The Chair of Welsh–language broadcaster S4C, who has been in post for six months, was talking to BBC Cymru Wales’ media and arts correspondent Huw Thomas.

“The sector is full of creative people… with bold ideas. I want to see S4C being a home for those ideas,” said Williams. “We want to work with large stable companies who can provide that certainty to us with regards to programming, but we also want to work with smaller companies and even people who haven’t produced for anybody in the past.”

Discussing the TV licence settlement for 2022, Williams said: “The Welsh language sector within the creative industries is completely dependent on public funding.”

He pledged “to ensure that the bid we will be submitting to the Government for that financial settlement… will be credible and… make sure we have the financial resources to… safeguard the future of our services.”

Recently, Williams met new BBC Director-General Tim Davie. “I was pleasantly surprised,” he said. “I could see that the BBC values us… and has an open mind with regards to how we could improve our creative relationship. I have always believed that S4C has more to gain from being in partnership with the BBC than seeing it as competition or a threat.”

Williams had been part of the campaign in the 1970s for a Welsh-language channel: “I felt the presence of the Welsh language on television back then was key in the effort to ensure [it] flourished. My opinion hasn’t changed.

“Creating S4C in 1982 was essential to changing people’s attitudes… to the Welsh language.”

The interview with Williams was broadcast in Welsh with a simultaneous English translation.