Christopher Eccleston opens up about reprising Doctor Who role after 16 years: ‘It’s paid work’

Actor left the role after one season in 2005

Christopher Eccleston has opened up about the decision to reprise his Doctor Who role after 16 years.

The actor – who played the Doctor for a single series in 2005 – is set to return to the franchise as part of a series of audio dramas by production company Big Finish.

Speaking about the forthcoming project, Eccleston said he “always had a great love” for the character.

He added that when he had previously been approached to reprise the role, it was not “the right time because of various things about where I was in my personal life and professional life”.

The 57-year-old told Doctor Who Magazine that he had been impressed by the scripts that had been written for the audio drama, but stipulated that he accepted the job as an actor who needed “paid work”.

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“First of all, I mean, it’s not a fashionable thing to say and because we’re all English we don’t talk about these things, but I’m an actor and the way I pay my mortgage and support my children is by acting,” he said. “So it’s paid work.”

Eccleston was the first actor to portray the Doctor in the sci-fi drama's revival. The series also introduced Billie Piper's role as Rose Tyler.

The end of the season saw Eccleston’s Doctor regenerate with David Tennant taking over the reins for the second series in 2006.

The first of Big Finish’s Doctor Who audio dramas will be released in May 2021. 

It will see the Time Lord go up against Cybermen for the first time and team up with Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (played by Nicholas Courtney in the classic drama that spanned from 1963 to 1989.

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