{"id":602538,"date":"2026-04-12T18:24:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T18:24:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/602538\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T18:24:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T18:24:19","slug":"doctor-who-icon-christopher-eccleston-has-recalled-the-tv-moment-which-had-an-impact-that-he-couldnt-have-imagined","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/602538\/","title":{"rendered":"Doctor Who icon Christopher Eccleston has recalled the TV moment which had an impact that he couldn\u2019t have imagined"},"content":{"rendered":"

Doctor Who icon Christopher Eccleston has recalled how an iconic moment from ITV crime drama Cracker came about.<\/p>\n

The 1990s drama, which was created and written by Jimmy McGovern and followed a team working for Greater Manchester Police as they tried to solve crimes, starred Eccleston as DCI David Bilborough.<\/p>\n

Bilborough was eventually murdered by Albie Kinsella (Robert Carlyle), leading to a landmark moment in British TV as the character bled out while giving a \u201cstatement of a dying man\u201d over his radio.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Radio Times magazine about his new Netflix drama Unchosen, the actor<\/a> was asked about his departure from Cracker<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He explained: \u201cThey wanted me to sign for three series but I said I\u2019d sign for one, see how it went. When it went well, I said I\u2019d go back, but I wasn\u2019t going to hang around and support Robbie Coltrane, bless him, for three series.”<\/p>\n

He continued: “That handed Jimmy [McGovern, who wrote it] a provocation. Nowadays, major characters are killed off constantly, but it had never been done before he did it in 1994.”<\/p>\n

\"Cracker.\"<\/p>\n

Cracker.\u00a0ITV1<\/p>\n

“I don\u2019t think either of us could have imagined the effect that it would have, but back then there were four channels and we were getting 13 million viewers. If it\u2019s a brilliant performance, it\u2019s for one reason and one reason only: the writing.”<\/p>\n

Speaking about how he owes his career to McGovern, he added: \u201cWithout Jimmy McGovern, I wouldn\u2019t have a career in television. I did Cracker, a film called Heart, Accused\u2026 And I did Hillsborough, which is the most important thing I\u2019ve ever done.”<\/p>\n

He continued: “It provoked questions in Parliament and got me over my silly guilt that being an actor isn\u2019t a real job. <\/p>\n

“I will always want to work with McGovern and I\u2019m hoping that one day he\u2019ll employ me again, maybe in an old people\u2019s home.”<\/p>\n

Read the full interview with Gareth McLean in this week\u2019s Radio Times magazine out on 18 April 2026 \u2013 subscribe here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"WK17<\/p>\n

Visit our TV Guide<\/a> and Streaming Guide<\/a> to find out what’s on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Doctor Who icon Christopher Eccleston has recalled how an iconic moment from ITV crime drama Cracker came about.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602539,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,134,427],"class_list":["post-602538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602538\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}