Mark Thompson

Mark Thompson (born 31 July 1957 ) was the Director-General of the BBC throughout the RTD and early Moffat years of the BBC Wales version of Doctor Who. He acceded to the job on 21 May 2004 and was succeeded by George Entwistle during the broadcast of series 7 in September 2012. Michael Grade — then Chairman of the BBC Board of Directors — presided over the unanimous vote which gave Thompson the job.

On leaving the BBC, he warned that the British Coaltion's government's freeze on the licence fee until 2016 represented a 16% cut on the BBC's budget, many parts of the BBC to sail "very, very close to the edge".