Christopher Eccleston Christopher Eccleston ( born 16 February 1964 ) is an English actor . He portrayed the ninth incarnation of the Doctor , from " Rose " to " The Parting of the Ways " . Biography . As a child , Eccleston ' s ambition was to play football for his beloved Manchester United , but he found himself to be a much better actor than a footballer , and , inspired by television dramas such as , he took to acting as his profession . He trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama ( the same school attended by " Doctor Who " predecessor Peter Davison ) , and first came to public attention as Derek Bentley in the 1991 film " Let Him Have It " , based on true events . However , it was a regular role in the TV series " Cracker " ( 1993 – 94 ) — culminating in his character ' s dramatic death in the second series — that made him a recognisable figure in the UK . He appeared in the low - budget Danny Boyle film " Shallow Grave " in 1994 , in which he co - starred with the up - and - coming Ewan McGregor . The same year , he won the part of Nicky Hutchinson in the epic BBC drama serial " Our Friends in the North " , and it was the transmission of this production on BBC Two in 1996 that perhaps really made him into a household name in the UK . His film career has since taken off with a variety of high - profile but rarely major roles , including parts in ( 1996 ) , ( 1998 ) , ( 1999 ) , ( 2000 ) , ( 2001 ) , ( 2001 ) ( 2002 ) and another Danny Boyle film , the horror movie ( 2002 ) . He has starred alongside major Hollywood actresses in smaller independent movies , playing opposite Renée Zellweger in ( 1998 ) and Cameron Diaz in ( 2001 ) . Despite starring in the car - heist movie , he did not actually take his driving test until January 2004 and is only licenced to drive automatic transmission cars . Despite his successful film career , he has continued to appear in a variety of meaty television roles , racking up credits in some of the most challenging and thought - provoking British television dramas of recent years . These have included ( 2000 ) and ( 2002 ) for the BBC and ( 1996 ) , a modern version of " Othello " ( 2002 ) , playing " Ben Jago " , ( the Iago character ) and the religious telefantasy epic ( 2003 ) , for ITV , playing Steve Baxter , the son of God ( Eccleston was an atheist at the time , but is currently agnostic ) . He also finds time for the occasional light - hearted role , as his guest appearances in episodes of the comedy drama ( 2001 ) and macabre sketch show ( 2002 ) have shown . On stage , his highest - profile production has been his starring role in " Hamlet " at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds in 2002 . The West Yorkshire Playhouse is a favourite venue of his , and he most recently returned there in the new play " Electricity " , which ran in March and April 2004 . A very highly - regarded actor , he has twice been nominated in the Best Actor category at the British Academy Television Awards , the UK ' s premier TV awards ceremony . His first nomination came in 1997 for " Our Friends in the North " , when he lost out to Nigel Hawthorne ( for " The Fragile Heart " ) , and he was nominated again in 2004 for " The Second Coming " , this time being beaten by Bill Nighy ( for " State of Play " ) . He did , however , triumph in the Best Actor categories at the 1997 Broadcasting Press Guild Awards and the Royal Television Society Awards , winning for " Our Friends in the North " . He won the RTS Best Actor award for a second time in 2003 , this time for his performance in " Flesh and Blood " . In 2005 he received the Most Popular Actor award in the National Television Awards for " Doctor Who " . 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 " . It was announced that Eccleston was to play the ninth incarnation of the Doctor in the revival of the legendary BBC science fiction television series , which started airing in March 2005 . The series executive producer and writer Russell T Davies has said that Eccleston was always the first choice for the part . Despite this , the tabloid press ran reports that Bill Nighy had been offered the role first , but declined . In the 2005 documentary series " Doctor Who Confidential " , Davies said that he " wouldn ' t have thought Chris [ Eccleston ] would be interested " . Eccleston has the distinction of being the first actor to play the Doctor who was actually born " after " the start of the original television series ; he was born two weeks after the famous first Dalek story was originally broadcast in the UK . 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 , owing to fears that he would become typecast . On 4 April , the BBC revealed that Eccleston ' s " statement " had been falsely attributed and released without his consent . The BBC admitted that they had broken an agreement made in January not to disclose publicly the fact that he only intended to do one season . The statement had been made after journalists made queries to the press office . Eccleston ' s role as the Doctor was taken over by David Tennant at the end of the last episode of the 2005 series , " The Parting of the Ways " . 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 part continued to be a subject of discussion 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 " . Ten days later , Eccleston told " The Daily Mirror " this was not true , and expressed some irritation at Davies for his comments . He later indicated in an interview about another TV show he worked on , " Lennon Naked " , that he didn ' t enjoy the working environment . After " Doctor Who " . In June 2005 it was announced at the Cannes Film Festival that Eccleston had signed to appear in a British - made sci - fi romantic comedy called " Double Life " , about a man who thinks he loves twin sisters . It was billed as " a tale of love and obsession " and would be set in Budapest . The film was to be directed by Joe Ahearne ( who directed Eccleston in " Doctor Who " ) and was being produced by author Lynda La Plante ' s company Cougar Films . As of 2016 this film has not been released . 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 . 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 . On 20 December 2005 it was announced that Eccleston would lead the cast as playwright , poet and spy Christopher Marlowe in Peter Whelan ' s " The School of Night " . Directed by Bill Alexander , " The School of Night " was due to preview from 16 February but on 6 January 2006 the production was cancelled without a full explanation . In 2009 , Eccleston made arguably the highest - profile media appearances by a former Doctor actor to date by playing the villain in the 2009 , which was followed a few months later by his appearance as navigator opposite Hilary Swank in " Amelia " , a biographical film about Amelia Earhart . In 2010 , Christopher Eccleston played John Lennon in the BBC4 biopic where he was reunited with " Doctor Who " ( and " Torchwood " ) actress Naoko Mori , who made her first appearance in the episode " Aliens of London " , alongside Eccleston . In 2013 , though approached with a chance to reprise his role in " The Day of the Doctor " , Christopher Eccleston turned down the offer to return for the fiftieth anniversary . For this reason , the regeneration of John Hurt ' s War Doctor into the Ninth Doctor is not shown to completion . The original plan was for the Ninth Doctor to have been the one fighting the Time War , but since Eccleston turned down the offer showrunner Steven Moffat created the War Doctor character to take his place . However , much like every other Doctor actor before David Tennant , he appeared in archive footage in the special , in the " saving Gallifrey " and ending scenes .