Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Christopher Eccleston talks about Doctor Who exit



Actor Christopher Eccleston quit Doctor Who after one series because he "didn't enjoy the environment and the culture" of the show.
Eccleston, who is about to star in BBC Four biopic Lennon Naked, took on the role of the Time Lord when Russell T Davies revamped Doctor Who in 2005.
He told the Radio Times he was proud of the show but "wasn't comfortable" working on it.
"I think it's more important to be your own man than be successful, so I left."
Eccleston, the ninth Doctor announced he was leaving after just one series to be replaced by David Tennant.
"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 the 46-year-old said the fact that he played the Doctor - and not that he had quit - 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."

4 comments:

Helen said...

I wish I knew what he meant....

I know he's a serious ACTOR, but I just don't understand this.

So's David FFS, and he had a ball!

Must be an attitude thing. If you're determined to enjoy yourself, you will.

Anyway, we all know David's a total fanboy, which helped...

Anonymous said...

Hi, whogal sent me for a look, I'm liking what I've seen so far.

I find CE's comments odd too. it's a strange time to be talking about it for one thing. Of course the cynic in me thinks he's said this just to get some publicity, but that might be doing him a disservice.

If you look at his career overall though, there's not much episodic TV work, perhaps he just doesn't like that style of working?

Fran said...

develish1: Thank you for checking the blog out. I'm glad you are enjoying it. CE is known for his ability to convey deep, even dark emotions hidden inside a troubled character. He is superb at it, no doubt about it, but he certainly doesn't think of himself as 'television material', which is a shame, specially when it comes to DW... So yeah, his comments are incredibly odd. They seem very disconnected with what he said back when he quit the show.

Helen: Hello, again! :)
David did have a ball, and you can tell, and that made him one of the best (if not the best) Doctors ever. The fact that he is a fan also helps... He knew how to create a whole new persona whilst staying true to the character.

Anonymous said...

forgot you call yourself Helen over here, lol. Hi Helen.

I think you're both right about DT, he's a fanboy, and it showed in his performance. But then, I am a DT addict.

Oh and Fran, please call me Dev, far easier to type.