Lia Williams: In Her Own Words

In a decades spanning career, Lia Williams has established herself as one of the most prominent actresses working today. At the start of her career, Lia was already working with the likes of David Hare, Alan Ayckbourn and Harold Pinter, with whom she would go on to share a long working relationship and friendship. On screen, some of her many highlights have included playing Wallis Simpson in The Crown and more recently Paula Vennels in Mr Bates vs The Post Office. In recent years, we've also seen her prove herself to be a terrific director, finding herself at the helm on various short films and later also directing highly acclaimed productions of Ashes to Ashes and Doubt: A Parable. Some of Lia's upcoming projects include a new TV adaptation of The Day of the Jackal and also reprising her role in the highly acclaimed BBC drama: The Capture.

In this exclusive interview to mark 100 episodes of our podcast series, Lia Williams sits down to look back over her illustrious career. We hear her talk about her early career, finding her way through challenging roles like Kyra in Skylight, acting opposite Michael Gambon as well as playing Carol in Oleanna opposite David Suchet. We also get to hear her talk about her experiences of alternating roles with Juliet Stevenson and Kristin Scott-Thomas on the highly acclaimed productions of Mary Stuart and Old Times. Over the course of our conversation, Lia tells us about how the acting profession has changed during her career and talks us through her transition into becoming a well-respected director as well. In this very candid conversation, Lia reflects on the various roles that she's played and takes some time to also discuss her relationship with son and fellow actor: Joshua James, with whom she starred with in The Vortex last year. It's a fascinating insight into one of our greatest leading ladies and we look forward to seeing how her career continues to evolve in the future.