Back in 2013, Digital Spy broke the news that Christopher Eccleston had declined to appear in Doctor Who's 50th anniversary special - a decision he reached after several meetings with showrunner Steven Moffat.

Now - on the show's 52nd anniversary - Moffat has elaborated on what happened, in an interview with Radio Times.

"The first version [of the script] was David [Tennant], Matt [Smith] and Chris [Eccleston] together," he confirmed. "But I knew that Chris was almost certainly going to say no.

Christopher Eccleston on Doctor Who exit: "I'm always there in spirit"

"I met him a couple of times and he was absolutely lovely. He met with me because he didn't want to say no through his agent or a phone call or e-mail. He wanted to do it personally. And I three-quarters talked him into it.

"So I started a version of it but I got to a point where I could go no further unless it was going to be him. I went for another meeting with him and he decided no.

"His reasons are his business and he's a very private man. But it's reasonable to say he really cares about Doctor Who. He's well versed in what's happened since he left, and happily chatted away about Amy Pond by name."

Rewrites recast the ninth Doctor as the War Doctor - with Moffat insisting that John Hurt was his top choice to play the battle-scarred incarnation of the Time Lord.

"He was top of our list... and – God bless him for ever! – he said yes almost immediately. That was the first stroke of luck we had on that sodding show."

At one point, neither Matt Smith nor David Tennant were signed for 'The Day of the Doctor', with only Jenna Coleman under contract for the special.

"I did come up with a plotline that was just Jenna," he confessed. "It was a nightmare."

In the end, Smith, Tennant and even Tom Baker appeared in the event episode, which won positive reviews and a final audience of 12.8m viewers.

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