About Sydney Newman
Sydney Cecil Newman (né Nudelman; April 1, 1917 – October 30, 1997) was a Canadian television producer and screenwriter who played a pioneering role in British television drama from the late 1950s to the late 1960s. After his return to Canada in 1970, he was appointed acting director of the Broadcast Programs Branch for the Canadian Radio and Television Commission (CRTC) and then head of the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). He also occupied senior positions at the Canadian Film Development Corporation and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and acted as an advisor to the Secretary of State. During his time in Britain in the 1950s and 1960s, Newman 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. Webber and others, it was Newman who created the idea of the TARDIS, a time machine larger on the inside, and the character of the mysterious "Doctor", both of which remain at the heart of the programme. The series has been described by the British Film Institute as having "created a phenomenon unlike any other British TV programme" and by The Times newspaper as "quintessential to being British".
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.