Eccleston: "Doctor Who Almost Destroyed My Career"

[The Nth Doctor]

More insights from Eccleston, this time with Radio Times.

“My relationship with my three immediate superiors – the showrunner, the producer and co-producer – broke down irreparably during the first block of filming and it never recovered,” Eccleston says in the latest issue of Radio Times.

“They lost trust in me, and I lost faith and trust and belief in them,” he continues.
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“Some of my anger about the situation came from my own insecurity,” he says. “They employed somebody [as the Doctor] who was not a natural light comedian.”

He adds, “Billie [Piper], who we know was and is brilliant, was very, very nervous and very, very inexperienced. So, you had that, and then you had me. Very, very experienced, possibly the most experienced on it, but out of my comfort zone.”
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“When I left, I gave my word to [then-showrunner] Russell T Davies that I wouldn’t do anything to damage the show,” he says. “But they did things to damage me. I didn’t criticise anybody.”​

This is more than I ever expected to read from Eccleston.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

EMH, you left out the most interesting bit!

Asked if Davies was aware of the issues, Eccleston says, “If you’re the showrunner, you know everything. That’s your job,” adding that he “never will have” a working relationship with the screenwriter again.

I had caught wind of this a few years ago, that Eccleston and Davies had a complete breakdown in their working relationship by the end of the production (with Phil Collinson basically ferrying messages between them), and that they have no relationship now.

I can't fathom why Eccleston is speaking about this now, unless he's finally had it with being asked about why he left Doctor Who in interview after interview.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Oh, damn. I thought I included that part. Thanks for catching that.

We (the general public) have heard whispers of the dissolution of their working relationship but this pretty much confirms it, doesn't it? A real shame considering Eccleston did the show because of Davies.

I can't fathom why Eccleston is speaking about this now, unless he's finally had it with being asked about why he left Doctor Who in interview after interview.

Yeah, I've been scratching my head on that point as well. He's been so carefully mum about the whole topic for more than a decade now. I feel like "I'm tired of that question" isn't enough of an answer, but I'm not in his shoes, so what do I know?

 

[Nightowl1701]

'During the first block of filming' was July-October 2004, when Episodes 1-6 were shot pretty much simultaneously. So it sounds like things went to shit basically from day one, with Eccleston either unable or unwilling to play the Doctor the way RTD and the BBC wanted - that is, the way Tennant would eventually play him.

 

[The Wormhole]

'During the first block of filming' was July-October 2004, when Episodes 1-6 were shot pretty much simultaneously. So it sounds like things went to shit basically from day one,

The first filming block was a disaster, RTD pretty much admits as much in The Writer's Tale. This was a whole new show completely different from anything anyone involved in production had ever worked on, which resulted in delays and all sorts of problems. The show went completely off the rails practically right away, RTD himself has already admitted this.

 

[Starkers]

They should have just got Hugh Grant...

To be honest my take on this hasn't really changed. There were problems on the production side clearly, but Eccleston seemed to take things very personally. I get it, he's quite a serious actor, and he was dealing with some personal stuff which can't have helped. Clearly the BBC treated Eccleston shabbily to some extent, but this whole blacklisting thing? Anyone who's been on this forum for any length of time knows I'm not always RTD's biggest fan, but he's never struck me as some kind of malevolent Weinstein level control freak.

 

[ATimson]

Clearly the BBC treated Eccleston shabbily to some extent, but this whole blacklisting thing? Anyone who's been on this forum for any length of time knows I'm not always RTD's biggest fan, but he's never struck me as some kind of malevolent Weinstein level control freak.

I agree that RTD probably wouldn't have tried to get CE blacklisted - but that doesn't mean that someone else higher up at the BBC didn't do so.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

Maybe the BBC in general thought it was douchy of him to walk out of the show before it even launched? Basically abandoning it mid-ship.

 

[Jedman67]

Maybe the BBC in general thought it was douchy of him to walk out of the show before it even launched? Basically abandoning it mid-ship.

This kind of thing does happen in the industry. To take it out on Eccelston personally is a bit douchy for the BBC.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

This kind of thing does happen in the industry. To take it out on Eccelston personally is a bit douchy for the BBC.

The very institution that sacked Colin Baker from the show, you mean?

 

[The Wormhole]

Maybe the BBC in general thought it was douchy of him to walk out of the show before it even launched? Basically abandoning it mid-ship.

This kind of thing does happen in the industry. To take it out on Eccelston personally is a bit douchy for the BBC.

There was the initial press release from BBC announcing Eccleston's departure which said he left the show out of fear of being typecast. Which was not true, and Eccleston put in an official complaint about them reporting false news. Considering BBC prides itself on not lying to the audience, this seems an odd move to make, and even putting that aside, misreporting why an actor is leaving a show, particularly if the are the lead, is never a good idea, intentional or unintentionally. I'll admit, with all this talk of blacklisting and moustache-twirling, the conspiracy theorist part of my brain is wondering if this could have been some sort of vain attempt by the BBC to try and sabotage Eccleston?

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

I love that the BBC was so mad about them being revealed to be liars (which any smart thinking person knows that they are), that they'd put their frustrations out on this one actor. Hilarious, but as it seems not far off removed from reality.

 

[Steve Roby]

While I think Eccleston was frequently great at being the Doctor, and usually at least good, in the first episode or two there were definitely moments where he was visibly out of his comfort zone. I mean, look at Cracker, Jude, Shallow Grave, or for that matter Second Coming, which he did with RTD, and what you don't see is a light comedy guy. He's great at serious, intense, tortured, and he certainly got to play those in his year as the Doctor, but it took a little while for the lighter stuff to feel natural. It's too bad that things fell apart the way they did because I wish he could have done more and I wish he could feel comfortable with being a part of things now, be it anniversary specials or Big Finish.

 

[Nightowl1701]

A BF audio arc picking up immediately post-regeneration, with Nine more-than-half-crazed with grief/guilt and only slowly coming around to where we saw him in 'Rose' (probably not even using the Doctor name himself at first, and refusing to face himself in any mirror) would likely be right up his alley. If he could be talked into it.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

I guess BF now have a bit more ammunition to persuade his ego. Letting him portray the character closer to his original intention.

 

[Photoman15]

It puts suspect to the claim that he ALWAYS was intended as a one series Doctor. That was the "story" when it was announced he was leaving. A made up one, it seems if the problems began with the first filming block.

 

[Timby]

I love that the BBC was so mad about them being revealed to be liars (which any smart thinking person knows that they are), that they'd put their frustrations out on this one actor. Hilarious, but as it seems not far off removed from reality.

The ghoulish concept that complaining about poor working conditions is somehow "whiny" is, sadly, not unique to people on the Internet.

 

[Jedman67]

The very institution that sacked Colin Baker from the show, you mean?

What does Baker have to do with anything?

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

It puts suspect to the claim that he ALWAYS was intended as a one series Doctor. That was the "story" when it was announced he was leaving. A made up one, it seems if the problems began with the first filming block.

Certainly RTD made use of it in a lot of interviews of his. But if he really was, why the hurried hire of Tennant as the Doctor?

 

[The Wormhole]

A BF audio arc picking up immediately post-regeneration, with Nine more-than-half-crazed with grief/guilt and only slowly coming around to where we saw him in 'Rose' (probably not even using the Doctor name himself at first, and refusing to face himself in any mirror)

Could we please stop with the literal interpretation of the scene in Rose meaning this is the first time the Doctor has seen his face? RTD has explained it wasn't his intent, why do people still insist on it?