Steven Moffat has revealed more about how the Doctor Who 50th anniversary special almost featured Christopher Eccleston’s Ninth Doctor.
The actor turned down the chance to return to the sci-fi series for the anniversary episode – titled The Day of the Doctor – in 2013, which starred Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith alongside returning Time Lords David Tennant and Tom Baker.
Moffat has now explained that Eccleston was initially open to the possibility of returning – but that he ultimately declined to star in it while Moffat was working on the script.
Speaking about how hard it was to write The Day of the Doctor on The Whoniverse Show, Moffat said: “Matt Smith was out of contract. David Tennant wanted to see a script. Christopher Eccleston wanted to see a script.
“So I got about two-thirds of the way through the script. Chris decided in a very gentlemanly way, and he had warned me that he probably would decide this, not to do it. So I thought – I mean, lovely Chris, but it was a pain.”
He added: “It was quite funny because David was saying, ‘I’m just a comic relief,’ and Matt’s saying, ‘Why has David got all the jokes?’ And I’m going, ‘Guys, you’re sharing the part, you’re sharing it!’
“And then I had to come up with this idea of the other Doctor, this unknown Doctor from history which I think was a good idea. You’re tweaking every last thing. And all you’re able to see is everything you weren’t able to correct.”
Moffat went on to say that the version of the special involving Eccleston would have been “largely the same” but “more from the point of view of the Ninth Doctor”.
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“It starts with him, and the slight difference in emphasis was that he was debating whether or not to allow the future to happen,” Moffat explained.
“The way The Name of the Doctor would originally have ended, it would cut to Christopher Eccleston at the climax of the Time War saying, should I operate the Moment? And the Moment saying, ‘Well, I’ll show you what would happen if you did.’
“So it goes back in time and makes the Matt Smith and the David Tenant Doctor imaginary future Doctors who haven’t properly happened yet, but it was otherwise largely the same.”
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Eccleston previously opened up about his decision not to return to the show for its 50th anniversary.
Speaking at Rose City Comic Con in 2019, he explained: “When [The Day of the Doctor] came along I did speak to them. I didn’t feel that what they were asking me to do did justice to the Ninth Doctor. So I said no.”
The actor also previously opened up about the tensions he felt on set during filming for the sci-fi series, and said he would never work with showrunner Russell T Davies again.
Speaking to Radio Times in 2018, the star said: “My relationship with my three immediate superiors – the showrunner, the producer and co-producer – broke down irreparably during the first block of filming and it never recovered.”
The actor has since reprised his role for a series of audio dramas produced by Big Finish – a move which prompted fans to speculate whether he might return for Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary episodes.
But speaking during a Q&A as part of Dragon Con, the star ruled out that possibility, saying “my relationship with the BBC over Doctor Who has not healed”.
Read more:
- Doctor Who star responds to calls for her to return as the next permanent Doctor
- Peter Capaldi reveals his Doctor Who exit was due to “direction” concerns and argues there have been “too many regenerations”
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