Doctor Who star Christopher Eccleston says the BBC blacklisted him

Christopher Eccleston played Doctor Who in 2005.

Christopher Eccleston has claimed he was put on a "blacklist" by the BBC after he left the lead role in Doctor Who.

"What happened around Doctor Who almost destroyed my career," the 54-year-old actor has said.

"I gave them a hit show and I left with dignity and then they put me on a blacklist. I was carrying my own insecurities as it was something I had never done before and then I was abandoned, vilified in the tabloid press and blacklisted.

"I was told by my agent at the time: 'The BBC regime is against you. You're going to have to get out of the country and wait for regime change.' So I went away to America and I kept on working."

Eccleston played the time-travelling hero of the sci-fi series when it returned to TV in 2005 after a 16-year hiatus, but quit the show after just one series.

Christopher Eccleston with Billie Piper in Doctor Who.

"Myself and three individuals at the very top of the pyramid clashed, so off I went," he has said, explaining his decision in a 2015 interview with Radio 4's Loose Ends. When contacted by The Telegraph, the BBC declined to comment on Eccleston's claims.

The BBC was not the only target of Eccleston's scorn; in a wide-ranging interview with the Guardian, published this weekend, the Salford-born actor said he felt almost suicidal while making the superhero blockbusters Thor: The Dark World and GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra.

"Working on something like GI Joe was horrendous," he said. "I just wanted to cut my throat every day. And Thor? Just a gun in your mouth ... I really paid for being a whore those times."

Eccleston has previously said he took a role in Marvel's Thor sequel "primarily... for the money," adding: "I am open to any kind of work so I can pay the mortgage."

The actor appears to resent much of his own work in mainstream films, with one exception. "Gone in 60 Seconds was a good experience," he said, praising his co-star Nicolas Cage as a "fantastic actor".

Eccleston is currently starring in a Royal Shakespeare Company production of Macbeth, fulfilling an ambition he has held since his student days, when he first realised that – in his words – "all the posh f***ers ruled the RSC and British theatre top to bottom."

Returning to the stage, he said, has offered him a break from "the constipation of screen acting".