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.

Since 1996, he has been created as co-creator of the show, along with Donald Wilson and C. E. Webber.

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 Gareth Jones, 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."