Christopher Eccleston

Christopher Eccleston (/ˈɛkəlstən/; born 16 February 1964) is an English actor. The recipient of an Emmy Award and two BAFTA Award nominations, Eccleston is best known for his work on television and in film – in particular for his collaborations with directors Danny Boyle and Michael Winterbottom and writers Peter Flannery, Jimmy McGovern and Russell T. Davies.

Christopher Eccleston
Christopher Eccleston in 2019
Born	(1964-02-16) 16 February 1964 Langworthy, Salford, Lancashire, England
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1989–present
Spouse(s)	Mischka Eccleston ​ ( m. 2011; div. 2015)
Children	2

Eccleston trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London and made his professional acting debut onstage in a Bristol Old Vic production of A Streetcar Named Desire. Eccleston garnered attention for his film roles as Derek Bentley in Let Him Have It and David Stevens in Shallow Grave and for his television performances in Cracker and Hillsborough. His BAFTA-nominated performance as Nicky Hutchinson in the BBC miniseries Our Friends in the North (1996) established Eccleston as a household name in the UK; he followed the serial with film roles in Jude, A Price Above Rubies, Elizabeth, eXistenZ, Gone in 60 Seconds, The Invisible Circus, The Others, 24 Hour Party People, and 28 Days Later and television roles including the drama series Clocking Off and a second BAFTA-nominated performance as Messianic figure Stephen Baxter in the ITV drama serial The Second Coming.

Eccleston garnered widespread attention and acclaim for portraying the ninth incarnation of the Doctor in the 2005 revival of the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who, becoming the first to play the role since 1996. He departed the role after a single series, winning a National Television Award and receiving Broadcasting Press Guild Award and BAFTA Cymru Award nominations for his performance. Eccleston has since appeared in the television series Heroes, The Shadow Line, Blackout, Lucan, The Leftovers, Safe House, Fortitude, and The A Word and films including G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Thor: The Dark World, and Legend. He won an International Emmy Award for his performance in an episode of the anthology series Accused. Onstage, Eccleston has played the title roles in productions of Hamlet and Macbeth as well as starring in productions of Miss Julie, A Doll's House, and Antigone. Since 2017, Eccleston has narrated the documentary series Ambulance.

Early life

Christopher Eccleston was born into a working-class family in the Langworthy area of Salford, Lancashire, England, the youngest of three sons born to Elsie and Ronnie Eccleston.[1] On his religious upbringing, he has said: "My dad’s family were Catholic. My mum was very Church of England – still is – but it doesn’t work for me."[2] His brothers, Alan and Keith, are twins who are eight years older than him.[3][4] The family lived in a small terraced house on Blodwell Street before moving to Little Hulton when Eccleston was seven months old.[5][6][7] Eccleston attended Joseph Eastham High School, where he became head boy.[8] At the age of 19, he was inspired to enter the acting profession by such television dramas as Boys from the Blackstuff.

Eccleston completed a two-year Performance Foundation Course at Salford Tech[9] before going on to train at the Central School of Speech and Drama.[10] As an actor, he was influenced in his early years by Ken Loach's Kes and Albert Finney's performance in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, but he soon found himself performing the classics, including the works of Shakespeare, Chekhov, and Molière. At the age of 25, Eccleston made his professional stage debut in the Bristol Old Vic's production of A Streetcar Named Desire. Underemployed as an actor for some years after graduating from college, Eccleston took a variety of odd jobs at a supermarket, on building sites, and as an artist's model.[11]

Career

Early work (1991–2005)

Eccleston first came to public attention as Derek Bentley in the film Let Him Have It (1991), and an episode of Inspector Morse "Second Time Around" (1991). In 1992, he played the role of Sean Maddox in the BBC drama miniseries Friday on my Mind.[12] A regular role in the television series Cracker (1993–94) brought him recognition in the UK; and, after he told TV bosses of his desire to leave the series, they killed off his character in October 1994, making him a victim of the serial killer Albie Kinsella (Robert Carlyle). At around the same time, Eccleston appeared in the episode "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe" of the Poirot series adapted from mysteries by Agatha Christie.

