Eccleston was asked to return for the 50th anniversary Doctor Who special, “The Day of the Doctor,” which saw previous Doctor David Tennant join then-current Doctor Matt Smith, as well as a special cameo from Fourth Doctor Tom Baker in a role known as “The Curator.”
“I was asked about the 50th anniversary episode, and it was written by Steven Moffat, so obviously I was really interested,” recounted Eccleston. “But, when I read the script, I felt that it was basically myself, Matt, and Dave riffing off the fact that we used to be the Doctors. I, personally, didn’t feel the narrative was strong enough, particularly for the Ninth Doctor, because I had taken quite a lot of abuse in my own country when I left. As the show was being celebrated, I was being abused in the press, and that was hard to take. And very confusing. So I looked at it and I thought, ‘Is this really the way I want to come back?’ And I decided it wasn’t.”
With Eccleston out, the project would go on to cast John Hurt as The War Doctor, a role that presumably came about later in the script development process. Eccleston praised the end result.
“I’ve read a lot of scripts, so I understand the strengths of scripts, and I was sent the new draft, which was without me and with the late, great, and one of my big heroes John Hurt,” said Eccleston. “I just thought that script was immaculate. And I think it added to the canon of Doctor Who in a way that me coming back wouldn’t. I think the War Doctor was a brilliant working of Steven Moffat’s imagination, and I loved watching him do that.”
Eccleston spoke positively of Moffat’s skills as a writer on multiple occasions during the panel, calling his Season 1 two-parter “The Empty Child” and “The Doctor Dances,” which Moffat wrote under the Davies era, his favorite episodes to film.
“They were written by Steven Moffat, and I felt I really understood what he wanted from the Doctor,” said Eccleston. “I was never as sure what Russell wanted. What I could see with Russell was exactly what he wanted from Rose, Billie Piper, I think that was his strength. I think Steven’s writing of the Doctor, or my Doctor, was really a gift to me.”
