Christopher Eccleston on his upbringing and education in Salford

Salford star, Christopher Eccleston, said the fact he “learnt to act in Salford is massive” to him.

At a recent Sci-Fi convention, the ex-Doctor Who star, now 59, was asked what his time was like studying at Salford University, which was at that time a technical college.

“I spent most of it in the boozer,” Christopher joked.

Christopher studied A-level foundation drama at Salford in 1981-83 and said he was “petrified” to start.

“I had no idea what I was doing, I didn’t know Shakespeare from a shamrock but I stuck at it, it was very intimidating, I felt it was a very middle class industry and art wasn’t for the likes of me.

“And I had this thing that I was thick and I was too big and too cumbersome to be an actor, it was a real battle, I was my own worst enemy.”

However, once Christopher found his feet the support from teachers around him enabled Christopher to have confidence in himself as an actor.

He added: “It was the beginning of starting to think possibly I could do it, so I wish I could go back and do that again.”

Christopher’s time at the Salford college also reminded him of his mum who used to work there during the war.

Christopher explained: “I (studied) at the Adelphi on Peru Street in Salford and at the Adelphi building were these stone stairs when you walk up.”

The stairs reminded him of his mum’s first day of work when she was 14, which would have been in 1944, during the war.

“The first job she ever had was to deliver a message to the Adelphi building, so then in 1981 every time I walked up those steps I thought of my mum, a child, working a 40 hour week,” he said.

“So the fact that I learnt to act in Salford is massive to me.”

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Christopher, alongside his co-star at the conference, Billy Piper, was also asked if he could go back and meet anyone in time, who would he meet.

Christopher answered: “I’d like to go back to the Salford of my mum and dad’s childhood, my dad was born in 1929 in Salford, my mum was born in 1932.

“I’d like to see them as children, see the social conditions and fabric that raised them because I wouldn’t be anywhere without those two, their values and the hard work they instilled in me and the insistence on honesty and decency, I’d really like to see what formed them.

“And I’d love to see them as a young couple meeting. I have a scarf that my mum gave to my dad in 1951, a green polka dot scarf.

“I’d like to see that, that’s what I’d like to see most of all.”