Christopher Eccleston says it was always the plan to move HBO series The Leftovers to Australia

ACTOR Christopher Eccleston says moving Damon Lindelof’s HBO drama series The Leftovers to Australia was part of the “crazed masterplan”.

FORMER Doctor Who, actor Christopher Eccleston, is currently in Melbourne filming the penultimate episode ever of HBO drama series The Leftovers.

So how did a high end cable show from Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof that was previously set in upstate New York and Texas end up moving here for season three?

“There was actually one of our on set rumours swirling in the middle of season one that we would be going to Australia so its always obviously been part of Damon Lindelof’s crazed masterplan that we would end up here,” explains Eccleston who plays tormented reverend Matt. “I’ve learnt not to be surprised by The Leftovers.”

The drama deals with the aftermath of two per cent of the world’s population disappearing in a rapture like event called the Sudden Depature.

“People are either passionate devotees or passionately anti, he says of the series which divided critics in its first season but got rave reviews for season two.

“I would think it’s that critical reception that convinced HBO to give us a third series and now we have to deliver on that,” he says.

“And as ever the pressure is on Damon Lindelof who we know had a rough ride with the way he wrapped up Lost … so fortunately for us he’s battled hardened!”

Eccleston (28 Days Later, Thor: The Dark World) is famous for his own sudden departure from Doctor Who after just one series — announced the week the first episode of the reboot was broadcast.

Eleven years later he still remains closely associated with the role.

“It’s an iconic character … so it completely makes sense that people still talk to me about my very brief time there,” he explains. “I’m still stopped by parents who ask me to speak with their children which is wonderful.”

Eccleston also stars as a grandad for the first time in BBC comedy drama The A Word, about a family coping with the realisation their five-year-old boy Joe is autistic. He says its “warm and contradictory, and awkward and funny, the way life is.”

Christopher Eccleston stars as Maurice, Joe’s grandad, in the drama The A Word. Picture: Supplied

Eccleston knows the impact that a neurological disorder can have on a family.
“I watched my father suffer dementia for over 12 years and I had to learn some very tough lessons about how to communicate with him and (so I was interested) in certainly promoting awareness not only of autism but some of the issues that families experience and undergo.”

For Eccleston the heart of the series is about communication problems, whether they’re Joe’s or the family’s.

“To a certain extent the boy’s autism is a Trojan horse which brings the viewers in and then we start meditating on how quote unquote “normal” people relate to each other ... (grandad) Maurice is particularly inept when it comes to dealing with other people’s feelings or beliefs,” he says.

By a complete coincidence Pooky Quesnel, who plays Maurice’s music teacher and lover, was an old girlfriend of Eccleston’s who he met in 1980 “a million years ago when neither of us had decided on a professional acting career … it’s been lovely for us both”.

THE A WORD, BBC FIRST ON FOXTEL AND FETCH TV, SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 8.30pm

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