Christopher Eccleston threatened to sue the BBC following his departure from the Doctor Who series.
The 54-year-old actor was given the responsibility of playing the Time Lord in 2005 in Russell T. Davies’ revival of the sci-fi show – in which he starred opposite singer-turned-actress Billie Piper.
However, he departed the role after one series due to a disagreement with his bosses and now Eccleston has admitted he was so angry when the BBC issued a statement at the time claiming he was leaving because he was “tired” it led to him threatening legal action to get an apology for the misinformation.
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Speaking to Jo Whiley and Simon Mayo on Radio 2, he said: “I made an agreement that I would say nothing about my departure, and I honoured that, because I was looking after the production.
“And then the BBC issued a statement, they put a quote from me that they had written saying why I’d left, because I was tired, which any producer reading that [would think], ‘Well we won’t give Chris Eccleston a job because he gets tired.
“So I threatened legal action and I got an apology printed in all the newspapers. The BBC had to make a statement apologising for attributing quotes to me.
“Nobody will go on record as saying this but my agent said: ‘You need to get out of town because you’re not going to work.’
“I kept my word and they didn’t keep their word, so I took them to court, well, I didn’t have to take them to court – I took them to a lawyers’ office.”
Eccleston – who played the Ninth Doctor – has previously spoken about how his superiors “lost trust” in him, which was a large factor in losing the coveted role.
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He explained: “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.
“They lost trust in me, and I lost faith and trust and belief in them.”
Happily, it all worked out in the long run; Chris and the BBC have continued to work together, most recently in The A Word and Come Home.
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