In a new book titled 'I Love the Bones of You: My Father And the Making of Me', the former 'Doctor Who' actor also reveals that he lied to producers in order to secure roles.

• Oct 2, 2019

AceShowbiz - Former "Doctor Who" star Christopher Eccleston stole food and alcohol while struggling to make it as an actor.

The 55-year-old has opened up about his past in new book "I Love the Bones of You: My Father and the Making of Me", also revealing he lied to producers in order to secure roles when he was desperate for a break.

Eccleston compares his experience to the 1987 film "Withnail & I", which follows the lives of two starving actors, portrayed by another former "Doctor Who", Paul McGann, and Richard E. Grant.

"These were my Withnail & I years - without the glamour," Eccleston explains. "My mum's not going to like this, but I did a fair amount of shoplifting. I would get up early and steal bread, left out the front of shops by the delivery man before they opened. I'd do the same with milk and newspapers."

"I didn't have a fridge, so the milk would be kept out on the window ledge. The other thing I nicked were bottles of dry Merrydown cider and cans of Tenants Super (sic). I'd mix them and get totally off my face (drunk)."

The actor also shares he was "stinking of failure and self-loathing" and even made up sob stories to win the sympathy of casting directors.

"I wrote hundreds of letters to theatres, sometimes making up stories to tug on their heartstrings. I'd be a drug addict who was cleaning himself up and was desperate to get back into acting. Lurid, gothic stuff," he notes.

His fortunes changed for the better as he secured parts in film hits like "Let Him Have It" and "Shallow Grave", before landing the role of TV time traveller "Doctor Who" - a role he played while suffering from anorexia.

"People love the way I look in that series, but I was very ill," he says.