Sioned Wiliam

Not to be confused with Sioned Williams.

Sioned Wiliam (born 1962)[1] is a Welsh comedy producer and executive. A former controller of comedy for ITV, she became the commissioning editor of comedy for BBC Radio 4 and Radio 4 Extra in March 2015 and served in the post for seven years.[2][3]

Sioned Wiliam is the daughter of Welsh-language writer Urien Wiliam.[4] Raised in Barry, South Wales, she attended a Welsh-speaking comprehensive, Ysgol Gyfun Rhydfelen, before reading drama at Aberystwyth University and subsequently studying at Jesus College, Oxford.[5] While at Oxford University, she began performing in the Oxford Revue, working with Rebecca Front and Armando Iannucci, among others.[6] With Front, she was part of the comedy and music duo, the Bobo Girls; the two women performed as this act at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1989[7] and in a radio series, Girls Will Be Girls, which ran for two series broadcast in 1989 and 1991.[8]

Wiliam joined the BBC Radio's Light Entertainment department in 1988,[9] but left in 1991 to produce the live television show Tonight With Jonathan Ross broadcast by Channel 4, remaining with the programme for a year. Subsequently, she joined the independent production companies Talkback, the company founded by Mel Smith and Griff Rhys-Jones, and Hat Trick. With Geoffrey Perkins, she produced Game On for Hat Trick.

Wiliam was appointed the controller of comedy for ITV in June 1999.[9] During this period, Wiliam revived the single-comedy film on ITV, according to Wiliam, in the tradition of earlier projects developed from scripts by Jack Rosenthal and Alan Bennett.[10] Wiliam also admitted in September 2005 to being interested in developing sitcoms, a declining format, especially on ITV1.[10] She left her post at ITV in January 2006 following decisions made by Simon Shaps, director of television, about management restructuring.[11] Wiliam then became a freelance independent producer.

Wiliam rejoined the BBC in March 2015 to commission Radio 4's comedy output and works for the network on three days each week. She partially replaced Caroline Raphael (whose remit had also included fiction) who had left the BBC.[2] An announcement she was standing down from this role during 2022 was made in January. Julia McKenzie was announced as her replacement in April.[12][3]

Wiliam is married to Ian Brown, known for his scripts for the My Family sitcom; the couple have a son. Her first novel Dal i Fynd (written in Welsh) was published in 2013.[6]

  1. ^ "Sioned Wiliam", BFI Film Forever
  2. ^ a b Jake Kanter "Sioned Wiliam joins Radio 4 commissioning team", Broadcast, 19 January 2015
  3. ^ a b "Radio 4 appoints Julia McKenzie as Commissioning Editor for Comedy and Entertainment". BBC Media Center. 21 April 2022. Retrieved 22 April 2022.
  4. ^ "Clebran 'da… Sioned Wiliam". Pobl Caerdydd (in Welsh). 10 November 2015. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
  5. ^ "2012 Media Conference: Scriptwriting Inside Track" Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine, St Hilda's College, Oxford, 27 October 2012
  6. ^ a b Abbie Wrightwick "Award-winning Welsh TV producer Sioned Wiliam launches new novel", Wales Online, 16 November 2013
  7. ^ David Belcher "Unique talent in every guise", The Herald (Glasdgow), 16 August 1997
  8. ^ "Girls Will Be Girls", Radio Listings website
  9. ^ a b "Wiliam steps into ITV comedy post", Broadcast, 18 June 1999
  10. ^ a b Jason Deans "A self-confessed comedy nerd", The Guardian, 26 September 2005
  11. ^ Ben Dowell "ITV loses two more senior staff", The Guardian, 12 January 2006
  12. ^ "Radio 4 comedy chief Sioned Wiliam stands down". Chortle. 14 January 2022. Retrieved 22 April 2022.