Eccleston explains why he left Doctor Who

cython

Don't know that it warrants a thread of its own, but interesting interview with Eccleston about his departure from the role of the Ninth Doctor here

ECCLESTON EXPLAINS WHY HE LEFT DOCTOR WHO

JULY 20, 2011 ADMIN 10 COMMENTS
In an acting master class at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, Christopher Eccleston was asked why he left a such a high paid job as Doctor Who. He responded:

“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. So I left, I felt, over a principle.

“I thought to remain, which would have made me a lot of money and given me huge visibility, the price I would have had to pay was to eat a lot of ****. I’m not being funny about that. I didn’t want to do that and it comes to the art of it, in a way. I feel that if you run your career and– we are vulnerable as actors and we are constantly humiliating ourselves auditioning. But if you allow that to go on, on a grand scale you will lose whatever it is about you and it will be present in your work.

“If you allow your desire to be successful and visible and financially secure – if you allow that to make you throw shades on your parents, on your upbringing, then you’re knackered. You’ve got to keep something back, for yourself, because it’ll be present in your work. A purity or an idealism is essential or you’ll become– you’ve got to have standards, no matter how hard work that is. So it makes it a hard road, really.

“You know, it’s easy to find a job when you’ve got no morals, you’ve got nothing to be compromised, you can go, ‘Yeah, yeah. That doesn’t matter. That director can bully that prop man and I won’t say anything about it’. But then when that director comes to you and says ‘I think you should play it like this’ you’ve surely got to go ‘How can I respect you, when you behave like that?’

“So, that’s why I left. My face didn’t fit and I’m sure they were glad to see the back of me. The important thing is that I succeeded. It was a great part. I loved playing him. I loved connecting with that audience. Because I’ve always acted for adults and then suddenly you’re acting for children, who are far more tasteful; they will not be bull****ted. It’s either good, or it’s bad. They don’t schmooze at after-show parties, with cocktails.”

B.W reporter Martyn

The Mad Hatter

cython wrote: »

Don't know that it warrants a thread of its own, but interesting interview with Eccleston about his departure from the role of the Ninth Doctor here

<snip>

Yes, but will he do an Eleven Doctors story? ;P

popebenny16

The Mad Hatter wrote: »

Yes, but will he do an Eleven Doctors story? ;P

I was going to post a thread about this, but its in here now maybe for a little while...

this confrims what has been going round for years, intersting that he picks out a director, Keith Borak did the first production block of that series, and Phil Collinson almost had a nervous breakdown during it, so I always wondered if it was Phil he didnt get on with (chris was a big fan of RTD so cant be him) or Keith, who was if i am right, never asked back/didnt want to come back.

Incidently, Keith heads the list of "people who should be interviewed about Doctor Who bus never is" on some sites

pixelburp

popebenny16 wrote: »

I was going to post a thread about this, but its in here now maybe for a little while...

this confrims what has been going round for years, intersting that he picks out a director, Keith Borak did the first production block of that series, and Phil Collinson almost had a nervous breakdown during it, so I always wondered if it was Phil he didnt get on with (chris was a big fan of RTD so cant be him) or Keith, who was if i am right, never asked back/didnt want to come back.

Incidently, Keith heads the list of "people who should be interviewed about Doctor Who bus never is" on some sites

Well there were already rumours of bust-ups around the time of series 1's filming iirc, and yeah, it mostly all revolved around Keith Borak. There were rumours of re-shoots and stunt scenes messed up by him, and the end results were pretty subpar in any case ("Rose", the Slitheen episodes). So I wouldn't be surprised if an actor like Eccles had problems with Borak. Considering most of the high-level series 1 production team is gone, I don't see why Eccles wouldn't reconsider his decision for the 50th anniversary

Gambler

Interesting discussion so it's been moved it out to its own thread!

Doctor DooM

I was ragging on Ecclestone in the other thread for his dismissiveness but if he was simply unhappy because of how he was treated, I can't really fault him for it.


I am disappointed the potential hilarity of him being seeing what he will become will probably never happen I can see him staring in disgust at 10's theatrics and 11 falling over himself in my head