident, but he himself doesn't do anything of significance), and the War Doctor has no consistent characterization.

I'm glad that Eccleston liked the episode as aired and thought Hurt did a good job in the role. I hadn't considered a Nine/Thirteen multi-Doctor story, but I can see possibilities there. (Eleven/Thirteen has more psychological depth -- the Doctor who knows he's the last, meeting a Doctor after him -- though I'd also welcome a comedy episode of River Song juggling a double date with Eleven and Thirteen while trying very hard to keep them from meeting.)

 

[Starkers]

Glad you're back @Allyn Gibson whatever was the reason for your hospital stay I hope it's sorted

And 11/12/13 story would be ace. I like the idea of 11 being the grumpy old man of the group.

11 meets 13. "I finally get to be a girl, excellent."

12 steps out from behind a tree. "Don't get too excited, you've got to get through me first."

As for Eccleston, I don't know, I've given it a lot of thought over the years, and obviously read a fair bit about it, and a lot of the stuff that happened did seem pretty shitty, but I also think some of the stuff was the kind of crap most actors have to deal with from time to time. It's clear he has suffered with mental health issues and I think it's probably a given that he tries to steer clear of environments he thinks may be stressful now. In a way it's a shame he has to.

It still surprises me that he had issues with RTD given he must have had a pretty clear idea of how the man worked when they made Second Coming but I guess at that point the process of making such a budget/effects heavy TV show was kinda new to all concerned.