He is often erroneously referred to as the BBC One controller who cancelled the original series of
Doctor Who (1963). Actually, he put it on an 18 month hiatus in 1985 and brought it back in September 1986. He also made the decision to remove
Colin Baker from the lead role in 1986. The series was actually permanently cancelled by
Peter Cregeen, the Head of Series at the BBC in 1989, when
Jonathan Powell was controller of BBC One and two years after Grade had left the BBC.