 Tall and gaunt, with bony, long-nosed features and a deep, resonant voice, Eccleston is suited to playing intense, brooding characters. But he can also bring a quirky saturnine humour to lighter roles, and made an offbeat but effective choice for the ninth incarnation of Doctor Who (BBC, 2005- ).
He was born in Salford, Lancashire, the youngest of three sons in a working-class family, and attended local schools. At 19, inspired to an acting career by hard-hitting TV dramas like Boys from the Blackstuff (BBC, 1982), he completed a two-year performance course at Salford Tech before training at the Central School of Speech and Drama. He made his professional stage debut in 1988 with a support role in A Streetcar Named Desire at the Bristol Old Vic, and landed a couple of parts at the National Theatre, but for a year or two roles were hard to come by. His screen breakthrough came in Let Him Have It (d. Peter Medak, 1991), playing the ill-fated Derek Bentley, hanged for anothers crime.
Eccleston made his television debut in 1990, and soon started getting major roles. He was a sceptical senior cop, DCI Bilborough, in Cracker (ITV, 1993-94) until, at his own request, he was written out of the series, memorably murdered by Robert Carlyles avenging killer in a story channelling writer Jimmy McGovern's fury at the Hillsbrough stadium disaster. Two years later he was one of the four leads (with Gina McKee, Daniel Craig and Mark Strong) in Peter Flannerys modern-day political saga Our Friends in the North (BBC, 1996). In between these he starred in Danny Boyles debut film, the black comedy Shallow Grave (1994), along with Kerry Fox and Ewan McGregor; his character, seemingly the most inhibited of the trio, reveals an unexpected talent for calculated violence.
He was ideal casting as the dogged but ultimately doomed title character in Michael Winterbottoms Jude (1996), adapted from Thomas Hardys Jude the Obscure, co-starring with Kate Winslet, and made a grim, befurred Duke of Norfolk in Elizabeth (Shekhar Kapur, 1998). After a small but key role as the Seminar Leader in David Cronenbergs eXistenZ (US, 1999) he made his Hollywood debut as a British crime boss in the actioner Gone in 60 Seconds (US, 2000). He played Nicole Kidmans husband in the atmospheric ghost story The Others (US, 2001), before re-teaming with Michael Winterbottom for the Madchester-scene drama 24 Hour Party People (2002), and with Danny Boyle for the horror movie 28 Days Later (2002). In Alex Coxs punk updating of Middletons The Revengers Tragedy (2002) he played the protagonist, Vindici, with dark, sardonic humour.
On TV Eccleston played Trevor Hicks, whose two daughters died in the Hillsborough disaster, in McGoverns drama Hillsborough (ITV, 1996). (Thirteen years later, he acted as the real-life Hickss best man at his wedding.) He was one of many guest stars in Paul Abbott's high-impact factory drama Clocking Off (BBC, 2001-2004) and a discreetly malevolent Iago - or rather 'Ben Jago' - in Andrew Davies' updated Othello (ITV, 2001) In Russell T Daviess eccentric telefantasy The Second Coming (2003) he played a Manchester video-shop assistant who believes himself to be the son of God.
Davies, who had persuaded the BBC to revive the cult fantasy series Doctor Who (dormant since 1996), was instrumental in choosing Eccleston to play the ninth Doctor. A surprise choice, the actor won over many sceptical fans with his reading of the character: a playful, even manic, curiosity laced with moments of foreboding gloom. However, Eccleston quit the role after a single series. At the time it was officially explained that he wanted to avoid typecasting; but he later said, I left Doctor Who because I could not get along with the senior people. I left because of politics. I did not see eye-to-eye with them. I didnt agree with the way things were being run. I didnt like the culture that had grown up around the series.... My face didnt fit and Im sure they were glad to see the back of me. The important thing is that I succeeded. It was a great part. I loved playing him.
Since The Doctor, his highest-profile role to date, Eccleston has appeared in other fantasy roles. He was a character with the power of invisibility in the NBC TV series Heroes (US, 2007), the villainous Rider in the film adaptation of Susan Coopers young-adult novel The Dark Is Rising (US, 2007) and the similarly nefarious Destro in GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009). In a BBC biopic, Lennon Naked (2009), he was cast as John Lennon. He played morally compromised characters in McGovern's Accused (BBC, 2010-12), and Bill Gallagher's Blackout (BBC, 2012), but the most powerful of his recent roles was as Joseph Bede, seemingly quiet consultant to a crime empire who shows his darker side when obliged to head up the operation, in the BBCs labyrinthine seven-part noir thriller The Shadow Line (2011).
Philip Kemp
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