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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."
I thought Eccleston made a very good Doctor Who - A great actor with just the right amount of humour. I didn't like *any* of the previous Doctors - excepting Tom Baker - to the point where I couldn't watch the show. Just when I start getting back into it, the guy leaves.
Chris Evans would agree, that's what happens when you spend too much time with Billie Piper!
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I recommend the show. Lovely! Completely ridiculous technofobia in a modern coating! The best of old and new! Great show, ill be watching.
Was there ever a female Doctor? That might be cool.
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... that he would have considered the typecasting possibility earlier ...
could it be that he could not agree with the Beeb as to how much he would be paid for a second season?
He had nothing to fear about a second season typecasting him. he was typecase at 17:05 last saturday when he poked his head around a door and said "hello, I'm the doctor"...
A friend of mine was in London on Saturday, when he came back in to work on Tuesday he said, "guess who I saw in london on Saturday?, Doctor Who", not Chris Eccleston, Dr Who... jobs already done...
They might have to come up with a plot device quite soon though. No doubt an expert will correct me, but I thought the Doctor got twelve regenerations? Let's see, we've had...
Arguably, you could include another: Peter Cushing from the films (doubtful though, I'd put him down as a Hartnell'a'like).
So now we've got another series to go which needs another regeneration, that puts it up to eleven minimum and twelve potential (Peter Cushing). Better watch out for those Daleks, Doctor...
Cheers,
Ian
I can't tell from the articles if he'll only be in the one episode, or if they've already shot more episodes from this season. But asking for a role and suddenly discovering that you're too good for it - that's frustrating from the perspective of all the folks out there who would love to play an iconic character like the Doctor.
How about an eaiser explination. There was a forum I was reading where they were complaining that Rose looked to be a love intrest for the Doctor. I'm not sure I saw it that much just in 'Rose', but we'll see. But my though was it's getting to the point where he needs a love intrest so he can have a child, which he can then play geames with time, pick him up when he's older and then go off to "die".
No reason the son can't just be called "The Doctor" as well.
Skipping quickly over his authority to say that (the Beeb own the character, the Beeb accepted Richard E. Grant , but I digress..), why not have Richard E. Grant in for the next series then? He'd be good I think, and it would round the problem off.
Cheers,
Ian
I'd say in my mind, the only actors typecast as Doctor Who are Pertwee and Tom Baker. I hear Troughton suffered for being typecast but he was way before my time. No idea how Hartnell was received and Richard Hurndal was at the end of his life when he played Doctor number 1.
Davison is more typecast as "nice guy" characters rather than the Doctor, Colin Baker should be forgetable and besides, he now looks nothing like he did in the 80s. McCoy will always be the goofy guy (kinda like Mr. Noodles on Elmo) but chasing a big orange pipecleaner in the kids art show Vision On. McGann with his prosthetics and fake hair is far enough from his real self that I don't think I look at him as the Doctor.
There are rabid fans of tv shows but I think it's a British thing and not so much so in the US. If he took on more roles in American films, he may avoid worldwide typecasting.
As far as other actors, Connery was James Bond. In my mind, he's more the Captain of the Red October or the Spanish peacock with a Scottish accent... etc. Walter Koenig was Pavel Chekov but shined as Al Bester and I think I'll have trouble seeing him as Chekov in the upcoming ST:NV episode.
I liken it to my fear that every perl script i ever write will be exactly the same. But I have to type it over again from scratch each time. What it amounts to is that doing the same thing day in and day out is boring.
It also has to do with once you are "typecast" the number of roles you are offered greatly diminishes, and if for some reason it becomes popular to not have this type of character in movies or tv shows your shit out of luck.
I doubt that Doctors' Assistant is a role that limits what you can do next. The Doctor probably is.
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Just ask Margaret Hamilton. After playing the Wicked Witch of the West, she found it nearly impossible to get work doing anything else -- and how many movies/TV shows are there calling for a green-faced witch in a given year? I believe she wound up doing birthday parties -- and you know, she *was* a talented actress.
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I've watched the old episodes for years and its one of the few shows where i actually bother to watch the intro and credits.
Just so i'm not completely offtopic, I bet all it took was a few days of people walking around and whispering "its the doctor" to convince the man to drop the role.
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However, he was more than happy to go to multiple US conventions. Makes you wonder why, eh?
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Never saw Eccleston (Doctor) sticking with it - he's a much better actor than the role requires and the writing allows. A recent interview on BBC's Jonathan Ross show saw him looking rather bemused with the whole thing (and with the line of Dr Who dolls due to come out this Xmas) he's probably feeling embarrassed by the first ep.h ift/nigel-kneale.shtml) then please let them come forward and seize the day before Dr Who is cancelled once again. ...
The material given to him in the first ep. was p***-poor and the story quickly gravitated towards Billy Piper (Rose) which is one of the many pointers to the soap-like focus that the show will now suffer (after all, the target audience will be young ladies as it is for all drama-based TV shows these days -my sister felt sorry for the Doctor when he pleaded with Rose to come with him).
Of course even Eccleston wouldn't want to turn down a paying job but I don't expect the BBC even wanted him to continue in the role otherwise they would have tied him to another series already.