He appeared in the low-budget Danny Boyle film Shallow Grave (1994), in which he co-starred with actor Ewan McGregor. The same year, he won the part of Nicky Hutchinson in the epic BBC drama serial Our Friends in the North, whose broadcast on BBC Two in 1996 helped make him a household name in the UK. Eccleston starred in an ensemble cast that included actors Mark Strong and Gina McKee, as well as Daniel Craig. In 1996, he took the part of Trevor Hicks—a man who lost both of his daughters in the 1989 Hillsborough disaster—in the television drama film Hillsborough, penned by Jimmy McGovern. In real life, he was the best man to Trevor Hicks at his wedding in March 2009.[13]

His film career has since taken off with a variety of roles, including Jude (1996), Elizabeth (1998), eXistenZ (1999), Gone in 60 Seconds (2000), The Others (2001), 24 Hour Party People (2002) and 28 Days Later (2002). He played a major role as the protagonist of the 2002 Revengers Tragedy, adapted from Thomas Middleton's play of the same name.[14] He starred in the independent films A Price Above Rubies (1998) and The Invisible Circus (2001). He starred in the car-heist film Gone in 60 Seconds, but did not take his driving test until January 2004. He said on BBC's Top Gear that his licence restricts him to vehicles with automatic transmission.

He has appeared in a variety of television roles, especially in British dramas. These have included Hearts and Minds (1995) for Channel 4, Clocking Off (2000) and Flesh and Blood (2002) for the BBC and Hillsborough (1996), a modern version of Othello (2001), playing 'Ben Jago', (the Iago character); and the religious telefantasy epic The Second Coming (2003) for ITV, in which he played Steve Baxter, the son of God. He has made guest appearances in episodes of the comedy drama Linda Green (2001) and macabre sketch show The League of Gentlemen (2002). Eccleston appeared in a stage role in Hamlet in the 2002 production at Leeds's West Yorkshire Playhouse. March–April 2004 saw him return to the venue in a new play, Electricity.

Eccleston has been twice nominated in the Best Actor category at the British Academy Television Awards. His first nomination came in 1997 for Our Friends in the North, but he lost to Nigel Hawthorne (for The Fragile Heart). He was nominated in 2004 for The Second Coming; Bill Nighy won for State of Play. Eccleston won the Best Actor category at the 1997 Broadcasting Press Guild Awards for Our Friends in the North. In 2003 he won the RTS Best Actor award for a second time, for his performance in Flesh and Blood. In July 2004, a poll of industry experts, conducted by Radio Times magazine, voted Eccleston the "19th Most Powerful Person in Television Drama."

Doctor Who (2005, 2021)

On 2 April 2004, it was announced that Eccleston was to play the ninth incarnation of the Doctor in the revival of the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who, the first series began transmission on 26 March 2005. Eccleston was the first actor to play the role who was born after the series began. On 30 March 2005, the BBC released a statement, ostensibly from Eccleston, saying that he had decided to leave the role after just one series, because he feared becoming typecast. On 4 April 2005, the BBC revealed that the statement had been falsely attributed and released without Eccleston's consent. The BBC admitted that they had broken an agreement made in January not to disclose publicly that he only intended to do one series. The statement had been made after journalists made queries to the press office.[15]

On 11 June 2005, during a BBC radio interview, when asked if he had enjoyed working on Doctor Who, Eccleston responded by saying, "Mixed, but that's a long story." Eccleston's reasons for leaving the role continue to be debated in Britain's newspapers: on 4 October 2005 Alan Davies told The Daily Telegraph that Eccleston had been "overworked" by the BBC, and had left the role because he was "exhausted".[16] Eccleston would later go on to say that he left the show because he "didn't enjoy the environment and the culture that the cast and crew had to work in", but that he was proud of having played the role.[17] Noting in a subsequent interview that "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."[18]

Eccleston at the National Theatre, London, May 2012

On 7 November 2008, at the National Theatre to promote his book The Writer's Tale, Russell T. Davies said that Eccleston's contract was for a single year because it was uncertain whether the show would continue beyond a single revival series. In retrospect, he says, it has been an enormous success, but at the time there were doubts within the BBC. Eccleston was voted "Most Popular Actor" at the 2005 National Television Awards for his portrayal of the Doctor.

