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Doctor Who is all about time, and if there’s one thing that’s true about time, it’s that it’s always going forward. While it’s true that the Doctor himself has always traveled all over the timeline, the longtime science fiction series has always been about looking to the future, even when it bothers their audience.

Recent years have seen the Doctor regenerate as a female and as a black man. While some audience members were resistant to the change, it’s all about progress. Christopher Eccleston, who played the Ninth Doctor, believes the franchise should always be pushing forward. In fact, the actor did little things in his performance to move the franchise forward, like giving the Doctor a Manchester accent.

“It’s only because it’s the only accent I can do,” Eccleston says during a panel at Florida Supercon. “Growing up, anything vaguely to do with science, art, and literature was always fronted by a man, And always a man who had what we call received pronunciation or standard English. And it does send a subtle message to millions of people in the country that it doesn’t belong to them.”

“So, it’s a tiny nod to the little boy who had gone, ‘I don’t like that guy, he’s posh. I don’t trust him. He sounds like a Tory politician to me.’ So, it’s just a tiny nod to that. And I suppose it was a tiny step along the way to the female Doctor Who, a Doctor Who of color, and all those things. Because it had become very dated and stuck in its past. And Doctor Who is all about the future, isn’t it?”

It’s hard to argue with that logic. Doctor Who has been pushing us towards a bright new future for over 60 years, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Popverse filmed the entire Doctor Who panel at Florida Supercon 2025 with Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper, and you can watch it here.

If you want to start watching Doctor Who and don't know where to start, check out our handy Doctor Who watch guide. Or maybe you're already finished with the show - We've got the perfect Ten shows to watch when you're done watching Doctor Who guide for you too. If you're already heads over heels for the Fifteenth Doctor and want to learn more about the actor playing him, check out what he's been in before here. Or maybe you just need to figure out how the new series numbering is going to work (Are there really gonna be two series 1s? Yes.) - if so, this is the explainer you want.