BBC Three (which has all the after-show shows here in the good old UK) transmitted the Dr Who Confidential show after the actual ep. on BBC 1 and the new production team kept banging on about their view of the essence of Dr Who, which boiled down to the Doctor character (but without the traditional dandy clothing - i.e. a time traveller that follows 21st century Earth fashions?), a Tardis (but only the exterior and the bigger-on-the-inside tricks have been kept the same), the space/time travelling (but the first episode was set in the now, and the next is supposed to be set at the end of time), and scary creatures (but the first episode had very unfrightening shop dummies). Nothing more! Ok, maybe I'm not sure what the essence of the original series was but I'm sure it was more about presenting new ideas and challenges to the viewer (e.g. what would we do if the earth was invaded by round tin-cans / human-like tin cans / big flies / etc) rather than wondering how long Eccleston will be able to reel of the names of lame galactic accords and stare meaningfully at Rose.
The BBC should have looked to the late-70s Quatermass series which resurrected an earlier BBC series with a challenging premise and story line, instead of the long list of Mal Young resurrected soap-dramas. If there is some one in BBC land who is more like Nigel Neale (Quatermass, The Stone Tape*) (http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/times
Then again, what do I know
* The Stone Tape is superb and highly recommended.
Rich Johnson (comic book rumor columnist) posted a message over at aintitcoolnews claiming that the plan all along has been to change doctors at the end of the first season as a way of introducing the concept to new viewers.
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That's because Patrick Stewart is a decent actor and can actually play characters other than Captian Picard.
The few times I've seen Leonard Nimoy in roles other than Spock I identified him as spock just as much because he acted like spock as because he looks like him. This leads me to believe he is probably not a very versatile actor.
There are plenty of examples of good actors that have moved beyond their roles in popular and long lived television series.
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Actually it can be Kate Manning (Jo Grant) had such a hard time getting work afterwards that she ended up posing nde with a Dalek.
Just to show how bad this can be while I could rememeber Jo Grant I had to look up her real name.
But yes, it's amazing. It's a shame that Ron Grainer gets the only credit for it, because although he wrote the basic tune, Delia Derbyshire at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop did the arrangement and recording, and so much of what we remember it for was down to her. A real unsung pioneer.
And the new version strikes a good balance between keeping all that made the original great (including several actual samples from it) and making it modern too. (Far better than that ghastly orchestral version from the TV movie...)
Back on topic, it's interesting to look at the circumstances of the different actors leaving the series. After 3 years, William Hartnell was suffering ill health, and so the first regeneration was forced on the programme. Patrick Troughton chose to leave after 3 years -- for fear of typecasting. Jon Pertwee left after 4.5 years (possible reasons include the BBC's unwillingness to raise his salary, and also much of the production team moving on). Tom Baker had the longest run at 7 years. (Maybe the typecasting argument was valid in his case -- it was a while before he was in demand again.) Peter Davison had been advised to leave after 3 years by Patrick Troughton; when the time came, he found himself regretting the decision, but it was too late to change his mind. Colin Baker was forced out by the Controller of BBC1 after only 2 years. And Sylvester McCoy had only 2 years in the role before the series was cancelled.
So, so far no-one's left voluntarily after less than 3 years. And out of the 4 actors did leave voluntarily, only the longest-serving one seemed to suffer from typecasting -- and although another two mentioned it as a reason for leaving, one later regretted it. And that was after being in the role for 3 times as long as Eccleston has so far...
Given the range of parts and exposure he's had so far, I very very much doubt Eccleston is in any immediate danger of suffering that way. But given the number of times he's used the past tense in interviews about the series, I suspect that it's more than just a negotiating tactic on his part... :-(
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How about an eaiser explination. There was a forum I was reading where they were complaining that Rose looked to be a love intrest for the Doctor. I'm not sure I saw it that much just in 'Rose', but we'll see. But my though was it's getting to the point where he needs a love intrest so he can have a child, which he can then play geames with time, pick him up when he's older and then go off to "die".
No reason the son can't just be called "The Doctor" as well.
That could fit in quite well with the Sci-Fi staple of "Genetic memory". While the doctor would only be able to regenerate asexually 12 times he could effectively survive by having a child and pass on all his knowledge to that child.
Could make for some covertly educational television (the orignal purpose of Dr Who allegedly) explaining the idea of how some fish reproduce both asexually and sexually as necessary.
There's a point near the end of the first episode of the new series where the Nestine Consciousness addresses the Doctor accusingly as "Time Lord!" -- it's quite noticable, as it's the only thing it says in English rather than random burbling.
Sounds like the Time Lords will be referenced somehow at least. IIRC in a magazine interview Eccleston also mentioned that the Doctor is so fond of the Tardis in part because it's the only thing left of his civilization.
DNA just wants to be free...
Also, The Master escaped death by a unexplained method in the Movie.
I didn't really think the Master was portrayed very well in the movie - spitting at people just didn't seem very polite behaviour for an intergalactic supervillain.
Though, I did like the Tardis better in the movie than the new series, but it's better than the old series., which obviously looked like a studio set. The movie set looks more "lived in" with all the bits of antique navigation gear, toolkit boxes and furniture.
It's informative to see the design storyboards for the tardis. The designers almost seemed to be heading for a Star Trek theme, before heading towards a Star Wars look, before looking more like a rusted neutrino detector. If that were a student flat, there'd be a lot more stuff everywhere (boxes, bookshelves, monitors, rugs). Not forgetting a large "mind the step" or "contents may have shifted during transit".
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"Giles" from 'Buffy' is another Tom Baker waiting to happen and he comes pre-type-cast. Make it happen, BBC, make it happen!
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They should have stuck with Eddie Izzard. I also saw the pilot, and I kept putting Eddie in as the Doctor. He would have been brilliant.