Eccleston to play Dr Who with more 'emotion'

The actor playing the new Dr Who says he wants TV’s time lord to show more “feelings and emotions” in a bid to move away from “spooky escapism”.

Christopher Eccleston, who is to become the ninth Doctor, said that modern audiences “turn on the television to look into people’s souls”, the Daily Telegraph reported.

“That’s basically what they’re looking for, human feelings and emotions,” he said. “The rest, really, is icing. Daleks and all that, is really just icing”.

The BBC set out its intentions for a new-look Dr Who when Eccleston, 40, widely known for his roles in serious dramas, was named as the surprise choice as the fictional “Time Lord”.

While Dr Who’s new writer was announced as Russell T Davies, who penned the controversial Channel 4 drama Queer As Folk.

The series, which began 41 years ago and has been off screen since 1989, would be a radical departure from the Doctor’s previously “foppish image”, the BBC has indicated.

Eccleston said he best remembered Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker in the role and found the performance of Patrick Troughton as “compelling”.

He said: “I hope that I’m going to go to that era a little bit, and give weight and ambiguity to it.

“I don’t want to be involved in something that’s just spooky escapism.”

He revealed that he had been offered to play Dr Who in a film version eight years ago but turned it down because he did not want to be type-casted through the part.