Last updated September 2008
Category: News;
Daytime
Printable version
Sian Williams has been presenting BBC Breakfast for nearly eight years.
She began in January 2001 as the weekend presenter and became the main presenter in 2006.
She joined the programme after spending two years on the BBC Six O'Clock News as the Special Correspondent and as a regular presenter of the bulletin.
She's now been part of the BBC Six O'Clock News presenting team for almost a decade and also presents the Ten O'Clock News occasionally.
Sian joined the BBC in 1985 and spent a year working as a reporter in Manchester, Sheffield and Leeds, before settling in Liverpool – where she spent five years at BBC Radio Merseyside as a reporter and producer.
In 1991, Sian joined BBC 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,
securing exclusive interviews with main players such as the subsequently
indicted war criminal Radovan Karadzic.
Sian also output-edited live three-hour Budget programmes for Radio 4
and studio-produced the 1997 General Election programme on Radio 4
and BBC Radio 5 Live.
Her big break into television news came when, in 1997, she accepted a
job as an assistant editor with BBC News 24.
The team were screen-testing would-be presenters – one fell ill and
Sian was asked if she fancied having a go herself. She did, and was
subsequently offered the 4.00 to 7.00pm slot on News 24 with Gavin Esler.
Since joining Breakfast, and as well as presenting BBC News bulletins, Sian has also worked on Radio 5 Live, where she's hosted Breakfast, Midday, Drive and breaking news specials.
She's made many programmes for BBC Wales, including a series where she spent a year learning Welsh, and has also presented BBC One daytime specials and series, such as City Hospital and Now You're Talking.
Sian has presented BBC One peak-time specials on live stories such as the round-the-world voyage of Ellen MacArthur and London winning the 2012 Olympics.
In 2004, Sian was sent to Sri Lanka and Thailand to cover the Boxing Day tsunami.
Later that year, she was one of the first Western journalists to reach the earthquake-stricken regions of Pakistan, where she spent a week co-presenting on every BBC One TV news programme, from Breakfast through to the BBC Ten O'Clock News.
In 2005, she was part of the BBC's General Election presenting team.
Sian has three sons, born in 1991, 1994 and 2006.
