He is regarded as a supporter of science-fiction. He brought
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) to British television as controller of BBC Two, screened repeats of
Doctor Who (1963) and while running BBC One he made efforts to restore
Doctor Who (1963) to the channel despite antipathy towards it from other BBC executives at the time. This eventually led to the production of the
Doctor Who: The Movie (1996) film starring
Paul McGann, which was a ratings hit in the UK but failed to take off in America.