Dr. Who Series Star Quits

TinheadNed writes "The day after the BBC confirmed there will be a second Doctor Who series next year, as well as a Christmas special, new Dr Who actor Christopher Eccleston has revealed he will not continue in the role, for fears of being typecast. Billie Piper, who plays his assistant Rose, will probably continue in her role."

Comments

Re:Haveing seen the pilot..

[eddy]

I tried to watch it, but tuned out 10 minutes from the end of the show. I thought it was awful.

Having no prior experience with "The Doctor" I did watch the "The New Doctor Who Countdown"-programme which went through who had played all the previous doctors and what not. That didn't turn me off. Then some joker of a journalist(?) said "You can forget about Buffy now, the Doctor is alive!"

Yeah.. I'll forget about the wonderful Buffy for this... riiiight.

More like I wish I could forget Dr. Who. Mannequins coming alive? That's just cheese. Note, I'm not totally slamming it as having no right to exist or anything, it's just that I can't appreciate it for some reason. Probably missing the in-jokes or something.

(that "last human in the universe"-thing with Zoé Wanamakers voice did look cool, I give you that)

Maximum number of regenerations

[buro9]

He can only make 12 regenerations (13 bodies)... the BBC must be slightly frustrated with having used this body for only the 1 series and burning yet another regeneration to do so.

I guess they'll balance that with feeling smug that they pulled off the comeback.

Wonder what they'll do when they run out of them though?

Probably think of a complicated plot device to explain why it's suddenly possible to have any number of changes as revenue streams dictate ;)

Re:Maximum number of regenerations

[mikael]

There is a plot device. It's called the "Eye of Harmony" and was used by The Master" in the story "The Deadly Assassin" to get past his twelfth regeneration cycle.

It's a real shame though - After seeing the first episode, Christopher Eccleston seemed to be ready to match Tom Baker's mix of eccentricity, creativiy, and insanity (not forgetting that wild-eyed grin). The other doctors never seemed to have that edgy psychotic attitude, that would justify wanting to escape from the home world and travelling between random locations in space and time.

Re:Oh, no!

[2sheds]

13 regenerations isn't it? Anywaym IIRC there is precedent for Timelords to be 'given' more lives - as this is what The Master is offered in 'The Five Doctors'.

So no problem really...

Re:Oh, no!

[WIAKywbfatw]

Both you and 2sheds are wrong.

12 regenerations, but William Hartnell doesn't count. He's the original Doctor, not a regeneration. Patrick Troughton was the first regeneration.

By the way, the films starring Peter Cushing definitely don't count.

9th, not 10th

[Doktor Memory]

The official word from Russell Davies has always been that the processions was McCoy -> McGann -> Eccleston.

Re:Oh, no!

[91degrees]

12 regenerations to give 13 incarnations.

From Popbitch:

[Anonymous Coward]

"Christopher Eccleston was never intended to go past the first series. Russell T Davies wants to do a regeneration thing as soon as possible, sees it as integral to the series. David Tennant is confirmed to appear in the Christmas Special. However, the BBC may do a bait and switch. Bill Nighy and Chiwetel Ejoifor are both up for the lead, appearing at the end of the Christmas Special, and then into the second series. The Eccleston leaving news and Tennant speculation has been deliberately revealed now as a spoiler to the Tony-Blair-on-Ant-And-Dec news. Expect a lot of this, the BBC are playing with the media in a way they rarely have before, with Doctor Who and the newspapers are willing to play along as they get excellent content, news, features and opinion column matter. Expect more as the Dalek episode approaches, and a lot more before the last two Dalek War episodes. The David Tennant goss will also help publicity for the BBC1 showing of Casanova, written by Russel T Davies, in which he is absolutely excellent and will wipe away unfortunate Blackpool memories. Four DVDs will be released for the first TV series, in May, June, July and August with a DVD box set of the series with lots of features in October."

Typecast? Aw, come ON!

[The_REAL_DZA]

If William Shatner didn't get "typecast" then I don't think this guy has much to worry about; OTTOMH, Shatner has played a starship captain, a policeman, and a lawyer (and all THAT after he played a Hitler-type character...or did he actually play Hitler in a movie...? Aha! to the rescue!! Holy COW, his IMDB entry is HUGE...ok, I'm seriously OT now, but Eccleston has nothing to worry about.)

Re:typecast

[sgant]

Actually, she continued to be a very successful actress...she was in 82 movies all the way up till 1979...then she made guest stars on several TV series and of course she was in the Maxwell House Coffee commercials up till the day she died in 1985.

She was a talented actress and was up till she passed.

Re:Promote Rose?

[philkerr]

*Cue badass Dr Who theme*

The thread is quite old now so I doubt many will see this but for more info on one of the key people involved in the creation of the badass Dr. theme tune have a look here.

Delia Derbyshire Website

Delia created the theme tune from Ron Grainer's original score. On first hearing it Grainer was tickled pink: "Did I really write this?" he asked. "Most of it," replied Derbyshire.

In an age when women were not "allowed" in recording studios she is pretty much responsible for one of the most recognised TV theme tunes ever.

/Mad props, Delia.