Ian Atkins Ian Atkins ( 22 January 1912 - 1979 ) was Controller of Programme Services for Television at the British Broadcasting Corporation in 1963 . He was the person who allocated studio space to various programmes , and therefore was a key player in the fight to move " Doctor Who " from Lime Grove Studios to Television Centre and Riverside Studios . In the dispute , he was firmly on the side of Rex Tucker , Verity Lambert , David Whitaker and Donald Wilson . At a meeting on 31 May 1963 , he was minuted by Ayton Whitaker as having said that the " old fashioned lighting equipment " at Studio D made it " virtually the worst possible studio for such a project " . He was , however , beholden to his — and virtually everyone else ' s — boss , Donald Baverstock . He effectively acted as the buffer between Sydney Newman — and all those under him in the drama department — and Baverstock , who was the overall chief of programmes . Baverstock was less inclined to believe it necessary for " Doctor Who " to get adequate studio space and equipment . Atkins sometimes had to relay bad news to Newman and Lambert ' s team , but was nevertheless regularly taking up the production team ' s case with Baverstock . On 1 November 1963 , he intervened directly in an important question of design . On that date he held a conference with Raymond Cusick , his direct superior in the design department , the person who was in charge of seeing that sets got moved in a timely fashion . Atkins gave them all a direct order to do something about the design of the TARDIS interior . As designed by the then - departed Peter Brachacki , it was simply too heavy and too complicated to erect . It was jeopardising the efficiency of the whole scenery department , who were spending entirely too much time on " Doctor Who " at the expense of other programmes . By 22 November , Cusick had redesigned and simplified the TARDIS interior . Chief amongst the things he omitted was the hexagonal top light that hung above the TARDIS console . Cusick ' s redesign was completed after the recording of " The Dead Planet " , meaning that Brachacki ' s original design should have appeared in the second serial as well as the first . However , thanks to recording errors , " Planet " needed to be re - recorded . Therefore the new " Cusick interior " made its debut in " The Mutants " — the serial now known as " The Daleks " . ( REF : " The First Doctor Handbook " ) Before becoming an exec . Prior to moving into management at the BBC , he had been a producer and sometimes uncredited director for the Corporation . One of his earliest jobs was the 1946 television movie , " The Web " , starring Richard Hurndall . He also produced and directed " Craven House " a 1950 telefilm that starred Ysanne Churchman . In 1951 , he produced the Alan Wheatley " Sherlock Holmes " series . Throughout the first half of the 1950s , he produced episodes of the long - running , and there worked with " Doctor Who " - related cast members , including William Mervyn and Patrick Troughton . His last active role in television production seems to have been the 1956 " Sunday Night Theatre " adaptation of " The Tempest " , which featured Anna Barry and Roger Lloyd Pack ' s father , .