I'm not sure if this has been discussed before. Does anyone else see a similarity between the Doctor Colin Baker was supposed to play and the one Eccleston played. I don't mean the outfit (I know Colin always wanted his Doctor to wear something almost identical to Ecclestons').

What I mean is, both Doctors first appeared on our screens very troubled, meaner and darker than previous incarnations but for different reasons. Then as their time as the Doctor progressed they mellowed and went through a change and softened up a bit. We saw a troubled Doctor softened over time by remembering what it meant to be "human" or show humanity.

I agree that both Doctors you mention definitely mellowed but it's hard to compare the two as Colin Baker had a couple of Seasons to refine the character whereas Eccleston had only one.

I would in some ways would like to have seen Eccleston do another Series to see if he would lighten up a bit. He was getting there towards the end of Series 1 but still found him to be patronising at times. With Colin Baker I found Season 23 the moment his Doctor went that one step further and showed how he started out was not where he was going to be and maybe that was where Eccleston was heading as well.

So for that reason, Baker wins out for me.

Definitely THE Colin Baker, though that's based off the 15 years of Big Finish rather than anything on telly.