(BBC)
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20 years. It’s been 20 years because the BBC resurrected Physician Who, and the Physician and their companions have been on numerous historic and intergalactic adventures since. The present Physician, Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth, has introduced the present into a brand new period of distribution and storytelling—that’s why his first season is usually known as season 1 quite than season 14—however we will’t neglect in regards to the man who kick-started all of it: Christopher Eccleston.
Although David Tennant’s Tenth and Matt Smith’s Eleventh Physician are mostly cherished and praised, Christopher Eccleston’s Ninth was the one who revitalized Physician Who for the NuWho period, and he did so with plain wit, appeal, and humor. Earlier than I began watching the 2005 collection, I’d by no means seen an episode of Physician Who, however Eccleston’s infectious enthusiasm on display screen, each for his adventures and his new companion, Rose (Billie Piper), drew me in, and I haven’t been capable of let go of the present since. Who can neglect that big smile?
It was greater than that, although—it was the truth that the Physician’s eccentricities didn’t take over his complete persona. The Physician is an alien, so some over-the-topness is anticipated. Eccleston’s model can also be splendidly grounded and human, nonetheless, due to his relationship with Rose and due to his plain grief, which hits more durable and angrier on this collection than every other. (I’m additionally nonetheless jealous of his pale leather-based jacket).
There are, after all, those that favor Eccleston’s Physician over Tennant, Smith, Capaldi, Whittaker, or Gatwa—given what number of Physician Who followers there are on the earth, it could be statistically not possible for that to not be the case—however I usually really feel like Eccleston’s 9 was underappreciated, each throughout his tenure and after. Whether or not this has to do with the truth that he was solely the Physician for one comparatively quick 13-episode season or as a result of the rumors surrounding his exit and his fallout with the BBC skewed most people’s notion of his character, I truthfully don’t know.
Talking to Radio Instances in 2019, Eccleston revealed: “My relationship with my three rapid superiors—the showrunner, the producer, and co-producer—broke down irreparably in the course of the first block of filming and it by no means recovered.” Earlier than that, he’d claimed that he was “blacklisted” by the BBC and that what occurred on the present “virtually destroyed [his] profession.”
Given their alleged historical past, I used to be stunned but delighted to see Physician Who’s former and present showrunner, Russell T Davies, lately reward Eccleston’s work on the present throughout an interview with Physician Who Journal.
“I imply, the person is a grasp,” he stated. “You get to work with a genius—somebody who’s nonetheless on the high of his recreation all these years later. That’s what we have been fortunate to get.” He went on to recollect a specific second that proved simply how devoted Eccleston was to the position, recalling:
“I bear in mind strolling on set one morning and Chris had found in some ebook or on-line that the Physician was allergic to aspirin, which is one thing William Hartnell’s Physician had stated. So we had this nice morning of figuring out whether or not we may get aspirin right into a plot. I did have to inform Chris, ‘Issues that have been stated within the ’60s aren’t essentially lore—you don’t have to completely comply with them’. However that tells you a large number about how he threw himself into it.”
(through RadioTimes.com)
Every actor who embodies the Physician brings one thing new to the present, however Christopher Eccleston’s uncooked strategy to the position allowed NuWho to flourish and turn out to be the worldwide phenomenon it’s in the present day. “I hope he is aware of how effectively remembered he’s, as an impressive Physician who broke the mould,” Davies advised Physician Who Journal, and I can’t assist however agree.
Physician Who season 15/2 premieres on BBC One, BBC iPlayer, and Disney+ on April 12, 2025.
