Christopher Eccleston says Doctor Who ruined his acting career
By Shawn Lealos
Christopher Eccleston served as the ninth Doctor on Doctor Who but he recently said in an interview that the hit BBC show ruined his career.
Christopher Eccleston had a great career before he starred as the ninth Doctor. With appearances in movies such as Shallow Grave, Elizabeth, eXistenZ, Gone in 60 Seconds and The Others, he had built a nice body of work. Then, in 2005, Eccleston signed on for Doctor Who.
The stint on Doctor Who only lasted for 13 total episodes before Christopher Eccleston left the show due to what was described as a disagreement on the direction of the series. However, thanks to the dispute between Eccleston and the producers, the actor told The Guardian that they blacklisted him from getting future jobs.
“I gave them a hit show and I left with dignity and then they put me on a blacklist,” Eccleston said.
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He then went on to say that he had some of his own insecurities, but then the British film producers abandoned him and vilified him in the tabloids. Eccleston went on to say that his agent told him that he had been blacklisted in Britain and he needed to work out of the country.
After Doctor Who, Eccleston got some roles in the United States, including huge roles in movies like G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra as Destro and Thor: The Dark World as Malekith the Accursed.
While Eccleston said that the Doctor Who producers in Britain blacklisted him, he was outspoken about his distaste for those two blockbuster roles, making one wonder if there is more to it than that. In the same interview, he said appearing in those two Hollywood blockbusters made him feel like a “whore.”
There is also the fact that the disagreement between Christopher Eccleston and the Doctor Who producers was so bad that he refused to even return for a cameo in the 50th-anniversary special. This is despite appearing on a podcast back in 2017 where he said that he regretted that he didn’t play the Doctor longer, saying he would have improved in the second season.
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While Doctor Who fans might have missed Christopher Eccleston when he left the show, his departure brought in David Tennant, which was a marked improvement in quality.
Jodie Whittaker debuts as the 13th Doctor this fall.