Biography of Christopher Eccleston

For our readers who aren't familiar, here is a biography of Christopher Eccleston, the new Doctor, as submitted by Paul Hayes (who wrote this particular entry for Wikipedia):

Christopher Eccleston (born 1964 in Salford, Lancashire, UK) is a British stage, telvision and film actor, best known for his roles in several high profile 'prestige' films and television series. He first came to public attention as Derek Bentley in the 1991 film Let Him Have It, based on true events, but it was a regular role in the TV series Cracker - culminating in his character's dramatic death in the second series - that made him a recognisable figure in the UK.

He appeared in the low-budget Danny Boyle film Shallow Grave in 1994, in which he co-starred with another up-and-coming young British actor by the name of Ewan McGregor. The same year, he won the part of Nicky Hutchinson in the epic BBC drama serial Our Friends in the North, and it was the transmission of this production on BBC TWO in 1996 that perhaps really made him into a household name in the UK.

His film career has since taken off with a variety of high-profile but never quite - except in one or two cases - really mainstream roles, including parts in Elizabeth (1998), Gone in Sixty Seconds (2000), The Others (2001), 24-Hour Party People (2002) and another Danny Boyle film, the horror movie 28 Days Later.

Despite his successful film career, he has continued to appear in a variety of meaty television roles, racking up credits in some of the most challenging and thought-provoking British television dramas of recent years. These have included Clocking Off (2000) and Flesh and Blood (2002) for the BBC and Hillsborough (1997), a modern version of Othello (2002) and the religious telefantasy epic The Second Coming (2003) for ITV. He also finds time for the occasional light-hearted role, however, as his guest appearances in episodes of the comedy drama Linda Green (2001) and macabre sketch show The League of Gentlemen (2002) have shown.