William Crawley

William Crawley is a journalist and broadcaster with the BBC presenting TV and radio programmes on subjects as varied as news and politics, arts and science, and religion and ethics. He hosts the daily radio current affairs programme Talkback for the BBC in Northern Ireland, Sunday on BBC Radio 4, and regularly writes and presents documentaries for Radio 3, Radio 4, and the BBC World Service. His television work -- more than 40 documentaries and series -- includes the landmark natural history series Blueprint, which now forms part of the Ulster Museum’s permanent collection; the interview series William Crawley Meets, in which he meets thought leaders from across the world; a three-part autobiographical series documenting life in Northern Ireland (Sorry For Your Trouble, Dying For A Drink, and Losing Our Religion); Independent People: The Story of Ulster’s Presbyterians; and the 15-part global history of Irish immigration Brave New World.

Educated at Queen’s University Belfast (BA, MPhil, PhD) and Princeton Theological Seminary (MDiv), he served as a Presbyterian minister, university chaplain and lecturer in theology and philosophy before turning to a career in journalism and the media. He is a recipient of the Eisenhower Fellowship; in 2012 he received an honorary Doctor of Literature (D.Lit.) degree from his alma mater, Queen’s University Belfast, for services to broadcasting; and in 2019 was elected a Member of the Royal Irish Academy.