Christopher Eccleston has admitted he’ll never work with former ‘Doctor Who’ showrunner Russell T Davies again, after things turned sour between the pair during their short-lived working relationship.
Last week the actor, who was cast as the Time Lord in 2005, claimed he had been blacklisted by the BBC when he left the sci-fi show after just one series, stating it “almost destroyed” his career.
Now, in a new interview with Radio Times, he explained just how unpleasant making the series was.
He told the magazine: “My relationship with my three immediate superiors – the showrunner, the producer and co-producer – broke down irreparably during the first block of filming and it never recovered. They lost trust in me, and I lost faith and trust and belief in them.”
Christopher added it made for a “very stressful” point in his career, admitting that some of his anger about the situation “came from my own insecurity.”
“They employed somebody [as the Doctor] who was not a natural light comedian,” he explained. “I think if you’re setting up a huge series like that the director has to be impeccable in setting the tone.
“Billie [Piper], who we know was and is brilliant, was very, very nervous and very, very inexperienced. So, you had that, and then you had me. Very, very experienced, possibly the most experienced on it, but out of my comfort zone.”
He said he is speaking out now because he “gave his word” to Russell T Davies “that I wouldn’t do anything to damage the show”.
He added: “But they did things to damage me. I didn’t criticise anybody. I didn’t issue a statement.”
When asked if he believed Davies was aware of the issues, he said: “If you’re the showrunner, you know everything. That’s your job.”
When pushed if he has a relationship with Davies any more, he responded: “No. I never will have.”
Since ‘Doctor Who’, Christopher has enjoyed success overseas, appearing in ‘Thor: The Dark World’ and in the dark HBO drama ‘The Leftovers’.
He has also appeared in several BBC productions, including one episode of the 2010 BBC anthology drama, ‘Accused’, for which he won an International Emmy.
More recently, he starred in the 2016 BBC drama ‘The A Word’, playing the grandfather to a seven-year-old boy with autism.
Read the full interview in this week’s Radio Times, out now. www.radiotimes.com
