 Christopher Eccleston 's casting as the Ninth Doctor was announced on 22 March 2004 . He was the production team 's first choice for the character . Other actors linked to the role included Bill Nighy , Richard E Grant , Anthony Head , Eddie Izzard , Hugh Grant and Alan Davies . Jane Tranter , BBC Controller of Drama Commissioning , stated in the announcement of his casting that casting an actor of Eccleston 's reputation signalled " our intention to take Doctor Who into the 21st century , as well as retaining its core traditional values – to be surprising , edgy and eccentric " . Executive Producer Russell T Davies remarked that casting Eccleston " raises the bar for all of us " . Eccleston cited the quality of the scripts as a reason for joining the cast , stating in an interview on BBC 's Breakfast programme that he was " excited " about working with Davies . In the press @-@ pack for the series he states that he had emailed the writer to declare his interest in the role . Eccleston enjoyed having the chance to work on a series aimed at a different demographic than his previous work , noting that " it 's aimed at families , so I 'm kind of acting for children and I feel very lucky to be able to do that " . He felt that being cast by Davies in the series was a " risk " because as an actor he is not known for " charm or comedy " and anticipated a potential backlash due to being built up as " an actor of stature " and the difference between his own interpretation of the character and past doctors . 
