In this position, Wilson was responsible for overseeing the creation and development of a series that Newman himself had originally conceived: an educational science-fiction serial entitled Doctor Who.
[3] Wilson was responsible for much of the early development work on the show, although he did strongly attempt to dissuade producer Verity Lambert from using writer Terry Nation's script featuring a race of aliens named Daleks.
Once the script had been made and transmitted to great success, he called Lambert into his office to tell her that she clearly knew the show better than he did and that he would no longer interfere with her decisions.
In 1965, Wilson gave up his position as Head of Serials to concentrate on realising a long-held ambition of bringing The Forsyte Saga to the screen.
He later acted as adapter and producer again on such prestigious costume dramas as The First Churchills (1969) and Anna Karenina (1977), and also worked for Anglia Television on their series Orson Welles Great Mysteries in 1973.