Sydney Newman
Production
Born 1917-04-01
Died 1997-10-30
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
85 credits
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Sydney Cecil Newman, OC (April 1, 1917 – October 30, 1997) was a Canadian film and television producer, who played a pioneering role in British television drama from the late 1950s to the late 1960s. After his return to Canada in 1970, Newman 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, he worked first with the Associated British Corporation (ABC, now Thames Television), 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 television programmes, the spy-fi series The Avengers and 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.
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Filmography
— top 60 of 85
Producing
36 credits
Festival
Out of This World
Target Luna
Space Command
Tea Party
The Canadian Howdy Doody Show
Pathfinders to Venus
Counter-Attack
Screaming Jets
Penitentiary
Pathfinders in Space
Inside Newfoundland
Night Conspirators
Pathfinders to Mars
Ski Skill
Montreal by Night
Honeymoon Postponed
Pay-Off In Pain
Afternoon of a Nymph
Fighting Sea-Fleas
The Trial of Dr. Fancy
Danger! Men Working
The Ship That Couldn't Stop
Talent Showcase
A Capital Plan
Trans-Canada Express
Canada Dances
Hot Summer Night
Suffer Little Children
The Thought of Tomorrow
The Bird, the Bear and the Actress
Flight Into Danger
I'll Have You to Remember
The Rose Affair
I Can Destroy the Sun
Tune On the Old Tax Fiddle
Writing
21 credits
Doctor Who
Doctor Who
The Avengers
The Wednesday Play
The Avengers
Adam Adamant Lives!
Target Luna
Doctor Who: The Husbands of River Song
Pathfinders to Venus
Dr. Who and the Daleks
Doctor Who 9: Christopher Eccleston
Police Surgeon
Pathfinders in Space
Doctor Who: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe
Doctor Who: Galaxy 4
Armchair Theatre
Pathfinders to Mars
Ski Skill
Plateau of Fear
Fighting Sea-Fleas
Doctor Who: The Power of the Daleks
Directing
8 credits
Inside Newfoundland
Fighting Norway
Fighting Sea-Fleas
Train Busters
Newfoundland: Atlantic Province
Talent Showcase
Flight 6
Suffer Little Children
Acting
6 credits
The Avengers
Verity Lambert: Drama Queen
Doctor Who: The Daleks in Colour
Grierson
Innes Lloyd: The Producer
Doctor Who: Origins
Other credits
2 credits
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