He had a long career at the BBC, where he was eventually promoted to Director-General, and was described by The Independent as "one of the most original and talented programme-makers to emerge during television's formative years".
[2] For his national service Milne was commissioned into the Gordon Highlanders, before receiving a medical discharge due to a lung infection.
[7] He was taken under the wing of Grace Wyndham Goldie who recruited, trained, guided and encouraged many well-known BBC broadcasters and current affairs executives.
Milne was one of the so-called "Goldie Boys", a group of producers and presenters, which included Huw Wheldon, Robin Day, David Frost, Cliff Michelmore, Ian Trethowan and Richard Dimbleby.
[10] According to The Herald:"He campaigned for BBC Scotland to make programmes reflecting Scottish values and culture, believing in its obligation to support the Gaelic language"[3]Landmark broadcasting events during his time as Director-General included Live Aid, the massive music event precipitated by a BBC news report on famine in Africa.
The BBC's new Breakfast Time programme went on air on 17 January 1983, presented by Frank Bough and former ITN newscaster Selina Scott.
Contentious programme-making included the Nationwide general election special with Margaret Thatcher in 1983, the coverage of the miners' strike of 1984–85, the Panorama libel action,[b] the reporting of the U.S. bombing of Libya and the controversy surrounding the programme Secret Society which took place in light of MI5's vetting of BBC employees.
On the other hand, it does amount to the best bargain in Britain, a slogan which is truer than any single advertising claim I can think of: it is by far the cheapest form of paying for a high standard of broadcasting.
"[14]The licence fee survived the negotiations, and the BBC made an expensive and failed attempt to enter satellite broadcasting.
[16] In an unprecedented step, Hussey convinced the Board of Governors that a change of direction was needed, and they forced Milne's resignation.
[15] The New York Times reported on 30 January 1987, "Mr. Milne, who became director general in 1982, resigned during a meeting of the board of governors and left without issuing a statement.
[8] His obituary in The Guardian noted "...Yet his term as director general ended prematurely, in January 1987, when he resigned to avoid the ignominy of being sacked.
The ostensible cause was a succession of public gaffes by the BBC in 1985–86, plus a costly out-of-court libel settlement over a 1984 edition of Panorama, all of which Tory ministers, the Times, the Daily Mail and others were able to exploit.
"[29] The Independent remarked "Alasdair Milne is destined to be remembered for the brutal manner of his dismissal as Director-General of the BBC in 1987, during Margaret Thatcher's drive to purge the corporation of what she saw as its indiscipline, extravagance, irresponsibility and anti-Conservative bias."