10 Facts about Christopher Eccleston!

10 Facts about Christopher Eccleston

1. Born into a working class family in the Langworthy area of Pendleton, Christopher is the youngest of three boys born to Elsie and Ronnie Eccleston.

2. At the age of 19, he was inspired by television dramas such as ‘Boys from the Blackstuff’ to enter the acting profession. Christopher completed a two-year Performance Foundation Course at Salford Tech, before going on to train at the Hampstead-based Central School of Speech and Drama.

3. At the age of 25, Christopher made his professional stage debut in the Bristol Old Vic's production of A Streetcar Named Desire. Underemployed as an actor for some years after graduating school, Christopher took a variety of odd jobs at a supermarket, on building sites and as an artist's model.

4. On March 20th 2004, it was announced that Christopher was to play the ninth incarnation of The Doctor in the revival of the legendary BBC series ‘Doctor Who’, which began transmission on March 26th 2005.

5. Christopher was the first actor to play the role who was born after the series began in 1963.

6. On March 30th 2005, the BBC released a statement, saying that Christopher had decided to leave the role after just one series, because he was afraid of being “typecast”. On April 4th, the BBC revealed that Christopher’s "statement" was false and admitted that he only intended to do one series.

7. On 11 June 2005, during a BBC radio interview, he was asked if he had enjoyed working on ‘Doctor Who’, and he responded by saying, "Mixed, but that's a long story." Alan Davies told The Daily Telegraph that Christopher had been "overworked" by the BBC, and had left because he was "exhausted".

8. Christopher later told The Daily Mirror that what Alan had said was not true. In a 2011 interview, Christopher revealed that he left the show because he "didn't enjoy the environment that the cast and crew, had to work in", but that he was proud of having played the role.

9. On November 7th 2008, Russell T Davies said that Christopher’s contract was only for a single year because it was uncertain whether the show would continue beyond a single revival series

10. Christopher was voted "Most Popular Actor" at the 2005 National Television Awards for his portrayal of the Doctor.