Christopher Eccleston, the actor who brilliantly embodied the Ninth Doctor in the 2005 revival of Doctor Who, has shared yet another condition which would need to be met if he were to reprise the role — and it’s touchingly inclusive.

When asked whether he would reprise his role at the C2E2 convention in Chicago, Eccleston said he would return for a female showrunner, according to Popverse.

“Here’s the thing: Doctor Who’s written for boys. There has never been a female showrunner of Doctor Who. So my dream is this: there was a little girl who was, I don’t know — six, seven, eight — in 2005 when my series went out, and she gets the job, and she asked me back? I’d go back like a shot.”

There are other conditions which Eccleston outlined the For The Love Of Sci-Fi convention in Manchester, England in 2023 while sitting next to Billie Piper, who played his Doctor’s companion Rose Tyler. According to Anglotoptia, those conditions remain.

“Sack Russell T Davies, sack Jane Tranter, Sack Phil Collinson, sack Julie Gardner and I’ll come back. So can you arrange that?”

These same four people are in charge of the 2026 Doctor Who Christmas special — which is expected to continue the story of how the Fifteenth Doctor regenerated into the form of Billie Piper in the cliffhanger ending of Doctor Who Season Two finale The Reality War. Whether Piper is playing an incarnation of the Doctor is part of the mystery since the closing credits didn’t introduce her as the Doctor.

Though it’s impossible for Christopher Eccleston’s conditions to be met in 2026, who knows what the future will bring?

Christopher Eccleston was also scheduled to be in conversation with Paterson Joseph; Sunday, 29 March, 4pm at Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford.

The 2026 Doctor Who Christmas special, is expected to go into production in some time in 2026.