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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."
Now they'll have to come up with some sort of complicated plot device to explain why the Doctor looks different next season! ...oh, wait.
That green slime had it coming.
Yeah, how horrible to be typecast as one of the most beloved sci-fi icons! I mean, we see how much the previous doctors cried over that... (with the possible exception of Patrick Troughton - I get the impression that he went far enough into character that fan gatherings and the character/real life dichotomy produced were terribly difficult for him.)
You play one eccentric, British Time Lord, and central casting want you to play them all.
Unfortunately, I am not Wil Wheaton
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.
-- Who is the bigger fool? The fool or the fool who follows him? --
Read "I Am Not Spock" by Leonard Nimoy sometime if you want to know the answer.
The bottom line is that too many people see *Spock* (or in this case, the Doctor) after a while, and not Nimoy (or Eccelston).
Nimoy played Tave (sp?) in Fiddler on the Roof, and had a number of other successful roles in film and theatre, but how many people here (or anywhere) would know that?
But show anyone a picture of them, and they don't say "Nimoy!" they say "Spock!".
Yes, it can be a help to your career (as for Nimoy, he could play the one character forever and anywhere), but a lot of serious actors want to show that they have talent and depth, and being typecast largely prevents that.
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Eddie Izzard as the Doctor could be the best thing to happen to television ever.
If it ever happens though, I'm sure the BBC will go out of their way to cock it up in a typically British fashion; though the new series does give me some hope.
I guess that makes sense, I think the worst case of this extreme typecasting would be Ernest P. Worrell AKA Jim Varney.
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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...
I doubt he's afraid of being type cast. This is a negotiating tactic, plain and simple. Let it be known that you won't be around for a second run if you're not already contractually obligated to do so, and then they come at you with more money right out of the gate.
They should give the part to Bill Bailey and let Joss Whedon write and direct.
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In other words, Christopher Eccleston is an idiot.
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
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.
Knowing that this series could re-emerge into a several series run why on earth would the BBC not have an option on this character for multiple years of the series. He is after all the NINTH Dr. Who dropped the ball, Auntie Beeb lives after all.
...make a prequel.
The official word from Russell Davies has always been that the processions was McCoy -> McGann -> Eccleston.
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I was going to post the same thing, almost word for word.
While typecasting can become problem, it really is only an issue for mediocre actors. The good ones will get parts, regardless of their history. Maybe he knows something about his own skill that we don't.
This is not always necessarily true...
For example, I really liked Jean-Luc Picard's role as Professor X in the X-men movies.
"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." ... for fear of not getting another one.
Dr Who actor Christopher Eccleston has revealed he will not continue in the role, for fears of being typecast.
Now everyone will just remember him as "that jerk who quit Dr. Who after one season because he was afraid of being typecast".
Look at his career. He didn't want to be the pretty boy on "21 Jump St" or anywhere else. He quit. Now, he's considered to be a well respected actor and is very successful. If he stayed on 21, I don't think he would be where he is now. Granted, I don't think every actor can do what Johnny did. Look at Denise Crosby(Tasha Yar) of ST:TNG. She quit because she didn't want to be type casted and she hasn't done much - I don't know if that's by choice or not though.
Read "I Am Not Spock" by Leonard Nimoy sometime if you want to know the answer.
Read his later book "I Am Spock" and you'll find he's recanted a lot of his thinking on the matter.
Trolling is a art,
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.
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.
wg
Allthough he was in a serious role, I expected him any minute to sit down on that couch, put his hand in his trousers, and start bitching at his wife...
Damn typecasting.
javax.media.bbc.BadTypecastException: actor does not want to be typecast.
--Rob
Towards the Singularity.
Yup, one of my favourite bits of electronic weirdness from the 60's ..
really though, i find myself humming "ooooh-eeeeeh-oooooh" any time i see anything even remotely resembling a tardis.
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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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Why not make it a woman? Like, say, Jenna Jameson.
I'd watch it then.
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Not only is your right to use the entire Internet revoked, but you're sentenced to be sent back in time to 1993 to sysop a GEnie chatroom discussion on Babylon 5.
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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.)
This space intentionally left (almost) blank.
And of course if you want to complete the full Leonard Nimoy cycle, you must read "I Am Also Scotty"
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.
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that's the first slashdot post in ages that genuine made me laugh aout loud (and almost choke on my lunch). someone mod this up...
The author of this post asserts his moral rights.
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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It does look like the BBC have dropped the ball here on more than one level. Firstly yeah, when casting a part like The Doctor the contract should include multiple series if it proves popular[*].
Secondly, was it really necessary to confirm that the new series is in the planning before the second episode of this one has even aired?
Letting people know there's a new series before the current one finishes is a good thing, but confirming it this early seems a little bit overkill to me.
Finally they really dropped the ball by having it known that the lead actor isn't in the next series before we're even really into this one.
Surely something like this kind of announcement you leave until as late in the series as you can. All announcing it this early does is make it harder to want to get used to the current actor as you know there's be a new one next year. Not a great move, I think.
[*] Although it might simply have not occurred to them. In an interview I heard, it seems that neither Eccleston nor Watson had thought past this current series. If true, then this was possibly shortsighted on the planning front.
I guess the real problem here was that if no-one was sure that a second series was going to happen - or when it would happen - it'd be harder to get someone to commit to multiple series.
Tiggs
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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.
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By god, that is the best idea I've heard in a three days. And the idea I heard three days ago was bloody good.
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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.
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Those who sacrifice security to condemn liberty deserve to repeat history or something. - Benjamin Santayana