Hugh Greene

Sir Hugh Carleton Greene OBE (15 November 1910-19 February 1987 ) was the Director-General of the British Broadcasting Corporation from 1 January 1960 until 1969. He personally hired Sydney Newman as Head of Drama in 1961 as a deliberate attempt to shake up the drama department to be more competitive with ITV — or, as it was generally known then, ATV.

He also presided over the creation of BBC Two.

Greene was famously involved in a pitched battle with Mary Whitehouse, which began in 1963. He believed that the BBC should offer a wide range of programming to appeal to and reflect all strata of society. Toward this end, he sanctioned the commissioning of a number of shows — most particularly, the show on which was based — which depicted elements of British society of which Whitehouse strongly disapproved. She claimed he was personally responsible for the "moral collapse" of Britain. Eventually Whitehouse gained enough conservative political allies to force Greene's resignation in 1969.

He was succeeded by Charles Curran.

Depictions in fiction
Hugh Bonneville played Greene in.