A place to update visitors with the latest news and information about Christopher Eccleston and his work and also to inform visitors about any updates/additions to my Chris related website.
Award-winning actor lends his support to Preston-based ghostly thriller published by UCLan Publishing
Actor Christopher Eccleston is helping to bring the supernatural thriller book Cold Bath Street to life by narrating the novel's audiobook.
The award-winning actor who has appeared in a variety of British television dramas, including playing Doctor Who, has voiced the book written by New York Times best-selling author and Preston-born AJ Hartley, which is published by the University of Central Lancashire's (UCLan) own publishing house.
It marks another milestone for Cold Bath Street, which is set around the Miley Tunnels that lie under Preston and are supposedly haunted, after it was nominated for one of the most prestigious children's book prizes in the world, the Carnegie Medal, last November. The book was edited, project-managed, designed and produced by students on UCLan's MA Publishing course in the only student-led, student-run publishing house in the world, UCLan Publishing.
Christopher said: "Cold Bath Street is just a brilliant, brilliant, brilliant book. I was so happy to narrate the audiobook because I think Andrew's writing is superb. The book is an anthem for our times and it is wonderful that it is set in the North. I think what UCLan Publishing is doing, especially in improving regional diversity, is amazing and I was very glad to give my time for this cause."
The book is an anthem for our times and it is wonderful that it is set in the North. I think what UCLan Publishing is doing, especially in improving regional diversity, is amazing and I was very glad to give my time for this cause.
Christopher got involved in the Cold Bath Street project after playing Macbeth in Stratford-upon-Avon for the Royal Shakespeare Company and it was pointed out to him that the play draws many parallels with Cold Bath Street with themes of supernatural, ghosts and death.
In an interview with The Bookseller, Christopher said: "We did an event where Andrew [Hartley] talked about his book and his notion of the supernatural, and I spoke about playing Macbeth and my notions of the supernatural. It helps that the book is set in Preston, Lancashire, and I'm from Salford in Lancashire. We're from a very similar generation. We seem to have an odd understanding of each other."
The Cold Bath Street audiobook will be launched at the prestigious London Book Fair on the 11 March with an audiobook panel event fronted by AJ Hartley, Christopher Eccleston and UCLan Associate Professor of Publishing and Head of the Publishing House Debbie Williams.
Debbie said: "This is another exciting development for Cold Bath Street and I want to thank Christopher for lending his support to a book that's really put Preston and UCLan Publishing on the map. We're a small publishing company competing against huge, well-established publishing houses and the success that we've experienced with Cold Bath Street has been phenomenal."
Following the success of Cold Bath Street, AJ is already working on a sequel, due to be published in October, called Written Stone Lane that based on a ghost myth around the Written Stone near Longridge in the Ribble Valley.
UCLan Publishing is also working with AJ on another children's book, Monsters in the Mirror, due to be published on the 1 March and available for pre-order on Amazon. An author event with AJ to promote the book will take place at Preston Waterstones at 2.00pm on Saturday 9 March.
Award-winning actor lends his support to Preston-based ghostly thriller published by UCLan Publishing
Actor Christopher Eccleston is helping to bring the supernatural thriller book Cold Bath Street to life by narrating the novel's audiobook.
The award-winning actor who has appeared in a variety of British television dramas, including playing Doctor Who, has voiced the book written by New York Times best-selling author and Preston-born AJ Hartley, which is published by the University of Central Lancashire's (UCLan) own publishing house.
It marks another milestone for Cold Bath Street, which is set around the Miley Tunnels that lie under Preston and are supposedly haunted, after it was nominated for one of the most prestigious children's book prizes in the world, the Carnegie Medal, last November. The book was edited, project-managed, designed and produced by students on UCLan's MA Publishing course in the only student-led, student-run publishing house in the world, UCLan Publishing.
Christopher said: "Cold Bath Street is just a brilliant, brilliant, brilliant book. I was so happy to narrate the audiobook because I think Andrew's writing is superb. The book is an anthem for our times and it is wonderful that it is set in the North. I think what UCLan Publishing is doing, especially in improving regional diversity, is amazing and I was very glad to give my time for this cause."
The book is an anthem for our times and it is wonderful that it is set in the North. I think what UCLan Publishing is doing, especially in improving regional diversity, is amazing and I was very glad to give my time for this cause.
Christopher got involved in the Cold Bath Street project after playing Macbeth in Stratford-upon-Avon for the Royal Shakespeare Company and it was pointed out to him that the play draws many parallels with Cold Bath Street with themes of supernatural, ghosts and death.
