Christopher Eccleston to reprise Doctor Who role for first time in 15 years

BBC
BBC

Christopher Eccleston will reprise his Doctor Who role in a new adventure, despite previously saying that he felt “abandoned, vilified and blacklisted” for leaving the show.

The A Word actor will return to the science fiction franchise in a new audio adventure spanning 12 episodes. Doctor Who: The Ninth Doctor Adventures will be released over four CD box sets, coming out in May 2021.

Speaking about his return to the role, Eccleston said: “After 15 years, it will be exciting to revisit the Ninth Doctor’s world, bringing back to life a character I love playing.”

Eccleston was the first actor to play the Doctor when the show returned to TV screens in 2005 under Russell T Davies’s helm.

Fans were surprised to hear that 56-year-old Eccleston would be returning to the role, having previously shown no desire to play the Doctor again due to his time on the show’s first season.

Asked if he had enjoyed his time on Doctor Who during a 2005 interview, Eccleston described the experience as “mixed, but that’s a long story”.

In 2018 he explained further: “What happened around Doctor Who almost destroyed my career... I gave them a hit show and I left with dignity and then they put me on a blacklist. I was carrying my own insecurities as it was something I had never done before and then I was abandoned, vilified in the tabloid press and blacklisted.”

Eccleston was replaced on Doctor Who by David Tennant, who stayed on the show from 2005 to 2010.

All of the actors to play the Doctor in recent years, including Tennant, Matt Smith, Peter Capaldi and Jodie Whittaker, have reprised the character for audiobooks.