Doctor Who’s Christopher Eccleston shares love for Ncuti Gatwa in rare reference to role: ‘I loved playing him’-Louise Griffin-Entertainment – Metro

Christopher Eccleston shared the love for Ncuti Gatwa, who’s set to take over as the next Doctor (Picture: BBC / Getty)

Christopher Eccleston has made a rare reference to his time in Doctor Who, saying he ‘loved’ playing the Time Lord, and supporting the newest addition to the club, Ncuti Gatwa, who will be playing the next iteration of the Doctor.

The 58-year-old actor was the first to be cast when Russell T Davies rebooted the series in 2005 and, while he only had one series as the 9th Doctor, fans fell in love with his version of the Time Lord, before he was replaced by David Tennant.

Sharing photos of his many roles throughout his career on Instagram, Christopher included a shot from Doctor Who and wrote: ‘The Doctor. I loved playing Him. Much love to NCUTI GATWA.’

Fans were quick to share their favourite memories from Christopher’s Doctor, with one commenting the quote: ‘Just this once, everybody lives ❤️‍🩹.’

‘My first doctor and my fav 💜 you were fantastic,’ another said, with one more adding: ‘You brought it all back to life 👏.’

It was long thought that Christopher would never return to his role as the 9th Doctor, with the actor previously quoted as saying: ‘I left because my relationship with Russell T Davies, [producers] Julie Gardner and Phil Collinson completely broke down during the shooting of the first series.

‘I think it’s fair to say… that the first series nobody knows what they’re doing and the politics are raging. The shooting of the first series was a nightmare.’

He added to Radio Times in 2018: ‘They lost trust in me, and I lost faith and trust and belief in them.’

Russell, who is returning to Doctor Who as showrunner when Ncuti takes over from Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor, previously addressed Chris’ comments, saying he did not want to get into a ‘tit for tat’ exchange with the actor.

However, he added that he has a ‘duty of care’ towards him, going on to tell SFX: ‘That duty of care towards him will extend for the rest of our lives. He will always be my Doctor, and I will always be his producer.’

Christopher was the first actor to be cast as the Doctor in the Doctor Who revival (Picture: BBC)

He took on the role alongside Billie Piper as Rose Tyler (Picture: BBC)

Russell also praised Christopher’s performance, saying: ‘The thing I’ve got to say is that Chris is a magnificent actor and a magnificent man – he’s truly a leader of men – and he was a magnificent Doctor Who as well.

‘You forget what a brave move it was to take the part on when the press were quoting people like Paul Daniels as the next Doctor. It was a huge leap for Chris to make, and I love what he did.’

However, while it seems unlikely that he’ll appear on screens as the character in future, Christopher did return to the role for a Big Finish audio drama.

Ncuti (L) will take over as the Doctor and Russell is set to return as showrunner (Picture: Scott Garfitt/REX/Shutterstock for BAFTA)

Jodie will step down as the 13th Doctor this year BBC/Steve Schofield)

He said at the time: ‘It will be exciting to revisit the Ninth Doctor’s world, bringing back to life a character I love playing.’

Executive producer Nick Briggs added to Metro.co.uk of his performance: ‘He’s really joyous about it.

‘He said within two minutes of doing it, he was back in the zone, back there with the character.’

This autumn will see Jodie’s Doctor step down after an incredible run as the 13th Doctor, with Ncuti set to take over.

Then, next year, the 60th anniversary special will air, with 10th Doctor David set to return alongside Catherine Tate (Donna Noble) and newcomer Yasmin Finney as a character named Rose.

Doctor Who returns this autumn on BBC One.

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