Doctor Who Cast: Where Are They Now?

14. Christopher Eccleston - The Ninth Doctor

When it was announced in 2003 that Doctor Who would be returning as a television series for the first time since its cancellation in 1989, the big question on everyone's minds was who would be playing the next Doctor? Would they be up to the job?

Thankfully, the powers that be chose Christopher Eccleston, an already well-established actor on British television, for the part. He brought exactly the kind of brooding energy that was needed for a post-Time War Doctor and is still many fans favourite incarnation to this day.

Since handing over the role to David Tennant after just one series, Eccleston has largely returned to the sort of work that he was taking on before Doctor Who. Namely hard-hitting and character-driven roles on dramas like BBC One's The A Word, the story of a family reacting to their young son's autism diagnosis, and Damon Lindelof's The Leftovers, a supernatural what-if tale about two percent of the world's population suddenly vanishing.

Film fans will also recognise him as Malekith, the main villain in 2013's Thor: The Dark World, and as Destro in 2009's G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.