CHRISTOPHER Eccleston has revealed how his time fronting the Doctor Who revival haunted him later in his career.
The actor broke onto the sci-fi scene when the cult show made its celebrated return in 2005, alongside Billie Piper.
When it came to moving on with US series Heroes, in which Eccleston played Claude Rains, a man with invisibility powers, he claimed show bosses tried to style him after the Doctor.
However, he was having none of it, and detailed how he pushed back in his autobiography I Love the Bones of You: My Father And The Making Of Me.
“I attended the costume fitting only to find the show’s writers and execs waiting for me,” Eccleston said of his time working stateside.
“They said they wanted me to wear a scarf. I knew exactly why – Doctor Who,” he went on.
“I wasn’t going to do that, I didn’t appreciate the self-referencing element. How was that going to help me create a new character?”
Eccleston putting his foot down not only rattled the producers, but it ultimately failed, as they found other ways to give a nod to the Doctor.
“My objection made them sit up a little – ‘This guy has got a mind of his own.’ And one of the worst things you can have as an actor is a mind of your own,” Eccleston continued.
“If you really want to climb the ladder, leave your brain at the studio door.
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“‘I’m not doing it,’ I told them. But you can’t win with these people.
“They inserted the line ‘Fantastic!’ into the script. I didn’t realise until too late that it was a trope from Doctor Who.”
Eccleston previously revealed how during his time on Doctor Who he was waging a secret battle against his anorexia.
He also felt that his role, the 9th Doctor, should have gone to a woman.
Elsewhere, he spoke of how he turned down the 50th anniversary special episode because he felt it didn’t do him justice.
