Eccleston comments on 50th anniversary special return

Discussion in 'Doctor Who' started by Samurai8472, Nov 29, 2012.

  1. Nagisa Furukawa

    Nagisa Furukawa Commander Red Shirt

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    Sorry, but the snippet you chose was very out-of-context when the whole quote is put together. Yes, he loved working for children and yes, he loved playing the Doctor for a generation of kids, but the cocktail parties thing is NOT a general statement about working for adults (why would it?? most adults don't attend cocktail parties regularly), but a callback to him specifically complaining about the media culture of those who ran the show.

    Here it is:

     
  2. DalekJim

    DalekJim Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Yeah, I wouldn't call Keith Boak a "senior" person at the BBC. He's obviously referring to Collinson and RTD. Boak would have had no influence on the "culture that had grown up around the series".
     
  3. Nagisa Furukawa

    Nagisa Furukawa Commander Red Shirt

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    Since she was an executive producer, I'd also assume Julie Gardner is part of the "senior people" group that he had problems with.
     
  4. VDCNI

    VDCNI Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    It could just as easily mean media people he's dealt with in the past, as he says - he's always acted for adults in the past and had to put up with bullshit and cocktail parties.

    There's no specific reference in it to anyone. None of us actually know what happened but most of us also aren't desperate to jump to conclusions.
     
  5. DalekJim

    DalekJim Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    I don't think it's jumping to conclusions at all. Eccleston says he left because he didn't get on with any of the senior people.

    Davies, Collinson and Gardner were the senior people.
     
  6. Nagisa Furukawa

    Nagisa Furukawa Commander Red Shirt

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    No one's jumping to conclusions; we're speculating. And besides, Eccleston himself said, "I left Doctor Who because I could not get along with the senior people. I left because of politics. I did not see eye-to-eye with them. I didn’t agree with the way things were being run. I didn’t like the culture that had grown up around the series." If that later cocktail comment is about generic media people and not the specific senior people of DW who he had a problem with then the quote makes absolutely no sense in the full context.
     
  7. DalekJim

    DalekJim Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    So, now that the "senior people" he had an issue with are gone it's more likely he'd come back.

    Personally though, I think he'd rather just move on and not relive that part of his career.
     
  8. VDCNI

    VDCNI Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Nope it makes perfect sense.
     
  9. DalekJim

    DalekJim Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    It makes perfect sense if you ignore the context completely and fill in the gaps in the narrative with your own romanticised ideas about how the British media works.
     
  10. VDCNI

    VDCNI Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    I work in the British media thanks so I know exactly how it works thanks and yes all that stuff happens but none of the three people you're happy to smear have that reputation which is why I'm not simply going to assume Ecclestone's vague comments refer to them.
     
  11. Mr Awe

    Mr Awe Vice Admiral Admiral

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    No, senior people in this context would not include the media. Media are neither senior nor subordinate to an actor. They're external people that are not in the chain at all. It's clearly senior BBC people. It's got to include RTD. If RTD and Eccleston were in agreement about how things should be run on the show, the other senior BBC wouldn't have mattered.

    Mr Awe
     
  12. VDCNI

    VDCNI Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    You do realise that media people would also include TV executives, producers etc. Media doesn't just mean journalists.
     
  13. Lonemagpie

    Lonemagpie Writer Admiral

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    RTD didn't run the BBC - he was senior person in DW, not senior at the BBC...
     
  14. VDCNI

    VDCNI Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Exactly - it's clear from The Writers Tale that senior BBC execs get involved in the series. RTD is none to complimentary about them at times.
     
  15. DalekJim

    DalekJim Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Eccleston has done work for the BBC since leaving Doctor Who (That Lennon thing!) so it's safe to say his beef was entirely with the Doctor Who producers.

    Just my two pence..
     
  16. VDCNI

    VDCNI Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Because no one else at the BBC could have moved on by then.

    And of course a BBC4 one off is going to get the same level of focus from BBC execs as a high budget BBC1 drama isn't it.
     
  17. Nagisa Furukawa

    Nagisa Furukawa Commander Red Shirt

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    Neither of us have smeared anyone. I don't have any personal beef with anyone at the BBC or who worked on DW in 2005. We're simply commenting on the fact that Eccleston (not EcclestonE) said he left because he didn't get on with "the senior people." The senior people on DW were RTD and Gardner, the executive producers (and Mal Young for S1). Ergo, he left because he didn't get along with them. No reputations are being smeared, no judgments have been made by us at the way RTD and co. run their business or treat their employees, all we're doing is discussing the fact that an actor didn't like working for his bosses and how that affects the show we all like to watch. Christ Almighty.
     
  18. DalekJim

    DalekJim Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Eccleston really doesn't like RTD and Phil Collinson. Just... trust me on this ;) [/Altenate Pete Tyler].

    Which is fine. Loads of people don't like their boss. It doesn't reflect badly on them (Or their boss!) at all.
     
  19. Nagisa Furukawa

    Nagisa Furukawa Commander Red Shirt

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    And how can I do that FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE?!?!
     
  20. DalekJim

    DalekJim Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    I'll always thank that 2-parter for making Silver Nemesis look like Tomb of the Cybermen in comparison.