In an interview with The Bookseller, Christopher said: "We did an event where Andrew [Hartley] talked about his book and his notion of the supernatural, and I spoke about playing Macbeth and my notions of the supernatural. It helps that the book is set in Preston, Lancashire, and I'm from Salford in Lancashire. We're from a very similar generation. We seem to have an odd understanding of each other."
The Cold Bath Street audiobook will be launched at the prestigious London Book Fair on the 11 March with an audiobook panel event fronted by AJ Hartley, Christopher Eccleston and UCLan Associate Professor of Publishing and Head of the Publishing House Debbie Williams.
Debbie said: "This is another exciting development for Cold Bath Street and I want to thank Christopher for lending his support to a book that's really put Preston and UCLan Publishing on the map. We're a small publishing company competing against huge, well-established publishing houses and the success that we've experienced with Cold Bath Street has been phenomenal."
Following the success of Cold Bath Street, AJ is already working on a sequel, due to be published in October, called Written Stone Lane that based on a ghost myth around the Written Stone near Longridge in the Ribble Valley.
UCLan Publishing is also working with AJ on another children's book, Monsters in the Mirror, due to be published on the 1 March and available for pre-order on Amazon. An author event with AJ to promote the book will take place at Preston Waterstones at 2.00pm on Saturday 9 March.
Christopher Eccleston had a "miserable experience" on 'Thor: The Dark World'.
The 54-year-old actor portrayed Malekith, The ruler of the Dark Elves of Svartalfheim, in the 2013 superhero movie and though he thought director Alan Taylor and lead actor Chris Hemsworth did a great job, he signed up without being aware it would take seven hours a day to transform him into his character, which he didn't enjoy.
He said: "They said to me in the negotiations, 'There'll be a little bit of make-up'. What they didn't say was that it'd be seven hours of it, which was very dishonest of them.
"That was a miserable experience and a dreadful performance, but I loved working with Alan - he's a great director.
"And Hemsworth was fantastic. A generous actor who really had his feet on the ground."
Christopher also branded his own performance as Raymond Calitri in 'Gone In 60 Seconds' "se" and admitted his latest job as hard man Harvey in 'Dead In A Week (Or Your Money Back)' is the first time he's been happy in such a role.
He said: "Whenever I've played these sorts of people before, I've failed miserably.
"In 'Gone in 60 Seconds' I was se - though I was told recently by a fan that, 'You're so bad in it, it's good.'
"I take my responsibility, but in 'G.I. Joe' and 'Gone in 60 Seconds', the writing was poor."
One of the actor's first films was director Danny Boyle's debut movie 'Shallow Grave', and Christopher recalled how it was an "intense" shoot, and though he didn't really get on with co-stars Ewan McGregor and Kerry Fox, he thinks that was good for the picture.
He told Total Film magazine: "It was an intense shoot.
"Myself, Ewan and Kerry were never going to be friends - we just had different approaches to acting. But I think that was good for the film.
"We made it largely on an industrial estate in Glasgow that was freezing.
"I remember we wrapped on Bonfire Night and Danny Boyle looked like Jack Nicholson in 'The Shining'.
"His hair was stood up on end, his eyes were popping out, fireworks were going off and he turned around to me and said, 'I think I'm going mad.' "
Hello all, just to let everyone know that due to cost I've had to close the bad-wolf website, however I'm currently in the process of moving it to a free hosting site.
The new url is: www.bad-wolf.byethost7.com, I'm having to resize some of the videos & audio to fit the 10Mb file limit so not all the files are uploaded.
Those who have linked my website to theirs I'd be grateful if you'd update the link.
AS Christopher Eccleston happily points out, he has built his career on playing 'difficult men'. Why so? 'I've always perceived myself as a difficult or troubled character,' he chuckles, 'although I'm actually not — not much more than anyone else.'
Today, speaking over tea in a Soho club, he could hardly be more genial, even though no character has been quite as difficult as his latest: Macbeth, that treacherous soldier murdering his way to the Scottish throne. Eccleston is playing the title role in the Royal Shakespeare Company's latest production, which has just transferred to the Barbican from Stratford-upon-Avon. 'It's called the tragedy of Macbeth, but in fact he's like Stalin or Hitler,' he says. 'A monster completely without morality.'
Full of sound and fury: Christopher is relishing playing a monster without morality PICTURES: RICHARD DAVENPORT
It's a rare stage outing for one of our most charismatic screen actors — from breakthrough performances in Shallow Grave and Our Friends In The North, to his 2005 stint in Russell T Davies' newly rebooted Doctor Who, and more recent work like this year's BBC family drama Come Home.
But the dream of playing Macbeth has driven his whole career, since he played the dual role of Macduff and the Sergeant in an amateur production aged 17. 'We toured the North West, so I got an insight into what the life of an actor is, on stage and off, staying in boarding houses, drinking every night. I fell in love with the lifestyle.' At the same time, it made him yearn to take the lead, and at the RSC specifically: 'I felt then, and I feel now, that I have the ammunition to play him.'
