Doctor Who: 20 Things You Didn't Know About The Day Of The Doctor

16. The Initial Plan Featured The Ninth Doctor

Doctor Who Christopher Eccleston The Day of the Doctor
BBC Studios

While John Hurt's turn as the War Doctor went down a treat, there was some disappointment about the absence of Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor.

In his initial plans for the anniversary special, Steven Moffat had intended for Nine to feature. He reached out to Eccleston, who unfortunately decided against reprising the role, and the War Doctor was created in his place.

No hard feelings here though, because Eccleston himself has since explained that he loved what Moffat and Hurt did with the character:

"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 [have done]. I think the War Doctor was a brilliant working of Steven Moffat’s imagination, and I loved watching [John Hurt] do that."
 
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Sometimes you hear my voice, sometimes you see my face and sometimes you read my words! But I’m usually away with the faeries and timelords! ?‍♀️

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for almost nine years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. He has been writing and video editing for 10+ years, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers and uploading them to YouTube (they're admittedly a bit rusty by today's standards). If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order or to tell you about the making of 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks, Danny is the person to ask.