Christopher Eccleston on 'Doctor Who' exit: 'My conscience is clear'
Published May 24 2012, 16:44 BST | By Justin Harp
Christopher Eccleston has said that he feels justified in leaving Doctor Who after the first series.Eccleston has been largely tight-lipped about his time on Doctor Who since departing in 2005, but did reveal last year that he quit the show over "politics".
© BBC
© BBC
In a new interview with The Telegraph, the actor contended that he acted honourably in bowing out of the role after his brief tenure as the Ninth Doctor.
"I know what went on and the people who were involved know what went on - that's good enough for me," Eccleston said, adding: "My conscience is completely clear."
The actor continued: "I've lived my life, particularly my working life, on the basis that I have to be able to look at myself in the mirror about the way I behave. It wasn't a bold move, it was an entirely natural one.
"I'm hugely grateful to the children who to this day come up and talk to me about the show."
Eccleston has previously denied that he would return for Doctor Who's 50th anniversary in 2013 because he doesn't like revisiting his past work.
"I never bathe in the same river twice," he told Graham Norton last May.
Matt Smith's current incarnation of Doctor Who returns for its seventh series this autumn.
Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill will be leaving mid-series, to be replaced by Jenna-Louise Coleman as The Doctor's new companion.
Watch the Ninth Doctor's regeneration on Doctor Who below:
We've moved on, Chris. So should you.
June 5th 2012 at 8:44pm
We didn't, and haven't. He doesn't just ring up papers and say this stuff randomly. He was asked. And he will continue to be asked for the next 18 months while the 50th is going on.
June 8th 2012 at 7:56am
It is a shame he won't be back, as far as the story went, he portrayed the good doctor as an emotional disaster, very much like a survivor coming to grips with the fact that he was indeed alive. I think he was the darkest carnation of the doctor, and the most emotionally unstable. It's a low down dirty shame that he wont be inticed to come back and reprise that role.
May 30th 2012 at 8:44pm(+2 likes)
Christopher Eccleston was the right Doctor at the right time. He gave the revival credibility and his casting proved that Russell T. Davies was taking Doctor Who seriously. Considering the gritty nature of his previous work I found Eccleston to be a surprise, he was an excellent Doctor and I really wanted him to stay at least one more series. However he always struck me as an actor who likes to move from role to role ( remember his memorable exit from "Cracker"?) so I was honestly not surprised when he left, it just appears to have been for rather different reasons than we have been led to believe - and certainly not down to the BBC's assertion at the time that he basically couldn't hack the workload. It's his choice not to return for the 50th anniversary, but it's a missed opportunity and a bloody shame.
May 28th 2012 at 1:00am
Always felt that when he threatened people he could follow through on it...thought that might be down to him looking and acting as if he just came from Albert Square!
May 27th 2012 at 11:06pm
all he ever talks about is how he left i vote him as one of the worse doctors ever
May 27th 2012 at 3:36pm