S4C Interim Chair Guto Bebb carries on as delay continues in appointment of successor

Martin Shipton

The term of office of Interim S4C Chair Guto Bebb appears to have been quietly extended.

The former Wales Office Minister and Aberconwy MP, who is currently group chief executive of the Farmers’ Union of Wales, was previously due to have left his role at S4C by the end of March 2025, or earlier if a permanent replacement for him was appointed by the UK Government.

The S4C Authority’s website stated on April 14 that Mr Bebb’s term of office was due to end on February 28 2026, although he has told us that isn’t the case: “My days are numbered”, he said.

Those working for the Welsh language broadcaster and others in the industry have been waiting for more than a year to see who would take over from Mr Bebb.

New appointments are also due of non-executive directors. Former Conservative Assembly Member Suzy Davies is the only other existing non-exec whose term of office doesn’t expire until next year.

Chris Jones and Adele Gritten are both due to step down at the end of April 2025, while Denise Poulton was due to leave at the end of March 2025.

Culture Secretary

Broadcasting is not devolved and the appointment of an S4C Chair is the responsibility of Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy. A broadcast industry source said: “It was expected that with a new UK Government taking office last July, there would be a further delay in appointing a new Chair, but this has now been going on a long time. It is difficult to imagine such a long delay in appointing a Chair of Channel 4. It’s another example of Wales not being a priority in Westminster.”

A spokesperson for the UK’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) would only say: The process to appoint a chair and board members at S4C is ongoing and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport will announce the outcome in due course.”

S4C has been in turmoil for two years, following the dismissal in 2023 of previous CEO Sian Doyle, who was judged to have presided over a bullying culture where employees and others felt intimidated.

Ms Doyle was sacked after the delivery of a report by Cardiff solicitors Capital Law, who had interviewed large numbers of present and former S4C employees, as well as stakeholders..

Targeting

The Capital Law bullying report stated: “Many of the participants described situations where they had seen Sian Doyle behave abusively whilst discussing S4C colleagues and their work. This was described in various ways, but participants referred to her targeting specific colleagues in public and her use of swearwords and derogatory language whilst discussing them. This led to an unpleasant feeling and of mistrust among participants.

“There are numerous reports of the Chief Executive being rude or disparaging about colleagues in internal meetings or in public. Examples include:

Disparaging comments about S4C programmes and their presenters.In one example, in relation to a specific programme, the Chief Executive was reported as saying: “who the f*** are [redacted – presenters]? Who is watching this rubbish?”

“Sian Doyle just started talking about [a former staff member] who no longer works at S4C. She was just wild and then said:“he has to go. I’m not going to have anyone like that working here”. That is a paraphrase of her words. She was just telling a room full: “that’s it. He has to go. I’m going to get rid of him.”

In one conversation about a colleague Sian Doyle was reported as saying: ‘She’s f***ing gone, she shows me no respect. I’ll get rid of her like that.’

“Participants reported that Sian Doyle’s leadership style was: ‘dictatorial creating a culture of fear’. Many of the participants described the negative impact of this on them and their work, with many being reluctant to challenge the chief executive and afraid to state their own ideas or views to her. We were told that this caused many S4C staff to feel generally scared in the workplace.

“An example of Sian Doyle’s leadership style was her alleged regular use of the phrase: ‘Shoot one and a thousand tremble’. This was raised by many participants and witnessed first-hand by three.

“There are many reports of people considering that they had to do what the chief executive said, whether they agreed or not, with her saying:’Are you with me or not, are you with me or not?’ and: ‘it’s me or the chair, you have to choose who you are loyal to, me or the chairman’.”

Challenging behaviour

The Capital Law report also referred to evidence of “challenging behaviour” by Llinos Griffin Williams, S4C’s chief content officer and a close ally of Ms Doyle’s. The report states: “An event was held for S4C staff at Boom Battle Bar in Cardiff on 19th April 2023, where it was alleged that Llinos Griffin Williams called S4C staff: ‘twats’ and blew smoke in a colleague’s face.”

In a separate matter, Ms Griffin Williams was dismissed for gross misconduct after an investigation undertaken by the broadcaster’s then chair Rhodri Williams concluded that she was guilty of gross misconduct for verbally abusing members of an independent TV production company while drunk in a bar during the Rugby World Cup in France.

Mr Williams was criticised by the Welsh Affairs Committee of the House of Commons during a hearing in early 2024 and subsequently said he would not seek a second four-year term after his mandate expired at the end of March 2024.