Christopher Eccleston has had a long road of private and publicly processing his time on Doctor Who—for many years, the actor simply refused to talk about why, having helped turn the series into a sensation when it returned in 2005, he left and never looked back. But, while still largely reserved, Eccleston is now more open about his experience than ever—and clearer about what it’d take for him to return.
The brusque actor went viral this week after a brief moment from a panel conducted with his Doctor Who co-star Billie Piper at the For the Love of Sci-Fi convention in Manchester, England, earlier this month. With Doctor Who itself back on screens for its 60th anniversary, and with Eccleston’s own successor David Tennant back in the TARDIS, naturally the actor was asked about his own potential to return to Doctor Who on TV anytime soon. His list of requests was..., well, see for yourself:
“Sack Russell T Davies. Sack Jane Tranter. Sack Phil Collinson. Sack Julie Gardner. And I’ll come back. So can you arrange that?”
Quite the ask, considering all four of those people are currently making Doctor Who again. But also a brutally understandable one, given Eccleston’s prior opening up about his time on Doctor Who. Multiple times in the past the actor has discussed how his working relationship with the production team on season one of Who’s revival broke down and never recovered, as well as the mental health struggles he was facing while filming. After slowly opening himself back up to the franchise publicly in the last few years—it’s only been in the last few years that Eccleston would really talk about Doctor Who again, let alone attend conventions—the constant question of his potential return makes his honesty a necessity.
Plus, it’s not like Eccleston has no love for his time as the Doctor, or the character he developed at all. The actor has made a grand return as the Ninth Doctor on audio for Big Finish—a relationship he’s happy to continue, in his own trademark style. When asked if he’d ever work alongside Billie Piper again for the audio producer, Eccleston added “Depends on the money! I’ve got a mortgage. Billie’s got a mortgage. Big Finish, it’s up to you.”
So there’s plenty of opportunities for Eccleston’s return in some ways—just don’t expect it on TV any time soon.
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