Dr Who star quits

Christopher Eccleston has quit Doctor Who after only one episode has been broadcast, it was announced last night.

Despite the immediate success of the sci-fi programme's revival, Eccleston has decided he will appear in only one series.

The news will be a blow to the BBC who have spent millions filming and marketing the Saturday night show.

However, they will still go ahead with a second series, with up-and-coming actor David Tennant tipped to play the Doctor. He would be the ninth to play the Time Lord.

Only last week Eccleston said the role was a 'poisoned chalice'. It is thought the 41-year-old actor's main concern was that he would become typecast.

Last Saturday, the programme attracted ten million viewers, winning rave reviews, and beat ITV rivals Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway in the ratings.

But Eccleston has also appeared in more high-brow work such as TV drama The Second Coming and a stage production of Hamlet.

In an interview days before the first episode was screened, Eccleston said he wasn't 'completely sure' he would return in a second series. The current series runs for 13 episodes.

He said: 'I know Russell (Russell T Davies, Doctor Who's writer) has been asked to write another six and that other writers are on standby.

'But I need to think about it. It's more than a huge responsibility to shoulder. And no, I don't want to be thought of as The Doctor to the exclusion of everything else I've done or may do.

'So I'll have to think long and hard about it before I make the final decision. I am keenly aware that the whole thing could be a poisoned chalice.'

Last night, a BBC spokesman said: 'I can confirm that he will not be returning for a second series. He does not want to be typecast and he's always looking for new challenges.' Eccleston had found the eight months of filming, split between London and Cardiff, 'gruelling'.