Accused star Christopher Eccleston accuses X Factor bosses of having contempt for TV viewers
Doctor Who star Christopher Eccleston has launched a scathing attack on Simon Cowell and the makers of the X Factor, accusing them of contempt for their audiences. The actor says the ITV talent show is "depressing" and a celebration of "mediocrity". And he warned the fame-hungry hordes who go on the show that being famous won't make them happy. Speaking ahead of his return to BBC1 for new drama series Accused tonight, he said: "From what I can see, the people who make X Factor hate their audience.
"It's cheap, ritualised humiliation, celebrates total mediocrity and encourages sneering at people. It puts the emphasis on being famous rather then being good. When I was at drama school, people didn't talk openly about wanting to be famous. We might have thought about it to a certain extent, but we really wanted to be good more than famous. But these people are chasing fame for its own sake. That's vacuous. I've been famous and I can tell you there's nothing there. The only thing that's there is the work you do. But stuff like The X Factor is really depressing. Watching television should be about bettering yourself, shouldn't it?"
The 46-year-old Mancunian actor was speaking exclusively to the Record at the London launch of the drama, which was written by Jimmy McGovern.
Coming from a writer who penned hits such as Cracker and The Street, as well as real-life dramas Sunday, about Bloody Sunday, and Hillsborough, about the 1989 football stadium disaster, Accused is the polar opposite of the orchestrated froth of Saturday night talent shows.
Each of the six episodes explores the morality of everyday people caught up in everyday situations that have led them to the sharp end of the criminal justice system.
But unlike other procedural dramas with police and lawyers at the heart of the action, the plots revolve around the people in the dock.
Christopher's episode, which kicks off tonight, follows a hard-working joiner, father and husband, whose personal decisions while caught in the teeth of the recession have massive implications for his family.
It's the sixth time he has teamed up with writer McGovern, but he rejects any suggestion that the part was written especially for him.
He said: "When Jimmy asks you, you don't say no.
"It's the sixth time I've worked with him, and he has been the spine of my career. But he didn't write the part with me in mind, thank God. I don't like writers who write for actors.
"The writing has to be about the subject matter. McGovern is far more engaged with the issues than the individual. He's purer than that and I think I am.
"But when I read the part I figured it must have originally been for a Jock or an Irishman. The character's name is Willy Houlihan. I thought it was written for Peter Mullan."
He's confident the series, which also features Scots Oscar-winner Peter Capaldi and Burke & Hare's Andy Serkis, is of the same high quality viewers have come to expect from the Scouse scribe.
He said: "McGovern writes up for his audiences, not down to them. The character Willy does many unsympathetic things but McGovern presents them in a way that appeals to us.
"It's about the quality of the writing, the complexity of the character and the questions it asked.
"And it was a job at the end of the day. They were paying me. That's worth saying. I was unemployed before this."
Unemployed? As one of the country's best actors he's unlikely to have been down the job centre.
His CV includes US sci-fi hit Heroes and comedy The Sarah Silverman Programme, as well as films such as Shallow Grave and 28 Days Later.
This year, he turned in a critically-praised John Lennon in BBC4 Lennon Naked and has popped up in a recent music video for cult Manc band I Am Kloot - his second appearance for them.
So with half a million public sector workers on the verge of losing their jobs, can an actor with no immediate dependants to speak of really claim to be one of the unemployed? He said: "Unemployment is unemployment.
"I might be cushioned because I have a few quid in the bank but I still want to work. I'm not lazy and I want to act.
"But there are long gaps in this game. I've been luckier than most but I'm still scrabbling.
"I'm not moaning about it but it's a fact."
His Doctor Who successor David Tennant has had no such concerns since leaving the Tardis in the hands of Matt Smith, having landed American comedy pilot Rex Is Not Your Lawyer and a lead role in Glasgow-based BBC drama A Single Father.
Christopher announced he was leaving Doctor Who just days after the sci-fi favourite's much-hyped return to our screens in 2005.
Does he regret it? "The most important thing about Doctor Who isn't that I left but that I did it.
"Those 13 episodes were a real success and I'm proud of the work.
"But I've never seen it since I left. I'm always out and about on a Saturday night.
"But I'm very proud of what we did with it. I wanted to do a children's character because all my work had been for adults."
The actor will also appear next spring in new BBC series Shadow Line. "It's about morality, the shadow line between good and bad," he said.
"I want to be doing things that are of value.
"When I did Heroes, I didn't engage with it the same as I did with something like Accused.
"I'm preoccupied with my own culture and the fabric of my own country.
"Dennis Potter said TV was the nation talking to itself and I've always seen it that way."
Accused, BBC1 9pm.
ACCUSED: THE OTHER EPISODES
Frankie's Case: The Office star Mackenzie Crook stars as a bullying Lance Corporal who makes life a misery for young soldiers.
Helen's Case: Juliet Stevenson and on-screen husband Peter Capaldi try to establish how their son died at work in a warehouse.
Liam's Case: Andy Serkis plays a cab driver whose obsession with one of his fares leads him into dangerous territory.
Kenny's Case: Marc Warren plays a dad who makes a life-changing decision after his daughter claims she was attacked in the local playpark.
Alison's Case: Naomie Harris plays a mum whose marriage falls apart when her husband starts to suspect she has been cheating.
Source: The Daily Record