George Entwistle

George Entwistle was the 15th Director General of the BBC, who took over from Mark Thompson on 18 September 2012. On acceding to the position, he immediately told his staff that Doctor Who was one of the "major pieces of BBC content" seen around the world.

The main goal he outlined in his administration was to bring "improved levels of collaboration, common values and purpose" between the homegrown, licence fee-paid service of the British Broadcasting Corporation and the "burgeoning success" of the Corporation's commercial arm, BBC Worldwide.

A fan of the way the BBC's coverage of the 2012 Olympic Games had seemingly United the Kingdom, he immediately ordered that all of the BBC — which presumably included the BBC Wales team producing Doctor Who — should use that event as a model for future content.

quickly reported that his love of television drama derived from watching Doctor Who in his youth. The newspaper quoted him as saying, "Jon Pertwee was my Doctor. I was a big sceptical about the Tom Baker regeneration."