Finally, a couple of years ago, after 'a difficult time in my life and my career', which included divorce, he emailed RSC head Gregory Doran laying bare his ambition. Doran was immediately receptive — gratifyingly, as Christopher knew time was not on his side.
'I'm 54 and really you could play Macbeth at 18,' he says, 'so there is an element in our production of this being his last chance. It's a mid-life crisis of a lunge for power.' Audiences can expect a particularly creepy take on the play, referencing horror films like The Shining and Don't Look Now.
'It was the white middle classes that did Shakespeare. I was one of the thickos'
What took him so long? For much of his career, Christopher felt his working-class Salford background shut him away from Shakespearean and classical roles: 'It was the white middle classes that did Shakespeare. I was one of the yeomanry, the thickos. That's how it works. Class is massive in this country.' That's why he concentrated on opportunities in TV and film, though he still blazed a trail. More than a decade before Jodie Whittaker delighted Doctor Who fans with her Yorkshire accent, he played the time-traveller as a blunt Mancunian — so it's no surprise he has praised Jodie's casting, telling Radio 4: 'She's working class, she's Northern, what can go wrong?"
Christopher has done Shakespeare professionally before: in 2002, he was Hamlet at the West Yorkshire Playhouse. But while he was warmly received, he never felt comfortable in the role. 'I think I did it because I thought I should,' he says. Although much more at ease with Macbeth, he still sees the experience as a learning curve. 'I definitely wasn't ready when we opened. I don't think the production was ready, for a lot of complicated reasons, and I think certainly I'm giving a much stronger performance now. I would say I've stopped trying too hard.'
Refreshingly, he reads all his reviews — good and bad. 'Once I started working as an actor, I thought, "I'm running a business here, and I need to know what people are saying about the product."'
These days he's less worried about money than doing work he loves and devoting himself to his children, Albert and Esme. Though he flirted with blockbusters like Gone In 60 Seconds and Thor: The Dark World, Hollywood couldn't be further from his current ambitions. 'I've been there and I've given some dreadful performances, and that's nobody's fault but mine,' he says baldly.
Instead he wants to make up for lost time by focusing on theatre and doing a play a year. Roles he fancies include Richard III, Prospero, Peer Gynt, and 'Cyrano de Bergerac… I wouldn't need the prosthetic for that,' he laughs, referring to his striking nose.
There's also a more personal project in prospect: a memoir about his late father's decline into dementia. The forklift truck driver was a 'very intelligent man whose job didn't ask much of his intelligence, so there was a tremendous sense of tension and frustration in him'.
In writing the book, Christopher says: 'I think I'm trying to bring him back to life for myself and reject this idea of "ordinary" people. He was extraordinary — it's all about how we render people and see them.'
As one of a trio of young professionals dealing with a dead housemate, he was the standout in Danny Boyle's debut thriller — thanks to the disturbing transformation of his character David, from mild-mannered accountant into madman.
Our Friends In The North
BBC, 1996
Although he was offered the role that went to Daniel Craig, he preferred to play the complex Nicky. The revered nine-parter about post-war Britain made the names of both actors, plus co-stars Mark Strong and Gina McKee.
Doctor Who
BBC, 2005
His compellingly brooding take on the man in the Tardis helped reboot the show for a new era — alas, he left after one series. 'I couldn't get along with the senior people,' he revealed. 'I didn't agree with the way things were being run.'
Come Home
BBC, 2018
Although it wasn't in the script, he 'insisted' on using a Northern Irish accent for his devastating performance as Greg in this three-part divorce drama. Why? 'I didn't want to sound like me. Because I had gone through [divorce].'
Christopher Eccleston says he is chuffed to land a voice role in Danger Mouse – and that it means as much to him as Macbeth.
The star, 54, voices the role of the dastardly J Woolington Sham in an episode of the CBBC show on Monday.
"I'm playing Macbeth at the RSC at the moment. Danger Mouse is just as important to me – and I'm not kidding!" the former Doctor Who star said.
Christopher Eccleston's character in Danger Mouse (CBBC)
Eccleston said he was a fan of the children's cartoon even as a young adult.
"I first started watching it when I was about 19 – what was a young man doing watching Danger Mouse?!
"I don't think I'd ever heard northern accents in an animation before and that meant a huge amount to me," he said.
The cast also includes fellow special guest Richard Ayoade as The Snowman along with regulars Alexander Armstrong (Danger Mouse), Kevin Eldon (Penfold) and Stephen Fry (Colonel K).
