Doctor Who Star Christopher Eccleston Will Return To The Role After 15 Years

Christopher Eccleston was the ninth actor the play the Doctor in the long-running sci-fi show Doctor Who, and one of the most important. Eccleston took on the role in 2005 after the series had been absent from screens for 16 years, and his portrayal of the iconic Time Lord helped the show become hugely popular once more. Eccleston left the series after just one season, but now it's been announced that he will return As the Doctor for a new series of audio adventures.

As reported by Entertainment Weekly, Eccleston will reprise his role in an audio series titled Doctor Who: The Ninth Doctor Adventures. In a statement, Eccleston said, "After 15 years, it will be exciting to revisit the Ninth Doctor's world, bringing back to life a character I love playing."

The series will be produced by Big Finish, who have released numerous Doctor Who audio books over the years. Big Finish chairman Jason Haigh-Ellery provided a few more details about how Eccleston became involved with Doctor Who once more. "I first talked to Christopher about returning to the role of the Doctor at the Gallifrey One convention in February this year," he said. "Christopher said he was enjoying meeting the fans and was pleased that his Doctor was remembered so fondly. He indicated he would be open to discussing a project with Big Finish.

"And then the pandemic happened and time moved both quickly and very slowly. Over recent months, ideas have been exchanged, and discussions had. I am so pleased that Christopher has decided to return to the role with us, and I'm excited to welcome him to the Big Finish family as we discover the new adventures of the Ninth Doctor."

The first volume of Doctor Who: The Ninth Doctor Adventures will be released in May next year. It will be available as a 4-CD boxset, as well as downloads. There will be three new audio adventures in the first volume, plus a variety of behind-the-scenes material.

Doctor Who Season 12 premiered in January this year. It was the second season to star Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor, since she took over from Peter Capaldi in 2017. The very first season of Doctor Who premiered back in 1963 and ran for 25 years before going on an extended hiatus in 1989. There was a failed attempt to bring it back with an American-produced TV movie in 1994, and the series was properly rebooted in 2005 with Eccleston.