In July 2012, Eccleston spoke positively of his time on Doctor Who during a talk at the National Theatre.[19] This led to speculation he was considering making a return appearance as the Ninth Doctor for the show's 50th anniversary special, "The Day of the Doctor", in 2013. The Eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith, stated that he would have loved Eccleston to return but after discussing with executive producer Steven Moffat, Eccleston declined his role.[20][21] However, in a 2018 interview Eccleston claimed that the BBC had "put [him] on a blacklist" when he left.[22]

On 9 August 2020, it was announced that Eccleston would be reprising his role of the Ninth Doctor in audio dramas for Big Finish Productions, across four boxsets to be released between May 2021 and February 2022. This would be the first time he had portrayed the role in 15 years.[23]

Later work (2005–present)

On 30 October 2005, Eccleston appeared on stage at the Old Vic theatre in London in the one-night play Night Sky alongside Navin Chowdhry, Bruno Langley, David Warner, Saffron Burrows and David Baddiel. Eccleston sat on the 2nd Amazonas International Film Festival Film Jury in November 2005. The Canadian born director Norman Jewison was chairman of the Jury.[24] In December 2005, Eccleston travelled to Indonesia's Aceh province for the BBC Breakfast news programme, examining how survivors of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami were rebuilding their lives.[25]

In March 2006, Eccleston appeared in the ITV documentary special Best Ever Muppet Moments as a commentator. In May 2006, he appeared as the narrator in a production of Romeo and Juliet at the Lowry theatre in his home city of Salford. The theatre company with which he performed, Celebrity Pig (of which he is patron), is made up of learning disabled actors. In August 2006, Eccleston filmed New Orleans, Mon Amour with Elisabeth Moss. The film was directed by Michael Almereyda and shot in post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans. It was released in 2008 to film festivals in America and Italy.

Late in 2006 he starred in Perfect Parents, an ITV drama written and directed by Joe Ahearne, who had directed him in Doctor Who.[26] Eccleston joined the cast of the NBC TV series Heroes in the episode "Godsend", which was broadcast on 22 January 2007. Eccleston played a character named Claude who has the power of invisibility, and helps Peter Petrelli with his powers.[27] Eccleston appeared as the Rider in a film adaptation of Susan Cooper's novel The Dark Is Rising, which opened in the USA on 5 October 2007.

Eccleston appeared on the BBC Four World Cinema Award show in February 2008, arguing the merits of five international hits such as The Lives of Others and Pan's Labyrinth with Jonathan Ross and Archie Panjabi. In 2009, Eccleston starred opposite Archie Panjabi in a short film called The Happiness Salesman. Eccleston agreed to do the film because of Panjabi and the fact that it was a winner of the British Short Screenplay Competition. He also appeared as the villainous Destro in the G.I. Joe film, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.[28] Eccleston also appeared in an episode of The Sarah Silverman Program as the titular cult favourite science fiction hero in a show-within-the-show called "Dr. Laser Rage", possibly in reference to his stint in Doctor Who.

Eccleston was cast as John Lennon in a BBC production called Lennon Naked which aired in the UK on 23 June 2010,[29][30] with Eccleston playing the title role, and Naoko Mori, who had previously appeared with him in Doctor Who, as Yoko Ono. In November 2010, Eccleston starred in the first episode of BBC One anthology drama Accused. He won an International Emmy Award for his role. In May 2011, he starred as Joseph Bede in The Shadow Line, a seven-part television drama serial for BBC Two.

