Sydney Newman Sydney Cecil Newman , OC ( Order of Canada ) ( 1 April 1917 - 30 October 1997 ) was a Canadian film and television producer , best remembered for the pioneering work he undertook in British television drama from the late 1950s to the late 1960s . Initially a film editor with the National Film Board of Canada , he later moved into television with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation , where he began his long association with drama . Moving to Britain in 1958 , he worked first with the Associated British Corporation ( ABC ) before moving across to the BBC in 1962 , holding the role of Head of Drama with both organisations . During this phase of his career , he was responsible for initiating two hugely popular fantasy series , " The Avengers " ( for ABC ) and " Doctor Who " ( for BBC ) , as well as overseeing the production of groundbreaking social realist drama series such as " Armchair Theatre " and " The Wednesday Play " . It was during a 1958 broadcast of " Armchair Theatre " that Newman was involved in an infamous incident when actor , a lead actor in a play that week , died backstage between scenes of the live telecast . The play continued through improvisation , with Newman reportedly advising the director to treat the production like a football match . The website of the Museum of Broadcast Communications describes Newman as " the most significant agent in the development of British television drama . " Shortly after his death , his obituary in " The Guardian " newspaper declared that " For ten brief but glorious years , Sydney Newman . . . was the most important impresario in Britain . . . His death marks not just the end of an era but the laying to rest of a whole philosophy of popular art . " Early career in Canada . Born in Toronto , Newman was the son of a Jewish Russia n immigrant father who ran a shoe shop . After leaving school at the age of thirteen , he later enrolled in the Central Technical School , studying commercial and fine arts . He initially attempted to follow a career as a stills photographer and an artist , specialising in drawing film posters . However , he found it difficult to earn enough money to make a living from this profession , so instead he switched to working in the film industry itself , where he gained a job as a film editor at the National Film Board of Canada . He was eventually to work on over 350 films while an editor for the NFB . During the Second World War , the head of the NFB , John Grierson , promoted Newman to film producer , working on documentaries . In this role he oversaw acclaimed features such as " Fighting Norway " and " Banshees Over Canada " , along with various other wartime propaganda pieces . In 1949 Grierson again assisted Newman ' s career , entering him into the then - new television industry on a one - year attachment to NBC television in New York City . He quickly became highly interested in the industry , and in 1952 with Grierson ' s assistance , he gained a job working at Canada ' s state television broadcaster , the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation ( CBC ) . He initially worked in CBC ' s outside broadcasts department , of which he quickly became head , but after his experience of seeing the production of television plays in New York , he was eager to work in drama despite " knowing nothing about drama " . He was nonetheless able to persuade his superiors at CBC to make him Supervisor of Drama Production in 1954 . In this position he encouraged a new wave of young writers and directors , including William Kotcheff and Arthur Hailey , and oversaw shows such as the popular " General Motors Theatre " . Several of the " General Motors Theatre " plays , including Hailey ' s " Flight into Danger " , were purchased for screening by the BBC in the United Kingdom . The productions impressed Howard Thomas , who was the managing director of Associated British Corporation ( ABC ) , the franchise holder for the rival ITV network in the English Midlands and the North at weekends . Thomas offered Newman a job with ABC as a producer of his own Saturday night thriller series , which Newman accepted , moving to Britain in 1958 . Associated British Corporation . Soon after Newman arrived in the UK , ABC ' s Head of Drama Dennis Vance was moved into a more senior position with the company , and Thomas offered Newman his position , which the Canadian quickly accepted . He was , however , somewhat disparaging of the state in which he found British television drama . " At that time , I found this country to be somewhat class - ridden , " he told interviewers in 1988 . " The only legitimate theatre was of the ' anyone for tennis ' variety , which on the whole gave a condescending view of working - class people . Television dramas were usually adaptations of stage plays and invariably about the upper classes . I said ' Damn the upper classes : they don ' t even " own " televisions ! ' " Newman ' s principal tool for shaking up this established order was a Sunday night anthology series which had been initiated before he had arrived at ABC , but which he was to leave a firm mark upon . " Armchair Theatre " was networked nationally across the ITV regions on Sunday evenings , drawing huge audiences , and Newman used the strand to present plays by writers such as Alun Owen , Harold Pinter and Clive Exton , also bringing over associates from Canada such as William Kotcheff . In 1960 Newman devised a thriller series for ABC called " Police Surgeon " , starring Ian Hendry . Although " Police Surgeon " was not a success and was cancelled after only a short run , Newman took Hendry as the star and some of the ethos of the programme to create a new series ( not a direct sequel as is sometimes claimed ) called " The Avengers " . Debuting in January 1961 - only a few weeks after the final episode of " Police Surgeon " and starring Hendry as Dr . David Keel with Patrick Macnee in the then - supporting role of John Steed , " The Avengers " eventually became a huge international success , although in later years its premise differed somewhat from Newman ' s initial set - up , veering into more surreal fantasy territory rather than remaining a gritty thriller . Nonetheless , Newman set in motion what would become a groundbreaking series in terms of depicting female characters on television - - specifically Honor Blackman ' s