Absolutely Doctor Who// Series 11

Christopher Eccleston says Doctor Who exit almost destroyed his career

Monday, March 12, 2018

Christopher Eccleston has claimed that his exit from Doctor Who almost destroyed his career in a new interview.

Speaking to The Guardian, Eccleston reflected on his decision to leave the iconic show after just one series and didn't hold back on the BBC's handling of the situation, as well as his role in rebooting the classic show.

"What happened around Doctor Who almost destroyed my career. I gave them a hit show and I left with dignity and then they put me on a blacklist," he alleged.

"I was carrying my own insecurities as it was something I had never done before and then I was abandoned, vilified in the tabloid press and blacklisted. I was told by my agent at the time, 'The BBC regime is against you. You're going to have to get out of the country and wait for regime change.'"

Digital Spy has reached out to the BBC for comment.

Since his Doctor Who exit, Eccleston has appeared in BBC shows like The Shadow Line and The A Word, but famously turned down the chance to appear in Doctor Who's 50th anniversary special, something Steven Moffat spoke about earlier this year.

"Christopher Eccleston said no, and that was awful, that was just awful. I was so depressed that day, because I'd written most of the script and he was in it. I didn't know what to do," he recalled.

Doctor Who series 11 is expected to premiere later this year on BBC One in the UK and BBC America in the US.

Credit: Digital Spy

How the 11th Doctor nearly ended up playing professional football

The Crown star Matt Smith has opened up about the back condition which ended his promising football career.

The actor, 35, suffers from spondylosis and only took up acting after the injury scuppered his chances of making it as a footballer when he was released by Leicester City aged 16.

He told Kirsty Young on Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs: “It was a tough time because I just felt unfulfilled, to be honest, I felt like I was so certain that that is what I was going to do.

“It was very difficult for me to tell people that I had been released because the vain part of me was like, I am that and I am the footballer, you know, and at school I was the footballer and suddenly I wasn’t that,” the former Doctor Who star said.

“Fortuitously there was a drama teacher, Terry Hardingham, who said, ‘you were never meant to be a footballer, I always thought you were really great at acting’.”

Smith said he considered acting to be “a bit girly” at the time, adding: “I kept it secret for a bit.

"But, I got the same sense of freedom doing that, which is really difficult now as an actor, that I did playing football.”

The actor also revealed he had been “thinking about kids quite a lot” and would like “a lot of them”.

“A lot of my friends are having children and dare I say it I think I’d be quite a good dad," he said.

"I guess in the fantasised version of my life I have a big family and loads of dogs and all that,” he said.

Asked about the doubts raised by fans over his age and experience when cast in Doctor Who, Smith said: “I’d walk down the street and people would say things like ‘don’t break it’.

“But I think I’d be quite a good boxer, like I think I’m quite good on the ropes. If you back me into a corner, I’ll come out punching.”

Among his song choices were The Notorious B.I.G’s Juicy, LCD Soundsystem’s All My Friends and Luciano Pavarotti’s Nessun Dorma.

Desert Island Discs is on BBC Radio 4 on Sunday at 11.15am.

Credit: Leicester Mercury

Doctor Who: Series 11 Intros #1 [Fanmade]

Saturday, March 10, 2018

So some of these videos were done before the logo release and some after.

Enjoy these fan made creations.

By It's A Guy Thing Animations

By Aaron S

By david246msi

By Valox

By Casterborous

By Walrus Is In The Matrix

Enjoy these brilliant intros! There are more to come... There is alot of creativity!

Till next time

Emz x

Matt Smith 'nearly turned down Doctor Who'

Actor Matt Smith has revealed he nearly turned down his career-making role as the 11th Doctor in Doctor Who.

Speaking on Desert Island Discs, Smith said he had had "a wobble" after being told he'd be David Tennant's successor.

"I was like, 'I don't think I'm going to do it'," he told BBC Radio 4. "My agent said, 'You're going to do it.'"

He also said he was "the wrong class" to play Prince Philip in The Crown but had pulled it off thanks to "a great wig".

"He's a rock star," Smith told presenter Kirsty Young, revealing he had "kind of sided" with the royal consort he played in two series of the Netflix drama.

Smith made his first appearance as the Doctor in 2010 and continued in the role until 2014, when he was replaced by Peter Capaldi.

The Northampton native said he had "loved every minute" of playing a Time Lord, even if it did lead to some curious encounters.

During the interview, he also recalled seeing tattoos of his face on the flesh of dedicated "Whovians", one of whom had "me and David [Tennant] on both thighs".

Smith described Jodie Whittaker as "a brilliant choice" to play the sci-fi drama's first female Doctor.

"The show relies on big, broad, creative brushstrokes," the actor continued. "It's brilliant, it's high time and she'll be sensational."

Smith said he had not given Whittaker any advice but admitted in the interview that playing the Doctor had sometimes been an ordeal.

"It's the hardest thing you'll ever do in your life," he said, citing the "gargantuan number of lines" as a major factor.

Smith also revealed he had been "thinking about kids quite a lot" recently and that he'd "like a lot of them".

"A lot of my friends are having children," he told Young. "I think I'd be a good dad."

Desert Island Discs is on BBC Radio 4 at 11:15 GMT.

Credit: BBC Entertainment News

Doctor Who: Series 11 - Alan Cumming To Play King James I

Friday, March 9, 2018

Jodie Whittaker's first series of Doctor Who will apparently bring her TARDIS companions face-to-face with proper legend Alan Cumming.

The X-Men and Good Wife star let slip on the latest edition of Will Young and Chris Sweeney's podcast Homo Sapiens that he'll soon start filming a guest appearance as the Scottish monarch King James I.

"I'm about to go and do an episode of Doctor Who," he revealed. "I'm so excited! I've never been in it."

Alan even indicated that King James I could become a recurring figure in the 11th series of Doctor Who when Will and Chris questioned him on if he's going to be "a baddie".

"Like a nice baddie. I'm like a sort of dandy, foppy character who becomes alright in the end," he revealed. "They said he might come back."

Digital Spy has reached out to the BBC for more information about Alan Cumming's guest appearance in Doctor Who.

Cumming joins a long list of acclaimed actors who've played historical figures in Doctor Who — Ian McNeice as Winston Churchill, Pauline Collins as Queen Victoria and Tony Curran as Vincent van Gogh, among them.

On-set photos leaking over the past few weeks have tipped a number of historical adventures for the Thirteenth Doctor and her compatriots in the upcoming 11th series.

Early indications are that one episode will see The Doctor travelling far into the past, while another adventure could feature civil rights activist Rosa Parks in some way.

Info from Digital Spy