{"id":42983,"date":"2024-01-03T17:47:47","date_gmt":"2024-01-03T16:47:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1953932"},"modified":"2024-01-03T17:51:09","modified_gmt":"2024-01-03T16:51:09","slug":"winterwatch-presenter-iolo-williams-returns-to-series-after-heart-attack","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/winterwatch-presenter-iolo-williams-returns-to-series-after-heart-attack\/","title":{"rendered":"Winterwatch presenter Iolo Williams returns to series after heart attack"},"content":{"rendered":"

Viewers will be pleased to see him back on the show. <\/p>

By David Craig\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 03 January 2024 at 16:47 PM<\/p>

\n\n

Iolo Williams will return as co-presenter of the BBC\u2019s Winterwatch this year, following a major health scare that forced him to step back from last year\u2019s Springwatch.<\/p>\n

The ornithologist, who previously served as Wales species officer for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), revealed he suffered a heart attack last year while running through a remote part of the countryside.<\/p>\n

As he did not have a mobile phone on him, he had to walk a mile and a half back to his car in order to call for help, describing the incident as \u201cunexpected\u201d.<\/p>\n

He told the Daily Mirror<\/a>: \u201cIt came like a bolt out of the blue. I knew what it was \u2013 intense pain under my sternum \u2013 it was a heart attack. And I thought, \u2018Well, I can\u2019t go down here!\u2019<\/p>

\u201cSo I walked on, crouched a little bit every now and again when the pain got a little bit worse, got to my car, phoned for an ambulance and they said it would be 90-odd minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams added: \u201cSo my wife, Ceri, came down, drove me to the hospital, and from then on I was in the hands of the NHS. They were superb.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following the major scare, Williams had to have a stent fitted in one of his arteries to ensure regular blood flow to the heart, although the difficult procedure led to a clot that left him unable to work on last year\u2019s Springwatch.<\/p>\n