Hello to Nine
Christopher Eccleston unpacks a bold new Doctor in RT’s Doctor Who launch supplement
BBC/Big Finish
- Christopher Middleton
This article was published in RT in March 2005 and is part of our digital Doctor Who anniversary bookazine — click here to download it for free.
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Why did you take the role?
I’ve always seen myself as a niche actor, who’s been in dramas that have been critically acclaimed but have never got big audiences. A journalist once told me the roles I played were “comfort food for liberals”, and I guess there was some truth in that — I let him out of the room alive, anyway! People are always telling me I’m too gloomy and can’t do comedy — so taking a part in Doctor Who is a gamble, and I find that exciting. It could sink my career, or take it to another level.
Describe your Doctor.
He’s childlike, contradictory, brutal to his enemies, and constantly restless and inquisitive.
Billie Piper as Rose Tyler, Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor, and John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness. BBC
What’s the Doctor’s relationship with his new companion Rose?
He loves her, simple as that. And she loves him. They’re very similar, Rose and the Doctor: both carry a sense of loneliness. He allows her freedom — he’s always encouraging her to experience things — but he expects a great deal of her, too. He’s constantly telling her, “If you want to travel with me, don’t become a burden.”
How did you feel about doing so many blue-screen scenes, where you had to react to monsters and effects that you couldn’t see?
I loved it. The great thing about acting is that you’re allowed to behave like a child in terms of playing imaginary games. You can see blue-screen scenes as murder to play, or else you can view them as a challenge. The trick is to find fresh ways of exploring the moment, and offer up a variety of takes. I mean, that’s the job, isn’t it?
I hope Doctor Who will be watched by children and adults together
Christopher Eccleston
Do you feel cheated that your Doctor hasn’t got a trademark scarf or hat?
Right from the start, I wanted to take on the challenge of playing an alien character without the benefit of any frills or extravagant costume; I felt I didn’t need Billy Connolly’s banana shoes and a feather boa to make the point. I liked the idea of him having a beaten-up leather jacket. I spotted a line in one of the early scripts that described the jacket as the kind of thing Terence Stamp would wear after a day’s work on a market stall. Well, they didn’t get Terence Stamp, they got me — Plug from the Bash Street Kids.
Does this show have lower status than your previous work because it’s aimed at children?
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Not at all. The eight-year-olds are the ones I want to reach! An adult probably won’t have their life changed by watching a TV programme, whereas a child will. What I really hope, though, is that Doctor Who will be watched by children and adults together. I remember when I was little, there was something uniquely revealing about watching TV with my mum, dad and two brothers. I was astonished at the way two working-class lads like my brothers just loved the surrealism in Monty Python. If we can get that sort of thing going on, that would be the ideal result for me.
Authors
Christopher Middleton
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