Who is Christopher Eccleston?

Before Who

Born in 1964, Christopher Eccleston left school with few qualifications ("Because I was a lazy bugger and didn't apply myself"). He worked as a labourer for a time, but then enrolled at a technical college – where, for a bit of fun, he decided to join the drama society. He was rather surprised by how much he enjoyed it, and proved so talented that he secured a place at an acting school.

After doing his time in bit parts on Casualty, Inspector Morse and the like, he got his big break with the gritty 1991 film Let Him Have It, about the controversial hanging of British criminal Derek Bentley. Over the years to come, Eccleston proved himself one of the country's most intense young actors in shows like Cracker and Our Friends in the North, as well as major movies like Shallow Grave, 28 Days Later and the Nicole Kidman blockbuster The Others.

His Who

When Eccleston heard that Doctor Who was coming back in 2005, he was keen to play the part simply because he admired the show's chief writer, Russell T Davies - the two had previously worked together on the 2003 drama The Second Coming, in which Eccleston had played the Son of God.

Davies was only too happy to cast an actor of Eccleston's calibre as the Ninth Doctor, and he was rewarded with a completely modern take on the character. With his cropped hair, leather jacket and straightforward approach, the Ninth was far removed from the fops, dandies and bohemians who'd come before him. And, while he could be manic and excitable, he also had reserves of darkness – haunted by the knowledge that his people, the Time Lords, had been wiped out in a cataclysmic war with the Daleks. And, while Eccleston only played the Doctor for one season, it was enough to firmly establish the character for millions of new fans, who discovered the joys of hiding behind the sofa for the first time.

After Who

Eccleston's certainly been busy since handing the TARDIS over to Tenth Doctor David Tennant. His first project after Who was the 2006 TV drama Perfect Parents, in which he played a dad who pretends to be Catholic to get his child into a good school. Then came the hit US series Heroes, in which he took the role of a bitter, existentialist sort of chap who also happens to have the power of invisibility. And coming up soon is the long-awaited movie adaptation of Susan Cooper's classic children's novel The Dark is Rising, in which we'll get to see Eccleston in full bad guy mode.

Who knew?

Eccleston may have a reputation as one of our grittier actors, but he's also dabbled in dark comedy – once making a cameo appearance in The League of Gentleman as Dougal Siepp, eccentric owner of Royston Vasey's "cat theatre". Perhaps the Doctor having fun in disguise? We'd like to think so.

Who says...

Eccleston could not have predicted how satisfying it would be to portray the Ninth Doctor. "It's the closest I've got to playing myself," he said. "It's a version of myself as a child, the way I felt about the world and everything in it. And, in all the 20 years I've been acting, I've never enjoyed a response so much as the one I've had from children. And I'm carrying that in my heart forever."