Christopher Eccleston is my Doctor. Sure, I grew up watching re-runs of all eight Doctors before him, having previously identified Patrick Troughton as my favourite, but Eccleston was the first Doctor for my era. He was a Doctor from Manchester, so he shared my accent. And he was, to use his favourite word, fantastic. Often overlooked due to the immense popularity of David Tennant and Matt Smith, due to his short tenure and less than amicable exit, he was nevertheless remarkable. Along with Russell T Davies and Billie Piper, Christopher Eccleston was responsible for bringing back an old science-fiction show that in many people’s eyes had become a joke, and not only having people watch it, but made it once again the BBC’s biggest show ever. It was a risk to bring back Doctor Who, and in lesser hands, it may have failed, but Christopher Eccleston is too immense a talent to let that happen.
While Tennant and Smith have their strengths, I am of the opinion that the Tenth Doctor gradually became a parody of the character he was intended to be, while Eleven’s stories drastically dropped in quality towards the end. Eccleston’s fewer stories may be one of the reasons why he doesn’t have the same popularity, but at the same time, it also means his Doctor never became stale. And with his excellently handled regeneration, he says what we’re all thinking when he tells Rose, “you we’re fantastic. And you know what? So was I.”
Was you Christopher Eccleston your first Doctor?
What was your favourite moment of his series?
Let us know in the comments!