On 31 December 2011, Eccleston played the role of Pod Clock in an adaptation of Mary Norton's children's novel The Borrowers on BBC One. In July 2012, he starred in the political thriller Blackout on BBC One. In the same month, he starred as Creon in an adaptation of Antigone at the Royal National Theatre; his performance in the play was called "charismatic" and "intense".[31]

In 2013, Eccleston portrayed the villainous Malekith in Thor: The Dark World, the sequel to Thor and the eighth instalment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.[32] Starting in 2014, he portrayed the regular character The Reverend Matt Jamison on the HBO drama series The Leftovers.[33]

Eccleston began appearing in 2016 as Maurice Scott in the BBC drama The A Word. Maurice is the eccentric but lovable dad to his daughter who, with her husband, has an autistic son. The second series began airing in November 2017 both in the UK and the US, where The A Word airs on SundanceTV. A third series was confirmed during his chat with the audience following a showing of Shallow Grave at the Norwich Film Festival. Cast member Lee Ingleby was quoted as saying, "We’ve always planned on doing it every two years." Series 3 of The A Word is set to air in the spring of 2020.[34][35]

Eccleston has played the lead role in the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Macbeth in 2018.[36] Later that year he also starred opposite Tom Wilkinson as Harvey, head of the Guild of Assassins in hitman comedy Dead In A Week (or your money back)[37] .

Personal life

Eccleston married copywriter Mischka, 20 years his junior, in November 2011.[38] They had their first child, Albert, in February 2012.[39][40] Their second child, Esme, was born in 2013.[5][41] They were divorced in December 2015.

Eccleston formerly identified as an atheist. He later reaffirmed that he was an atheist in a 2019 interview.[42]

He is a supporter of Manchester United[43] and was a regular marathon runner until 2000.[4][44]

In September 2007, as part of a £9.5m building project, Salford's Pendleton College named its new 260-seat auditorium the Eccleston Theatre.[45]

Eccleston became a Mencap charity ambassador on 28 April 2005,[46] and is also a supporter of the British Red Cross.[47] He also supports research for Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia; his father, Ronnie, suffered from vascular dementia in his later years, from 1998 until his death in 2012.[48][49]

Politically, Eccleston has criticised the Conservative Party and expressed concern at opportunities for actors from his background to achieve his level of success in the future. He was quoted in July 2017 as saying, "It's always been a policy of the Conservative government and party to destroy working class identity. If you prevent them from having a cultural voice, which is what's happening, they achieve that. They hate us, they want to destroy us, so we're being ruled out of having a voice."[50]

In his autobiography, Eccleston would describe chronic eating disorders and depression, and said that he had considered suicide. Speaking about his poor mental health, he wrote that he was "a lifelong body hater".[51]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1991	Let Him Have It	Derek Bentley
1992	Death and the Compass	Alonso Zunz
1993	Anchoress	Priest
1994	Shallow Grave	David Stephens
1996	Jude	Jude Fawley
1998	Elizabeth	Duke of Norfolk
	A Price Above Rubies	Sender Horowitz
1999	Heart	Gary Ellis
	Existenz	Seminar Leader
	With or Without You	Vincent Boyd
2000	Gone in 60 Seconds	Raymond Calitri
	The Tyre	Salesman	Short film
2001	The Others	Charles Stewart
	The Invisible Circus	Wolf
	This Little Piggy	Cabbie	Short film
	Strumpet	Strayman
2002	24 Hour Party People	Boethius
	I Am Dina	Leo Zhukovsky
	Revengers Tragedy	Vindici
	28 Days Later	Major Henry West
2007	The Seeker	The Rider
2008	New Orleans, Mon Amour	Dr. Henry
2009	G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra	James McCullen / Destro
	Amelia	Fred Noonan
2010	The Happiness Salesman	Salesman	Short film
2012	Song for Marion	James Harris
2013	Thor: The Dark World	Malekith
2015	Legend	Leonard "Nipper" Read
2018	Dead In A Week (Or Your Money Back)	Harvey
	Where Hands Touch	Heinz

