Doctor Who Trivia
9: Lots of planets have a North
It was a big coup for BBC Wales to get a major star like Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor – particularly as he’d very firmly passed on the chance to play the Eighth (who was eventually portrayed by Paul McGann)."I was asked to audition for the Doctor Who TV film six years ago," Eccleston revealed. "It was a definite no from me as Doctor Who hadn’t resonated with me for a long time."
So why did he want to play the Ninth? He just wanted to work again with Russell T Davies (chief writer of the new Doctor Who series), with whom he’d previously worked on the drama The Second Coming. And so the Northern Doctor was born.
10: Accidental inspiration
Torchwood, the new Doctor Who spin-off, got its name thanks to TV pirates - the real kind.
When the Eccleston Doctor Who was being filmed, the producers were so desperate to prevent preview tapes being stolen by pirates that they took the security measure of labelling the tapes 'Torchwood' – an anagram of Doctor Who.
So when Russell T Davies needed a name for an alien-fighting organisation in the series, the answer was obvious: the Torchwood Institute.
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