He exited Doctor Who after one year of playing the Ninth Doctor
Christopher Eccleston was at the TARDIS controls when Doctor Who spectacularly relaunched in 2005, but departed the revamped BBC sci-fi series after just 13 episodes.
Now, though, he's revealed the one thing that might've convinced him to stay – and it's all down to who was sat in the director's chair.
In his new memoir, I Love the Bones of You: My Father And The Making Of Me, Eccleston recalls his time working on the show, saying, "Billie [Piper] made Doctor Who a delight but so also did Steven Moffat's scripts, which delivered my best work, bringing me closer to finally knowing exactly who the Doctor was than any other time during the shoot.
"Directors Joe Ahearne and Euros Lyn also allowed the character to blossom and thrive."
Eccleston goes on to say that he "loved Joe", adding, "If he'd directed the show from day one, I'd probably still be playing the Doctor now."
The first director to work on the new Doctor Who was Keith Boak, who helmed the episodes 'Rose', 'Aliens of London' and 'World War Three'.
Ahearne directed 'Dalek' and the final three episodes of the series, 'Boom Town', 'Bad Wolf' and 'The Parting of the Ways', while Euros Lyn was responsible for 'The End of the World' and 'The Unquiet Dead'.
In a recent panel at Rose City Comic Con, Eccleston suggested that Doctor Who should have cast a woman to lead the relaunch. “In 2004, in me they picked yet another white skinny male to be the Doctor. If somebody had said in 2004 it should have been a woman, there’d have been outrage. But only 14 years later it’s acceptable.
“I think it’s time for white middle-aged males to step aside."
I Love the Bones of You: My Father And The Making Of Me by Christopher Eccleston is out now in hardback from Simon & Schuster
Morgan Jeffery is the Digital Editor for Radio Times, overseeing all editorial output across the brand's digital platforms. He was previously TV Editor at Digital Spy and has featured as a TV expert on BBC Breakfast, BBC Radio 5 Live and Sky Atlantic.
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