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1990	Blood Rights	Dick	Episode #1.1
	Casualty	Stephen Hills	Episode: " A Reasonable Man"
1991	Inspector Morse	Terrence Mitchell	Episode: "Second Time Around"
	Chancer	Radio	Episode: "Jo"
	Boon	Mark	Episode: "Cover Up"
1992	Rachel's Dream	Man in Dream	Television short
	Poirot	Frank Carter	Episode: "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe"
	Friday on my Mind	Sean Maddox	3 episodes
	Business with Friends	Angel Morris	Television film
1993–1994	Cracker	DCI David Bilborough	10 episodes
1995	Hearts and Minds	Drew Mackenzie	4 episodes
1996	Our Friends in the North	Nicky Hutchinson	9 episodes
	Hillsborough	Trevor Hicks	Television film
1999	Killing Time – The Millennium Poem	Millennium Man
2000	Wilderness Men	Alexander Von Humboldt	3 episodes
	Clocking Off	Jim Calvert	2 episodes
2001	Othello	Ben Jago	Television film
	Linda Green	Tom Sherry / Neil Sherry	Episode: "Twins"
2002	The League of Gentlemen	Dougal Siepp	Episode: "How the Elephant Got Its Trunk"
	Flesh and Blood	Joe Broughton	Television film
	The King and Us	Anthony	Television film
	Sunday	General Ford	Television film
2003	The Second Coming	Stephen Baxter	2 episodes
2005	Doctor Who	Ninth Doctor	Series 1; 13 episodes
2005–2007	Kings and Pharaohs	Pharaoh Rameses	Lead role
2006	Perfect Parents	Stuart	Television film
2007	Heroes	Claude	5 episodes
2008	The Sarah Silverman Program	Dr. Lazer Rage	Episode: "I Thought My Dad Was Dead, But It Turns Out He's Not"
2010	Lennon Naked	John Lennon	Television film
	Accused	Willy Houlihan	Episode: "Willy's Story"
2011	The Shadow Line	Joseph Bede	7 episodes
	The Borrowers	Pod Clock	Television film
2012	Blackout	Daniel Demoys	3 episodes
2013	The Day of the Doctor	Ninth Doctor	Television special (archival footage)
2013	Lucan	John Aspinall	2 episodes
2014–2017	The Leftovers	Matt Jamison	23 episodes
2015	Fortitude	Professor Stoddart	3 episodes
	Safe House	Robert	4 episodes
2016–present	The A Word	Maurice Scott	18 episodes
2016	The Life of Rock with Brian Pern	Luke Dunmore	2 episodes
2017–present	Ambulance	Narrator (voice)	16 episodes
2017	Manchester: 100 Days After the Attack	Narrator (voice)	Television special
2018	Come Home	Greg	3 episodes
	King Lear	Oswald	Television film
	Danger Mouse	J. Woolington Sham (voice)	Episode: "No More Mr Ice Guy"
2019	2019: A Year in the Life of a Year	Himself

Stage

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988	A Streetcar Named Desire	Pablo Gonzalez	Bristol Old Vic
1989	Dona Rosita the Spinster	Phyllida Lloyd
1990	Bent		Royal National Theatre
	Abingdon Square
	Aide-Memoire		Royal Court Theatre
1993	Waiting at the Water's Edge	Will	Bush Theatre
2000	Miss Julie	Jean	Haymarket Theatre
2002	Hamlet	Hamlet	West Yorkshire Playhouse
2004	Electricity	Jakey
2009	A Doll's House	Neil Kelman	Donmar Warehouse
2012	Antigone	Creon	Royal National Theatre
2018	Macbeth	Macbeth	Royal Shakespeare Theatre
			Barbican Theatre, London

Performances with unknown dates

• Woyzeck – Birmingham Repertory Theatre
• The Wonder – Gate Theatre
• Encounters – National Theatre Studio

Music videos

Year	Artist	Title
2003	I Am Kloot	"Proof"
2010	I Am Kloot	"Northern Skies"

