After 16 years, Doctor Who returned to television in 2005, helmed by producer Russell T Davies for a new round of stories about the centuries-old Time Lord and his TARDIS. In fact, there have been as many actors playing the Doctor in the revival series as those who played him during the first 26 years of the series' existence, counting John Hurt's War Doctor and Jo Martin's Fugitive Doctor. However, perhaps the most important actor to play the Doctor was the Ninth incarnation, Christopher Eccleston. He left the series after a single season, and in doing so he may have helped save it. There are few television series that survive cancelation and return stronger than it was before. Only another nearly 60-year-old science fiction franchise, Star Trek, has ever really pulled it off. Of course, the good crews of Starfleet did so over multiple different shows.
Source：https://www.cbr.com/how-christopher-eccleston-saved-doctor-who/
