10 Actors Who Begged For Their TV Characters To Die
5. Christopher Eccleston - Doctor Who
Why He Wanted To Die
Despite the positive critical and fan response to Christopher Eccleston's role as 2005's rebooted Doctor Who, the actor was ultimately deeply unhappy playing the Time Lord due to disagreements with his bosses, including showrunner Russell T Davies.
He said, "My relationship with my three immediate superiors – the showrunner, the producer and co-producer – broke down irreparably during the first block of filming and it never recovered...They lost trust in me, and I lost faith and trust and belief in them...Some of my anger about the situation came from my own insecurity...They employed somebody who was not a natural light comedian."
Eccleston ended up asking for his release after just a single season, and as even the most casual Doctor Who fan knows, when a Doctor exits the show, they're inevitably asking for the customary death-by-regeneration, allowing a seamless recast.
How It Happened
The Doctor (Eccleston) sacrifices himself to save the life of his companion Rose (Billie Piper), absorbing the force of a time vortex which causes him to regenerate into the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant).
Given that Tennant ended up giving fans arguably the greatest Doctor of all time, it's probably fair to say that things worked out for the best.
For Eccleston's trouble, though, he claims he was blacklisted by the BBC for several years following his hasty exit and had to seek more acting work outside of the UK as a result.