Michael Checkland
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Sir Michael Checkland (born 1936) was Director-General of the BBC from 1987 to 1992, having been appointed after the forced resignation of Alasdair Milne.
As a former BBC accountant (hence his somewhat derogatory nickname "Michael Chequebook") he was more cautious and less radical than Milne, and therefore much less potentially unsettling to the Thatcher government. It has been claimed that the exodus to Channel 4 in the early 1990s of dramatists like Dennis Potter and Alan Bleasdale, who had both been responsible for series which caused outrage among Tories during the Milne era, had much to do with the relative lack of risk-taking at the BBC under Checkland and his successor John Birt, who was deputy director-general throughout Checkland's reign.
Following his retirement from the BBC, Sir Michael became closely associated with the British charity, NCH (originally National Children's Homes).
| Preceded by: Alasdair Milne 1982-1987 | Director-General of the BBC 1987-1992 | Followed by: John Birt 1992-2000 |