Radio and narration

Year	Title	Role
1998	Room of Leaves	Frank
	Pig Paradise	Jack
2001	Some Fantastic Place	Narrator
	Bayeux Tapestry	Harold
2002	The Importance of Being Morrissey	Narrator
	Iliad	Achilles
2003	Cromwell – Warts and All	Narrator
2004	Life Half Spent	Roger
2005	Crossing the Dark Sea	Squaddie
	Sacred Nation	Narrator
	Born to be Different	Narrator
	A Day in the Death of Joe Egg	Brian
	E=mc² (Einstein's Big Idea)	Narrator
	Dubai Dreams	Narrator
	Wanted: New Mum and Dad	Narrator
	Children in Need	Narrator
	This Sceptred Isle	Various Characters
2006	The 1970s: That Was The Decade That Was	Narrator
2008	The Devil's Christmas	Narrator
2009	Wounded	Narrator
2011	The Bomb Squad	Narrator
2012	Timeshift: Wrestling's Golden Age: Grapplers, Grunts & Grannies	Narrator
2013	Nineteen Eighty-Four	Protagonist
2016	Ambulance	Narrator
2019	Cold Bath Street a Lancashire ghost story by A.J. Hartley	Narrator
	I Love the Bones of You: My Father And The Making Of Me	Narrador
2020	Schreber in Radio Three's dramatization by Anthony Burgess of the Memoir of Daniel Schreber	Protagonist

Audio dramas

Year	Title	Role
2021	Doctor Who: The Ninth Doctor Adventures – Volume One[23]	Ninth Doctor
	Doctor Who: The Ninth Doctor Adventures – Volume Two[23]	Ninth Doctor
	Doctor Who: The Ninth Doctor Adventures – Volume Three[23]	Ninth Doctor
2022	Doctor Who: The Ninth Doctor Adventures – Volume Four[23]	Ninth Doctor

Books

Year	Title	Type
2019	I Love the Bones of You: My Father And The Making Of Me	Autobiography

Awards and nominations

BAFTA Awards

BAFTA TV Awards

Year	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
1997	Best Actor	Our Friends in the North	Nominated
2004		The Second Coming	Nominated

BAFTA Cymru Awards

Year	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
2005	Best Actor	Doctor Who	Nominated

Emmy Awards

International Emmy Awards

Year	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
2011	Best Actor	Accused	Won
2019		Come Home	Nominated

Others

Year	Work	Award	Category	Result
1997	Jude	Golden Satellite Award	Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama	Nominated
	Our Friends in the North	Broadcasting Press Guild Award	Best Actor	Won
2003	Flesh and Blood	Royal Television Society Award	Best Actor	Won
2005	Doctor Who	TV Choice Award	Best Actor	Won
		National Television Awards	Most Popular Actor	Won
		Broadcasting Press Guild Award	Best Actor	Nominated
2007	Heroes	SyFy Genre Awards	Best Special Guest	Nominated
2015	The Leftovers	Satellite Award	Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries, or Television Film	Nominated
		Critics' Choice Television Award	Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series	Nominated
2016		Critics' Choice Television Award	Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series	Nominated

References

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45. Pendleton College: Pendleton Theatres, PendColl.ac.uk.
46. Celebrity Ambassadors: Christopher Eccleston Archived 27 November 2009 at the Wayback Machine, Mencap.org.uk
47. Entertainment and Artists Supporters Network: Christopher Eccleston Archived 4 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine, RedCross.org.uk.
48. Christopher Eccleston: 'Dementia dismantled my father's personality' Archived 5 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine The Guardian, 31 May 2015
49. "Christopher Eccleston on accent, class and difficult days on Doctor Who". Radio Times. Archived from the original on 26 September 2019. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
50. Greig, Finlay (12 July 2017). "Christopher Eccleston: 'All areas of the arts are becoming ivory towers'". i News. Archived from the original on 15 March 2018. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
51. The Guardian 16 September 2019 eccleston reveals he is lifelong anorexic Archived 18 September 2019 at the Wayback Machine

External links

• Christopher Eccleston on IMDb
• Christopher Eccleston at AllMovie
• Christopher Eccleston at the BFI's Screenonline