Doctor Who boss says Christopher Eccleston changed show "in one moment"

The special episode aired tonight (Monday 18th December) and went behind the scenes at Cardiff’s Bad Wolf Studios to see the upcoming Doctor Who season being filmed and to follow Davies as he makes his anticipated return to the show.

Well, in the one-off special, Davies spoke about Christopher Eccleston's Doctor, who was at the helm of the series in 2005.

Davies said: "I had to keep all the good iconography but dust off all the rubbish. Part of the rubbish was kind of pompousness around the character.

"He’s a Time Lord, so in people’s minds, he’s become a lord, someone loquacious and pompous and ostentatious and posh. So Chris singlehandedly, in one moment, shook that off."

More recently, Eccleston has lent his voice acting talents to Big Finish's Once and Future – Time Lord Immemorial, but was the Ninth Doctor in the series, travelling with companion Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) before passing the baton to David Tennant's Tenth Doctor.

Davies also touched upon the casting of Piper in Imagine, who became a fan favourite as Rose.

"You forget, 2005, 2004, people were laughing, going, 'Oh, you’ve cast that pop star. What’s Billie Piper like?' Like, thinking she’d be dreadful," he said.

"I can remember all of us on the production having this massive silent smile thinking, 'You wait. You wait 'til you see her. It’s phenomenal.'"

Read more:

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As well as chats about his previous tenure as showrunner, the new Imagine episode chronicled the events leading up to Davies's return, as he takes on having two Doctors and even bigger ambitions for the series.

As well as getting a behind-the-scenes sneak peek, the episode followed Davies as he toured the enormous sound stages and met "Ncuti Gatwa, the Fifteenth Doctor, ahead of his eagerly anticipated tenure as the Time Lord following the unexpected regeneration of David Tennant".

According to the synopsis: "Alan Yentob traces the evolution of [Davies's] writing, from his beginnings in BBC children’s TV to finding his voice as a queer writer on Channel 4’s landmark gay series Queer as Folk and to more recent successes, including 2021’s critically acclaimed AIDS drama, It’s a Sin.

"The film also features interviews with David Tennant, Catherine Tate, Ncuti Gatwa, Helena Bonham Carter, Olly Alexander, Sally Wainwright and Caitlin Moran."

Doctor Who will return for The Church on Ruby Road on BBC One at 5:55pm on Christmas Day. Previous episodes are available on BBC iPlayer and on BritBox – you can sign up for a 7-day free trial here.

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