From our vantage point, we know that the Doctor Who reboot has been wildly successful. But when the first episode aired in the UK on March 26, 2005, the BBC strangely didn't have access to a working TARDIS, and therefore didn't know how well it would go. They hadn't even commissioned a second season, which meant that the public and media weren't sure whether Eccleston would even get a chance to reprise the role. What we didn't know was that the actor had already made it clear that he had no intention of playing the Doctor again, regardless of the show's future — and we found out much sooner than he would have liked.
On March 30, 2005 — yes, just four days after the very first episode aired — the BBC released a statement saying that Eccleston had only wanted to make one season of Doctor Who because he feared being typecast. But on April 4 — just five days after making that statement — the BBC was forced to apologize. They explained that they had agreed with Eccleston to keep his departure secret for a few more months, and that he did not endorse their explanation for his leaving.
So far, so twisty. But it would be years before fans finally learned the full story behind why Eccleston dropped the role of a lifetime.
