Allan Martin

Allan Martin, OBE, worked as a television executive on both sides of the Tasman, but had his roots in programme making. He began making TV in England in the early 60s. Returning home, he developed influential programmes for the NZBC in Compass and Town and Around. Headhunted by the ABC in Australia, he returned to NZ in 1975 to set up the new second channel, and later became Director-General of TVNZ.

(Martin says his job is) ...trying to realise a system which will ultimately be judged on excellence in programming and its contribution to the intellectual, cultural and social life of the country. Otherwise what’s the bloody point of it all? Allan Martin in the Auckland Star, 5 May 1984