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

11. Eccleston Based His Performance On Russell T Davies

Doctor Who Russell T Davies
BBC Studios

Actors can find inspiration in the unlikeliest of places, and that definitely holds true for Eccleston's portrayal of the Ninth Doctor.

In 2019, the actor revealed that he based his performance as the Time Lord on none other than Russell T Davies, Doctor Who's showrunner from 2005 - 2010 (and again from 2023 - present day).

On top of responding well to Davies' writing, Eccleston said that he took the "inner pace" of the Ninth Doctor from Davies, and he also found it interesting how the writer and the character both had an affinity for leather jackets:

"I based my Doctor on Russell T Davies... he said 'the Doctor wears a leather jacket.' And I remember thinking… 'Russell, YOU wear a leather jacket.'"

You heard it here first. Russell T Davies is a forgotten incarnation of the Doctor!

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Contributor

Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten 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 since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, and has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too.