NEW Doctor Who actor Christopher Eccleston has been blasted by the show's former star for taking the role too seriously.
Tom Baker, who played the time-travelling doctor from 1974 to 1981, sent out a message to Little Hulton-born Eccleston, saying: "Get your head out of your fat bottom."
Baker, aged 70, told the TV Times: "I had never even heard of Eccleston. I was rather disappointed to hear this Doctor was going to be more serious. It always sounds very hollow in the mouth of an actor. When actors use words like 'challenge' and 'serious' you think to yourself: 'Oh, just shut up'."
Eccleston, aged 40, will play the Doctor from next year. He has starred in Hollywood films including Shallow Grave and Gone In Sixty Seconds and was critically acclaimed in Granada's psychological drama Cracker.
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