Cathy Gale and Diana Rigg ' s Emma Peel , both of whom became TV icons and their actresses superstars as a result of " The Avengers " . Literally dozens of actors who later appeared in " Doctor Who " , including Jon Pertwee and Anneke Wills , as well as future " Doctor Who " producer Barry Letts , made guest appearances on " The Avengers " at some point in the 1960s . Newman ' s great success at ABC had been noted by the British Broadcasting Corporation , whose executives were keen to revive their own drama department ' s fortunes in the face of fierce competition from ITV . In 1961 the BBC ' s Director of Television , Kenneth Adam , met with Newman — in a pub — and offered him the position of Head of Drama at the BBC . He accepted the position , eager for a new challenge , although he was forced by ABC to remain with them until the expiration of his contract in December 1962 , after which he immediately began work with the BBC . The BBC . There was some initial resentment to his appointment within the Corporation , as he was an outsider and he was also earning more than many of the executives senior to him , although still substantially less than he had been paid at ABC . As he had done at ABC , he was keen to shake up the staid image of BBC drama and introduce new outlets for the kitchen sink drama and the " Angry Young Men " of the era . He also divided the unwieldy drama department , with 175 staff under his control , into three separate divisions — series , serials and plays , headed by Elwyn Jones , Donald Wilson and Michael Bakewell , respectively , each reporting directly to Newman . In 1964 he initiated the new anthology series " The Wednesday Play " , a BBC equivalent of " Armchair Theatre " , which had great success and critical acclaim with plays written and directed by the likes of Dennis Potter , Jeremy Sandford , Ken Loach and Peter Watkins . There was also controversy , however — Watkins ' s " The War Game " was banned from transmission by the BBC under pressure from the government . The department also had success with more traditional BBC fare such as the costume drama " The Forsyte Saga " in 1967 , a Donald Wilson project which Newman had not been keen on initially , but which became one of the most acclaimed and popular productions of his era . However , his best - remembered BBC project , and the part of his career for which he is most noted , was the creation of the science - fiction television series " Doctor Who " , which began in 1963 and ran until 1989 in its original form , and after a resumption in 2005 is still in production . Newman had long been a science - fiction fan : " [ U ] p to the age of 40 , I don ' t think there was a science - fiction book I hadn ' t read . I love them because they ' re a marvellous way — and a " safe " way , I might add — of saying nasty things about our own society . " When BBC Controller of Programmes Donald Baverstock alerted Newman of the need for a programme to bridge the gap between the sports showcase " Grandstand " and pop music programme " Juke Box Jury " on Saturday evenings , he immediately decided that a science - fiction drama would be the perfect vehicle for filling the gap and gaining a family audience . Although much work on the genesis of the series was done by Donald Wilson , C . E . Webber and others , it was Newman who created the idea of a time machine larger on the inside than the out and the character of the mysterious " Doctor " , which remain at the heart of the programme . He is also believed to have come up with the title " Doctor Who " ( although actor and director Hugh David later credited this to his friend Rex Tucker , the initial " caretaker producer " of the programme ) . After the series had been conceptualised , Newman initially approached Don Taylor and then Shaun Sutton to produce it , although both declined . He then decided on his former production assistant at ABC , Verity Lambert , who had never produced , written or directed but readily accepted his offer . As Lambert became the youngest — and only female — drama producer at the BBC , there were some doubts as to Newman ' s choice , but she became a great success in the role . Even Newman clashed with her on occasion , however , particularly over the inclusion of the alien Dalek creatures on the programme . Newman had not wanted any " bug - eyed monsters " in the show , and he regarded the Daleks as the epitome of such things , but after their huge success , he generally left Lambert to her own devices . Later in the show ' s run , in 1966 he took a more hands - on role again in the changeover between the First and Second Doctor s . After his time at the BBC , though , as the series drifted further away from his initial semi - educational concepts , he became critical of its tone and production . After also creating other popular series such as " Adam Adamant Lives ! " at the end of 1967 , Newman ' s five - year contract with the BBC came to an end , and he did not remain with the Corporation . Instead , he decided to pursue a return to the film industry , taking a job as a producer with Associated British Picture Corporation — coincidentally , the parent company of his former employers ABC Television . " I want to get away from my executive ' s chair and become a creative worker again , " he told " The Sun " newspaper of his decision . However , the British film industry was entering a period of decline , and none of Newman ' s projects ever went into production . ABPC was taken over by EMI , becoming EMI Films , and at the end of June 1969 , Newman was dismissed from the company , later describing his eighteen months there as " a futile waste " . Despite being offered an executive producer ship by the BBC , keen to regain his services on the very day he left ABPC , Newman decided to return to Canada . He left the UK on 3 January 1970 , leading " The Sunday Times " to comment that " British television will never be the same again . " Return to Canada . His first post upon returning to his home country was as Director of Programmes for the Canadian Radio and Television Commission ( CRTC ) in Ottawa — simultaneously , he became the Chairman of the National Film Board of Canada , returning to the same institution for which he had worked in the 1940s . He remained Chairman of the NFB until 1975 , but left the CRTC in 1972 to become a Director