Culturess’ Official Ranking of Doctors in Doctor Who
By Ani Bundel
Image via BBC
5. Ninth Doctor: Christopher Eccleston
"“Hello, Rose Tyler. Nice to meet you. RUN FOR YOUR LIFE.”"
As reintroductions to a show that’s been off the air for 16 years (save for one terrible movie), it was a slam dunk. So many things were right with Eccleston, from the accent (“Lots of planets have a north!”) to the intense sense of being lost after being gone for so long.
But it didn’t last. Eccleston had very stubborn ideas of what the Doctor should be and how he should play him. They contrasted deeply with Davies’ vision. It’s frustrating, because that tension between performance and writing is part of what made the best episodes of the first season of the reboot (or Series 27, if you prefer) tick. I know there are people who loved Tennant (and I do too).
But for me, up until Capaldi walked out of the TARDIS this season convinced he has escaped a dinosaur, Eccleston stood as my personal favorite Doctor of the reboot. What can I say? I like my Doctors dark and broody. (Moffat also seems to know how to write for the Dark and Broody ones, as Eccleston’s best turn in his single season was Moffat’s first outing of “The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances.”) It helps make us appreciate those moments more when “just this once, everybody lives.”