Dr Sian Williams

After seven years on the BBC Breakfast sofa with Bill Turnbull, Sian Williams moved on to co-present BBC Radio 4's extended Saturday Live. Her ability to ask probing questions in her easy interviewing style adds to the wit and warmth of the show where ordinary people tell extraordinary stories, and celebrities reveal their everyday side. 
 
Sian was also involved in some exciting new BBC TV projects including presenting the Olympics for BBC Breakfast, and has remained a key member of the main BBC One newsreading team, presenting for the Six O'Clock, One O'Clock and the Ten O'Clock News. She has also helped present the BBC Coverage of major anniversaries including the D-Day Landings and outbreak of World War One. Sian joined the BBC in 1985 and spent a year working as a reporter in Manchester, Sheffield and Leeds, before moving to Liverpool where she spent five years at Radio Merseyside as a reporter and producer.

 

In 1991, Sian joined Radio 4's World at One, The World This Weekend and PM, becoming an output editor on all three programmes.  She produced programmes for major news events - following Bill Clinton on his 1992 United States Presidential campaign; producing live shows from Belfast on the IRA ceasefire; and, during the Bosnian war, secured exclusive interviews with main players like the subsequently indicted war criminal Radovan Karadzic.

 

Her latest book The Power of Anxiety: How to Ride the Wave of Worry focuses on how we can turn towards anxiety, accept it, and work with it. Sian gives understanding that rather than squaring up to anxiety, we should listen to what it is saying. And to start celebrating this unique sensitivity that makes us feel deeply and intensely. Sian wants to give people the tools to ride the worry wave and thrive, unlocking the power of your anxiety

Sian skills as a journalist alongside her psychological training makes her the perfect person to bring stories of mental well-being to a mass audience, she hosts BBC Radio 4’s Life Changing, a series focusing on moments in people’s lives which transform everything.

Sian most recently hosted the World Happiness Report discussing why some countries are happier than others, explaining the relationship between social media use and wellbeing around the world.

She also hosts Classical Unwind on BBC Radio 3 Unwind. Providing listeners with calming classical music to aid relaxation and well-being. Sian presents the programme daily in the mid-morning slot and incorporates advice from psychology and neuroscience experts into the programme.