Christopher Eccleston didn’t leave the TARDIS on the best of terms and now he’s revealed the extent of that breakdown between himself and the BBC.
Having previously commented on the irreconcilable creative differences between himself and former showrunner Russell T. Davies and becoming ‘blacklisted’ by the BBC because of the fallout from his eventual exit, Eccleston has now shared his grievance with the way the BBC handled his departure from the show.
Speaking candidly to Jo Whiley and Simon Mayo on BBC Radio 2 (via Digital Spy), Eccleston elaborated on just what happened at the end of his sole series of Doctor Who.
He said:
“I made an agreement that I would say nothing about my departure, and I honoured that, because I was looking after the production. And then the BBC issued a statement, they put a quote from me that they had written saying why I’d left, because I was tired, which any producer reading that [would think] ‘Well we won’t give Chris Eccleston a job because he gets tired’.”
Not one to back down, Eccleston threated to sue the Beeb.
He added:
“So I threatened legal action and I got an apology printed in all the newspapers. The BBC had to make a statement apologising for attributing quotes to me. Nobody will go on record as saying this but my agent said ‘You need to get out of town because you’re not going to work’.
“I kept my word and they didn’t keep their word, so I took them to court.”
Time Lord victorious…
Remind us not to get on the wrong side of the Ninth Doctor…
Doctor Who continues this Sunday with Kerblam! at 6:30 pm on BBC One.