It’s not much of a secret that Christopher Eccleston didn’t have the best of times on Doctor Who, opting to leave the show after a single series. He played the Doctor in 2005, of course, before handing over the TARDIS keys to David Tennant.

It’s only in the last year or two that he’s begun explaining in more detail what went wrong for him on the show. And in a new interview with the Radio Times, he’s admitted for the first time that “my relationship with my three immediate superiors – the showrunner, the producer and co-producer – broke down irreparably during the first block of filming and it never recovered”.

“They lost trust in me, and I lost faith and trust and belief in them”, he added.

The three superiors concerned at the time were Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner and Mal Young, and it looks as is if they are the people Eccleston is referring to. Davies was certainly being mentioned.

“When I left, I gave my word to Russell T Davies that I wouldn’t do anything to damage the show. But they did things to damage me. I didn’t criticise anybody”, he said. Eccleston was asked if Davies was aware of the issues, to which he replied “if you’re the showrunner, you know everything. That’s your job”. Davies and Eccleston haven’t worked together since, and won’t in the future.

Eccleston will next be seen in the BBC One drama Come Home, for which he was doing the interview in the first place.