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Christopher Eccleston to return as Doctor Who in new audio adventures | Television & radio


The actor Christopher Eccleston is set to reprise his role as Doctor Who 15 years after he last played the Time Lord in a new series of audio adventures, it has been announced by BBC Studios. Big Finish will produce the stories.

Eccleston played the lead in the show alongside Billie Piper as his companion Rose when it was revived in 2005 under the stewardship of Russell T Davies.

Eccleston has been candid about how unhappy he was while working on the show, and in his acclaimed autobiography revealed that he was suffering from anorexia while making the programme. “People love the way I look in that series, but I was very ill,” he wrote. “The reward for that illness was the part. And therein lies the perpetuation of the whole sorry situation.”

While the character of the Ninth Doctor had continued to appear in spin-off media, Eccleston himself had until now declined to participate. Of all the then surviving actors to play the Doctor, Eccleston was the only one not to take part personally in some form in the special programming made for the show’s 50th anniversary in 2013.

However, in recent years, he had appeared to warm to the role again, appearing at conventions, prompting speculation that he might eventually return. Of his comeback in audio form, Eccleston said in a press release “After 15 years it will be exciting to revisit the Ninth Doctor’s world, bringing back to life a character I love playing.”

Big Finish’s chairman, Jason Haigh-Ellery, said: “I first talked to Christopher about returning to the role at a fan convention in February. He said he was enjoying meeting the fans and was pleased that his Doctor was remembered so fondly.”

Big Finish’s creative director, Nicholas Briggs, who voiced the Daleks opposite Eccleston on television, said, “Working with Chris was a very special time for me, the beginning of my Doctor Who TV career. So, writing for and directing him feels incredibly exciting. He’s such a powerful performer and it’ll be amazing to work with him again.”

Although Eccleston only played the Doctor for one series, many consider his performance in the role pivotal to the revival’s success. His dourly-dressed Northern-accented Time Lord was a flawed character scarred by genocidal war with the Daleks, and re-set expectations of what could be achieved with the part. The 2005 series paved the way to making David Tennant and Matt Smith’s Doctors mainstays of BBC One’s Saturday night family programming.

Fans will have to wait, however, to hear the Ninth Doctor in action again. Eccleston will star in 12 full-cast audio adventures to be released across four box sets on CD, download and vinyl, starting in May 2021.

Doctor Who will return to television with Jodie Whittaker in the role over Christmas with a one-off special titled Revolution of the Daleks.



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