BBC Springwatch star Iolo Williams' life off-screen from major health scare to family life

Wales Online

2 days ago

BBC Springwatch star Iolo Williams' life off-screen from major health scare to family life
Iolo Williams is a well-known face on TV, but the Springwatch star's world was rocked by two major health emergencies
Iolo is back presenting Springwatch
(Image: BBC )
Iolo Williams, the Welsh naturalist, broadcaster, and writer, is back on our screens for the 2025 series of Springwatch, which continues at 8pm on Tuesday, May 27, on BBC Two. A familiar face on screen, Iolo has presented numerous nature and wildlife series for the BBC and S4C over the years.
He is best known for BBC's The Watches, Winterwatch, Springwatch, and Autumnwatch, having joined the popular series as a regular presenter in 2019. He also has his owns series, Iolo's River Valleys, airing at 7pm on BBC Two on Tuesday, May 27.
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In 2023 Iolo had to withdraw from presenting Springwatch after suffering a heart attack during a six-mile run in the Welsh countryside. For the latest TV and showbiz gossip sign up to our newsletter .
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The 61-year-old spoke openly about the frightening experience, which resulted in him having a stent fitted, and later revealed he also suffered from an embolism.
In a concerning update from May, 2023, he shared an update on social media from his hospital bed, saying: "Unfortunately I can't co-present @BBCSpringwatch this year. I had a stent inserted in April, which released a clot, that, this week, caused an embolism!
"My demise has been greatly exaggerated; thanks to brilliant friends, wonderful family and the excellent @NHS. Go Megan and team SW!".
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Sharing more about the incident later, Williams recounted his routine six-mile jog through the Welsh countryside, unexpectedly ending in a heart attack.
Realising immediately what was happening yet far from help, he had to endure a painful walk back to his vehicle, where his phone was left, managing the situation with remarkable fortitude.
"It came like a bolt out of the blue," Iolo recounted to The Mirror. "I knew what it was – intense pain under my sternum. It was a heart attack. And I thought well, I can't go down here! So I walked on, crouched a little bit every now and again when the pain got a little bit worse.
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"Got to my car, phoned for an ambulance and they said it would be 90-odd minutes. So my wife, Ceri, came down, drove me to hospital and from then on I was in the hands of the NHS. They were superb."
Iolo with his Springwatch co-presenters Chris Packham and Michaela Strachan
(Image: SHARED CONTENT UNIT )
While filming for a new series in Port Talbot, Iolo suffered another medical emergency. He said: "We were about to go in to film and I got in a car, in the passenger seat, and all of a sudden I just couldn't put the seatbelt on.
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"I couldn't understand why. The driver was asking what's the matter and I couldn't communicate. So they rushed me to hospital 10 minutes away and injected some high-level aspirin in liquid form."
A cardiac stent had been previously fitted, which might have attributed to a blood clot leading to an embolism. Iolo revealed: "It went around my body for six weeks and then it jammed in a blood vessel in my medulla oblongata – the left-hand side of the base of my brain. The left-hand side operates the right-hand side of your body so I was paralysed.
"But luckily, the NHS jumped into action again and in probably a couple of hours the use of my right arm, right leg had come back. Speech took probably the best part of four or five days to come fully back but there were no long-term ill-effects whatsoever."
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Iolo recently gave a health update, saying: "I got the use of my arm and my leg back, so I can still walk and do what I enjoy doing, and that was generally what I was thinking.
"For me, if I'm going to die, I'd rather die doing what I love, and I love being outside. I love doing wildlife programmes, I love guiding. And if I die showing people a white tailed eagle or die showing people red kites in north Wales, what a way to go."
Iolo has been a familiar face on television since the 90s, starting his media career with BBC Two's Visions of Snowdonia. This programme chronicled the lives of six individuals residing and working on the slopes of Wales' highest mountain.
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Before his days as a presenter he dedicated nearly 15 years to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) as the Species Officer for Wales.
However, when a second series of the BBC Two show was commissioned in 1999, Iolo chose to leave the RSPB and embark on a full-time media career.
Since then, he has presented a variety of shows including Canals of Wales with Iolo Williams, Iolo's Natural History of Wales, Wild Wales, Rugged Wales and Great Welsh Parks.
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Yet, Iolo is perhaps most recognised for his work on The Watches.
Despite a successful television career and a packed schedule, Iolo has also penned a number of books, boasting five publications under his belt.
His works include Blwyddyn Iolo (2003), Crwydro (2004), Wild about the Wild (2005), Wild Places Wales (2016), and Wild Places UK (2019). In his spare time, Iolo regularly contributes to several magazines, including BBC Wildlife.
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Iolo and his wife Ceri Williams share a private family life, having two children together but preferring to keep their personal affairs away from the media spotlight.
After a heart attack hit him during a run last year, Iolo was grateful for his "brilliant friends" and "wonderful family", praising his wife Ceri's quick thinking in driving him to the hospital when an ambulance was delayed.