Donald Baverstock
Donald Baverstock was the Controller of BBC One who ordered Sydney Newman to create the Saturday tea time show that became Doctor Who.
History with Doctor Who
Baverstock was actively engaged in the creation of the programme. He had several well-documented meetings and written exchanges with Sydney Newman in the run-up to the series' premiere, dating back to at least 1962. On or about 20 May 1963 he personally signed off on the format document prepared by Newman, Donald Wilson and C. E. Webber, saying that series was "looking great". (REF: The First Doctor Handbook)
Nonetheless, his support for Doctor Who was not absolute. He was a key figure in the long-running dispute over whether the show could move from what Donald Wilson and later Verity Lambert considered the wholly inappropriate Lime Grove Studio D. In June 1963, he denied a request to move Doctor Who's specialised recording equipment to Riverside Studios so that his own pet project, Thaat Was the Week That Was, could enjoy the superior facility. He was involved in several other meetings with various BBC executives and department heads about the headaches caused by Lime Grove's inadequate facilities.
Later, Donald Wilson and he clashed after Baverstock withdrew a commitment for Unearthly to be featured on the cover of Radio Times in November 1963. (DWMS Summer 1994)
After the BBC
When Hugh Greene, Director-General of the BBC, decided to make Baverstock switch places with his BBC2 counterpart in early 1965, Baverstock saw it as a demotion and resigned from the BBC. In accordance with half of Greene's original plan, he was replaced by Michael Peacock.
He then went on to Yorkshire Television where he helped to create, amongst other programmes, Emmerdale Farm, the soap opera that would long employ Doctor Who actors from Frazer Hines to Jenna-Louise Coleman.
Fictional portrayals
A caricature of him, called "Mr Borusa", was played by Mark Gatiss in The Pitch of Fear, a broad fictionalisation of Newman's pitch meeting for Doctor Who.
External link
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