He’s collared for a new role

FORMER ‘DOCTOR WHO’ star Christopher Eccleston (inset) has two reasons to be excited about Sunday: “The Leftovers’ premieres on HBO and, of course, it’s the Lord’s day.

The 50-year-old Brit plays a priest in the pay cable channel’s supernatural thriller, and this isn’t the first time he’s played a holy man.

“It was a film called ‘Anchoress,’ 20 years ago,” he recounted. “It was shot in black and white in Belgium. It was not a popcorn film. I think that’s the only other time I’ve played a man of the cloth.”

Eccleston confessed that he isn’t sure if this Rapture-inspired show will be a lightning rod for controversy among religious people.

“That’s a very big question and not one I’ve troubled myself with too much,” he told us. “Hopefully it’s going to promote debate of a good nature between religious groups.”

Eccleston declined to say whether he personally is a man of faith.

“I’m going to take the Fifth on that, as I’m playing this character,” he diplomatically answered.

But he did say the weather in Nyack, N.Y., was ungodly while “The Leftovers” filmed there over the winter. Eccleston joked that the “polar bears were wearing jackets.”