Christopher Eccleston would "still" be in ‘Doctor Who’ now if Joe Ahearne was on board from the beginning.
The 55-year-old actor played the Ninth Doctor when the hugely popular sci-fi series returned to the BBC in 2005, and although he left after just 13 episodes he has now admitted things could have been very different.
In his new memoir ‘I Love the Bones of You: My Father And The Making Of Me’, he wrote: "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… [I] loved Joe… If he’d directed the show from day one, I’d probably still be playing the Doctor now."
Keith Boak was at the helm for the first episode of the series (‘Rose’), as well as ‘Aliens of London’ and ‘World War Three’.
Euros directed second episode ‘The End of the World’ while returning for ‘The Unquiet Dead’.
However, Ahearne’s introduction came six episodes in with ‘Dalek’, and he went onto direct ‘Father’s Day’ and the final three instalments in the series (‘Boom Town’, ‘Bad Wolf’ and ‘The Parting of the Ways’.
Brian Grant (‘The Long Game’) and James Hawes (‘The Empty Child’ and ‘The Doctor Dances’) also influenced the relaunch.
Meanwhile, Christopher recently heaped praise on former co-star Billie’s performances as Rose Tyler, and suggested she would have been a great choice to play the Doctor.
He said: "if Billie Piper ever wants to play the Doctor I’ll [be her companion]. Who wouldn’t? I think that’s what they should have done… Rose should have moved up to become the Doctor … but it was just too early."
Christopher Eccleston reveals what could have kept him on Doctor Who
