Perhaps due to this frustration, in 1955 he once more decided to leave the BBC, and indeed the full-time broadcasting industry as a whole, joining Hulton Press as the company's Joint General Manager. This finally enabled him to make the move in television with the BBC's commercial competitor, ITV, as he returned to appearing on the airwaves rather than behind the scenes, becoming a chairman of the programme Free Speech. He also appeared occasionally on other television programmes, as well as on various BBC radio programmes. In February 1957 he returned once again to the BBC to succeed Cecil McGivern as the Controller of Programmes at the BBC Television Service. He occupied this post for four years until 1961, when he was promoted to become the BBC's overall Director of Television. He remained in this role until 1968, when he reached the BBC's compulsory retirement age of sixty.
