Christopher Eccleston Quotes & Trivia

Quotes

A year later, and I'm average again.

Any horror element is as much psychological as special effects.

Culturally we've always felt it important to express the life of the country, and working class comes into that.

I care more about telly because it made me an actor and there's a much more immediate response to TV. You can address the political or cultural fabric of your country.

I don't like to watch playback. But being on the set, watching the way the camera is being moved and the way the light is being used, you do get an idea of it.

I don't see a lot of films. I'm quite choosy, but there's certain films that stick out.

I got a tiny part in a play, auditioned for another one and got that as well. Not only that, the first finished on the Saturday and the other started on the Monday which is like an actor's dream!

I had bags of energy as a kid.

I had to help to coax the performances and I really enjoyed that extra responsibility.

I heard the various terms of abuse at school and probably indulged them in the way you do as a kid.

I know exactly where I've come from, I know exactly who my mum and dad are.

I know what I need as an actor and I trust my instincts about scripts, but I'd be seriously lacking technically, as a director.

I love Dead Ringers. A democratic set, the work was taken seriously.

I love my accent, I thought it was useful in Gone In 60 Seconds because the standard villain is upper class or Cockney. My Northern accent would be an odd clash opposite Nic Cage.

I only ever worked on interiors, and an interior is an interior. I don't know what they did about exteriors.

I prefer British television in one sense because I still feel that the best-written scripts I get are for television.

I think film and television are really a director's medium, whereas theatre is the actor's medium.

I think the themes of belonging and parentage and love are obviously universal.

I think theatre is by far the most rewarding experience for an actor. You get 4 weeks to rehearse your character and then at 7:30 pm you start acting and nobody stops you, acting with your entire soul.

I used my instincts. It's very easy to imagine how you'd feel, actually. I just had to tell the narrative.

I want to direct but I think I'd be bloody awful and I don't want to produce but I think I'd be a very good producer because if I believed in something I'd be able to protect it.

I wasn't always such a great fan of Shakespeare, mind you. I can guess we all at one time had it rammed down our necks at school, which tends to take the edge off it.

I went being unemployed for three years to being the lead in a British feature in the days when we only made two a year, 1990. It was ridiculous really.

I've never been up with the times, always been slightly out of step.

It can be very difficult to trace your birth parents.

It must be heartbreaking for a filmmaker to actually start something like that. And then to have some terrible, terrible weather problems.

Jacobean plays, before Shakespeare, were particularly visceral.

Lots of middle class people are running around pretending to be Cockney.

Many times I've sat with a camera and another actor and seen all their fears and insecurities and struggles. You want to support them and help them as much as you can.

My parents always knew I was hopeless at everything else, I was fortunate in that I was backed all the way. I came to it late and only because I thought there'd be loads of women and drinking!

Often as a child you see someone with a learning disability or Down's Syndrome and my mum and dad were always very quick to explain exactly what was going on and to be in their own way inclusive and welcoming.

On The Others, very atmospheric and probably mysterious is how I would say it felt to be on the set. It felt just a little uneasy, the atmosphere that we were trying to capture.

Rather than disliking theatre, I've expressed a preference for television because it tends to deal in its small way much more with issues and is able to reach a broader church of people than theatre.

Television, although It's in steep decline, still occasionally gives voices to people who don't have voices.

The film is about Joe discovering who his mother and father are and his relationship with them, and the identity crisis he goes through once he finds out who his parents are.

The money is better in films and television. But in terms of acting, theatre is more rewarding.

The person who gives you your first job is so important in any industry.

Theatre is as close to football as you can get, its a thrilling, physical experience.

Theatre is expensive to go to. I certainly felt when I was growing up that theatre wasn't for us. Theatre still has that stigma to it. A lot of people feel intimidated and underrepresented in theatre.

There are films I saw as a younger man, which I think always tend to form your taste.

They probably think I'm Australian.

Twelve years on sets watching directors, I've taken a bit from everybody and rejected a lot.

We all need a firm sense of identity.

We like to think that our parents made a decision to bring us into the world.

What goes down on film is different to what you see with the naked eye.

Trivia

Eccleston sat on the Film Jury for the second Amazonas International Film Festival, in November 2005. The director Norman Jewison was chairman of the Jury.

Eccleston has older twin brothers and one, Alan Eccleston, appears in the party scene in Heart.

Eccleston is a keen marathon runner and usually enters a number of competitions each year.

In May 2006, it was reported that Eccleston was in advanced negotiations to star in a Sky One revival of the seminal 1960s drama series "The Prisoner", as Number Six, the character originally played by series creator Patrick McGoohan. Eccleston's agent has since categorically denied these rumours.

In May 2006, Eccleston appeared as the narrator in a production of Romeo and Juliet at The Lowry theatre in his home city of Salford.

Relatively unemployed as an actor for some years after his graduation, Eccleston took a variety of odd jobs at a supermarket, on building sites, and as an artist's model.

Although he agreed to do one Doctor Who Christmas Special, he was replaced by David Tennant before this played out. This is because the producers thought that the first series should have definite ending, rather than continuing into the special episode.

Christopher is also known as Chris Eccleston. But, he has surprisingly never been credited with that name.

Christopher's first televisual appearance was in 1990 in Casualty.

Christopher has appeared on Breakfast three times.

Christopher has appeared in Chancer.

Christopher appeared in Miss Julie as Jean in 2000 at The Haymarket Theatre.

Christopher has appeared in A Street Car Named Desire on stage in 1988.

He starred alongside Billie Piper, John Barrowman, Camille Coduri and Noel Clarke in Doctor Who.

Christopher played Major Henry West in 28 Days Later.

Christopher narrated the English version of E=mc2.

Christopher's first film was Blood Rights (1990).

Christopher has appeared in 13 episodes of Doctor Who (2005).

Christopher has appeared in over 40 shows.

The BBC admitted that they announced Christopher's departure from Doctor Who a bit too early.

Christopher appeared on Breakfast in 2005 while visiting the Tsunami victims families.

Christopher's earliest memory of Doctor Who is Patrick Troughton in the black and white episodes of the late 1960's.

Chris appeared in the film Jude, and in one of his scenes he stars alongside David Tennant who has a non-speaking part. Both have had the honour of playing Doctor Who.

Chris is a fan of Cracker in which he appeared in as DCI David Billborough.

In his spare time, Chris enjoys singing, athletics, and football.

At the age of 25, Chris made his professional stage debut in the Bristol Old Vic's production of A Streetcar Named Desire.

In 1997, Chris was nominated for the Golden Satellite Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama for: Jude (1996).

In 1997, Chris was nominated for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor for: Our Friends in the North (1996).

Chris narrated The Importance of Being Morrissey (2003), a documentary offering rare access to the former Smiths' frontman Steven Morrissey. The show was originally broadcast on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom in June, 2003.

Chris appeared in indie band I Am Kloot's music video for "Dr Kloot".

Chris is one of three Doctor Who actors who portrayed "The Doctor" on TV to appear in an episode of Casualty (1986). The others are Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy.

Chris followed in a long line of distinguished actors to have portrayed the character of Doctor Who on screen. William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy all played the role in the television series, while Peter Cushing, Paul McGann and Rowan Atkinson took the part in spin offs for the show.

Chris is a supporter of Manchester United Football club.

Chris often returns to his home of Salford, Lancashire to fight for local issues and is a patron of the arts for the area.