The True Story Behind Christopher Eccleston's Doctor Who Exit
7. Filming Begins With Aliens of London
With Eccleston cast as the Doctor and former pop star and full-time actor Billie Piper cast as his companion Rose, the 21st century incarnation entered production on 18 July 2004. Filming at Cardiff Royal Infirmary, doubling for Albion Hospital, Eccleston's first scene as the Doctor was him chasing the Space Pig down the corridor. And there's nothing more Doctorish than that!
Alongside the filming of the series, a companion show Doctor Who: Confidential was documenting the production and provided valuable insights into Eccleston's brief time on the show. In his interviews, he clearly grasps the character, noting the Doctor's open-mindedness as a great quality for a television hero while also highlighting his brutal, alien, pragmatism.
Eccleston and Piper also clearly get on very well together, and are regularly seen smiling and laughing between takes in the short glimpses of filming. In his autobiography, I Love The Bones Of You, Eccleston reflects on his working relationship with Piper:
"What truly amazes me is I know how nervous Billie was at the start. She thought I was some big serious performer and she didn’t have the belief in herself as an actor. She proved herself, of course, to be way better than any of the rest of us."