of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation , another post he occupied until 1975 . Towards the end of his active professional career , he was for two years Special Advisor on Film to the Secretary of State , and then briefly a part - time consultant to the Canadian Film Development Corporation . In 1979 he returned to the UK on a short visit to participate in an edition of the ITV documentary series " The South Bank Show " , before returning to Britain on a longer - term basis in the 1980s following the death of his wife . His main reason for doing so was to attempt , unsuccessfully , to produce a drama series about the Bloomsbury Group for the new Channel 4 network . Then in 1986 , the then Controller of BBC One , Michael Grade , unhappy with the current state of " Doctor Who " , wrote to Newman to enquire whether he had any ideas for reformatting the series , which was at the time struggling in the ratings . Newman wrote back to Grade on 6 October that year with a set of detailed proposals and a suggestion that he take direct control of the series as executive producer . Grade suggested that Newman meet the current Head of Drama , Jonathan Powell , for lunch to discuss the Canadian ' s ideas . Newman and Powell did not get on well , however , and nothing came of their meeting . He was also unsuccessful in an attempt to have his name added to the end credits of the show as its creator . Acting Head of Series & Serials Ken Riddington , to whom Newman ' s request had been referred , wrote to him that " Heads of Department who originate programmes have to be satisfied with the other rewards that flow from doing so . " Newman was awarded the Order of Canada in 1981 , the country ' s highest civilian honour . Newman returned to Canada again in the 1990s . He died in 1997 of a heart attack at his home in Toronto . He had married Elizabeth McRae in 1944 — she died in 1981 . He was survived by their three daughters . Critical analysis . In his book " The Largest Theatre in the World " about his career working for the BBC , Newman ' s successor as Head of Drama — Shaun Sutton , who served under the Canadian as a producer and later as Head of Serials — praised Newman ' s work in reinventing the BBC ' s drama output . " Sydney galvanised television drama , " Sutton wrote . " He was brusque , sardonic , and straightforward ; stern when one made mistakes , fiercely supportive if anyone dared to suggest that you had . He was passionate about writers and writing , demanding new plays by the score . He was contemporary , irreverent , and a determined enemy of cant and pomposity . . . Sydney ' s accomplishment was the creation of a climate in which boldness paid . He wanted contemporary drama ; he wanted to raise rumpuses and get questions asked . " The biography of Newman on the British Film Institute ' s " Screenonline " website echoes Sutton ' s praise for the Canadian ' s aims , pointing out that " Newman ' s concerns , incidentally , were equally with the viewer : he recognised that television was a mass medium that needed to appeal across the social strata , from porters to professors . His policy , therefore , was to present plays about contemporary life in a contemporary idiom . " However , it is also noted by critics and academics that the success of Newman ' s achievements at the CBC , ABC and BBC were not down to him alone . " His skill can be located in an ability to successfully exploit the best of already favourable circumstances with an incorrigible enthusiasm and clarity of vision , " notes his biography on the Museum of Broadcast Communications website . They also posit that " In retrospect Newman ' s . . . conscious characterisation of BBC drama output as static and middlebrow is unfair . His counterpart at the BBC during the late 1950s , Michael Barry , also attracted new young original writers . . . and hired young directors . . . However , it was the newness and innovation which Newman encouraged in his drama output that is most significant : his concentration on the potential of television as television , for a mass not a middlebrow audience . " There were also some elements within the British theatrical and television industries who were openly hostile to Newman ' s influence on the drama genre . Director Don Taylor , in particular , did not welcome the Canadian ' s arrival at the BBC in 1963 . " Sydney was not formally educated . . . He also had a contempt for ' intellectuals ' . . . I was in a group lunching with him one day after Philip Saville ' s production of " Hamlet " was screened . . . It was clear that Syd didn ' t know the play , hadn ' t read it , and had seen it for the first time on screen . . . To put it brutally , I was deeply offended that the premier position in television drama , at a time when it really was the National Theatre of the Air , had been given to a man whose values were entirely commercial , and who had no more than a layman ' s knowledge of the English theatrical tradition , let alone the drama of Europe and the wider world . " In contrast to Taylor ' s views , John Caughie , author of the book " Television Drama : Realism , Modernism , and British Culture " , which analyses British television drama from the 1960s to the 1990s , believes that it was Newman ' s concentration on material written directly for television rather than adapted from other sources , the very non - theatrical nature which Taylor professed to despair of , which was his greatest contribution to the genre in the UK . " Newman ' s insistence that the series would use only original material written for television made " Armchair Theatre " a decisive moment in the history of British television drama , and both he and Ted Kotcheff , the ambitious young director he brought with him from Canada , belonged to a television culture which had no particular reverence for the classics of theatre and literature . " References on " Doctor Who " . The BBC Wales version of " Doctor Who " has paid tribute to Newman on two occasions . In the 2007 episode " Human Nature " , the Tenth Doctor , in his second life as human John Smith , tells a woman that his parents were named Sydney and Verity — the latter being a reference to Verity Lambert . Later in " The End of Time " , one of the final human s the Tenth Doctor saw before his regeneration was Verity Newman , a descendant of Joan Redfern , an obvious combination of the two names .