Dr Who? I wasn't a fan, says new Time Lord

The new Doctor Who has admitted that although he is playing the coveted role he was not a fan of the series as a child.

However, Christopher Eccleston, who plays the lead role in the new series of the cult TV show, said it may have been the previous Time Lords' accents that put him off.

Speaking at the launch of the show, Eccleston, 41, said: "I'm different from the other Doctors in that I'm northern.

All the others spoke with this RP [received pronunciation] accent - maybe it was that that put me off."

A northern Doctor is not the only way the series has moved with the times as sidekick Rose - played by Billie Piper - injects the role with a dose of feisty independence.

Eccleston said: "There has been no heroine for 12-year-old girls before and Billie pulled that off just like that. She saves the Doctor in the first episode, she is a heroine."

Piper, 22, admitted that she preferred the stronger female role created for Rose.

She said: "I found other doctors slightly chauvinistic, slightly patronising, but this time they are on a par they work together and they educate each other."