Eccleston goes from Time Lord to drug lord
The actor - recently seen as John Lennon for BBC biopic Lennon Naked - is among the stars for complex six-part series The Shadow Line. The major series, to be screened by BBC2 next year, examines the impact of the death of underworld figure Jay Wratten (Rafe Spall) on a range of figures.
Other leading names who will star in the conspiracy drama include American Gangster actor Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sir Antony Sher and Stephen Rea.
Eccleston stars as a drug lord who risks everything in a final make-or-break deal in the tale of a web of interlocked lives.