This from the Media Guardian:
The list of superlatives for BBC1's Doctor Who revival grows ever longer: seeing off Celebrity Wrestling, winning over diehard fans and a new generation of viewers, and resurrecting family TV viewing almost singlehandedly.
But today the show achieved perhaps its greatest triumph to date - winning the glowing approval of one of its biggest critics, the BBC chairman, Michael Grade, who suspended Doctor Who for 18 months when he was running BBC1 in the 80s.
Mr Grade, who has since said that his decision to give Doctor Who an extended holiday was born out of a personal dislike of the show, has eaten his words, sending a note to the BBC director general, Mark Thompson, describing the 2005 vintage as a "classy, popular triumph".
He showered glowing praise on everyone involved in the show - from commissioners to the PR department - and revealed that he had watched it every week with his six-year-old son, "who is now a fan".
"This is not easy to write - as you will readily understand. But here goes - congratulations to all involved in Doctor Who: to whoever commissioned it, those who executed it, the writers, the cast, the publicity folk, the schedulers and of course the late Sydney Newman who invented the whole thing," he wrote.
"PS never dreamed I would ever write this. Must be going soft!" he sheepishly signed off the note to Mr Thompson."
The list of superlatives for BBC1's Doctor Who revival grows ever longer: seeing off Celebrity Wrestling, winning over diehard fans and a new generation of viewers, and resurrecting family TV viewing almost singlehandedly.
But today the show achieved perhaps its greatest triumph to date - winning the glowing approval of one of its biggest critics, the BBC chairman, Michael Grade, who suspended Doctor Who for 18 months when he was running BBC1 in the 80s.
Mr Grade, who has since said that his decision to give Doctor Who an extended holiday was born out of a personal dislike of the show, has eaten his words, sending a note to the BBC director general, Mark Thompson, describing the 2005 vintage as a "classy, popular triumph".
He showered glowing praise on everyone involved in the show - from commissioners to the PR department - and revealed that he had watched it every week with his six-year-old son, "who is now a fan".
"This is not easy to write - as you will readily understand. But here goes - congratulations to all involved in Doctor Who: to whoever commissioned it, those who executed it, the writers, the cast, the publicity folk, the schedulers and of course the late Sydney Newman who invented the whole thing," he wrote.
"PS never dreamed I would ever write this. Must be going soft!" he sheepishly signed off the note to Mr Thompson."
