Sydney Newman
![Newman at the Canadian media delegation to China in 1974](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/Sydney_Newman_%28Canadian_Media_Delegation_to_China%29.jpg)
During his time in Britain in the 1950s and 1960s, he worked first with ABC Weekend TV, 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 created the spy-fi series ''The Avengers'' and co-created the science-fiction series ''Doctor Who,'' as well as overseeing the production of groundbreaking social realist drama series such as ''Armchair Theatre'' and ''The Wednesday Play.''
The Museum of Broadcast Communications describes Newman as "the most significant agent in the development of British television drama." His obituary in ''The Guardian'' 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."
In Quebec, as commissioner of the NFB, he attracted controversy for his decision to suppress distribution of several politically sensitive films by French Canadian directors. Provided by Wikipedia