Doctor Who news: Christopher Eccleston jokes he will return to the TV series “when hell freezes over”

In a recent interview, Christopher Eccleston revealed exactly when he’d return to Doctor Who on-screen: “when hell freezes over”. But is it all bad news?

Earlier this week, a brand new photo revealed that production had begun for Doctor Who: The Ninth Doctor Adventures – Big Finish’s upcoming audio series starring Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor! This is pretty exciting news, particularly as it’s the first time that Eccleston has played the role at all in 15 years.

Naturally, this was brought up in his recent interview for the UK morning show Lorraine. Along with the discussion of his role in The A Word, plus his important work for UK social business The Big Issue, Lorraine Kelly asked him about his upcoming new audio series.

You can watch the interview in the clip below. It’s certainly worth watching the whole of it, particularly regarding its discussion of homelessness and autism. On top of that, Lorraine asks him one important question: will he ever come back as the Ninth Doctor on television? Well…

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Eccleston’s return

It may be a disappointment to fans that Eccleston’s response to coming back as the Doctor on-screen is “when hell freezes over”. It may be his response to the idea of coming back as the Ninth Doctor full-time, which is definitely understandable. Or it could mean that he’s against coming back to the role on TV at all.

However, it’s not all bad news. One thing that is certainly encouraging is how enthusiastic Eccleston is about playing the Ninth Doctor again, even on audio. Certainly, he seems very happy with the script he’s currently working on by Nicholas Briggs, which is definitely a promising sign.

Also, as a Big Finish fan, it’s nice to see the company getting some decent promotion on UK television. The company has been making Doctor Who audios for over two decades and has given so many great stories to previous Doctors. The fact that Eccleston’s upcoming audio stories were brought up says a lot about how much of a big deal Eccleston’s return really is.

We may not be seeing Eccleston on-screen anytime soon, (certainly, not before the 60th, if ever,) but it’s clear that even on audio, his return to this iconic role is huge. We certainly can’t wait to listen to the Ninth Doctor’s brand new adventures in 2021.

Are you disappointed that Christopher Eccleston won’t be returning on-screen? Do you think his new audio series will make up for that? Let us know in the comments below.