If you thought it was odd that Christopher Eccleston was only the Doctor in the BBC’s “Doctor Who” for one season, you’re not the only one. When Eccleston was recently interviewed by Radio Times, he explained his reasoning behind his departure from the Russell T. Davies-helmed show.

Eccelston stated that even though he was proud of the show, he “wasn’t comfortable” working on it:

“I was open-minded but I decided after my experience on the first series that I didn’t want to do any more… I didn’t enjoy the environment and the culture that we, the cast and crew, had to work in.”

“I thought if I stay in this job, I’m going to have to blind myself to certain things that I thought were wrong… I think it’s more important to be your own man than be successful, so I left.”

Eccelston places more emphasis on being a part of reinventing the “Doctor Who” series than leaving it:

“I really feel that because it kind of broke the mould and it helped to reinvent it. I’m very proud of it.”

The BBC had released a statement in 2005 announcing Eccelston’s leaving “Doctor Who” citing that the actor wanted to avoid being typecast and that he had “found the series grueling”. A retraction has since been made with the confirmation that the network had not conferred with Eccleston prior to the statement’s release.

Eccleston was succeeded by David Tennant in the role of the Doctor.

[Source] BBC