Will Millard is a best-selling writer, an award-winning broadcaster, an experienced public speaker and a passionate advocate for cleaner river catchments.
Based on the South Wales side of the Severn Estuary, but born and raised in The Fens, Will specialises in stories about extraordinary humans, exploration and remote communities, natural history, freshwater, fish and fishing.
He wrote the international bestseller The Way of the Hermit (Pan Macmillan: 2023) with Ken ‘The Hermit of Treig’ Smith and he has ghostwritten two Sunday Times bestsellers: Call Me Red (Ebury: 2021) with Cumbrian shepherdess Hannah Jackson and In The Hide (Witness Books: 2025) with BBC Wildlife cameraman Gordon Buchanan. His critically-acclaimed debut, The Old Man and the Sand Eel (Viking: 2018), followed his wild journey across Britain in pursuit of a fishing record and his latest wildlife book, Kingdom (BBC Books: 2025), chronicles the real-life saga of four powerful African animal families and accompanies the landmark BBC natural history documentary series, Kingdom, narrated by Sir David Attenborough.
For over a decade, Will led expeditions within the remotest parts of West Papua and West Africa. He investigated ancient inter-tribal trade routes across New Guinea and recorded a BBC Radio 4 series during his solo descent of the Sierra Leone-Liberia border. He received awards for his work from the Royal Geographical Society (2009, 2013), the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust (2012) and Sir Ranulph Fiennes’ Transglobe Expedition Trust (2012), all of which culminated in a very successful presenting career with the BBC.
Will has presented seven BBC series and three stand-alone documentaries. He has recorded with some of the most remarkable communities on earth, including the Bajau sea gypsies, the Lamaleran whale hunters and the Korowai of West Papua. In 2016 he won the BAFTA Cymru Award for ‘Best Presenter’ for his BBC series Hunters of the South Seas and, in 2019, his hit BBC series My Year with the Tribe won him the Realscreen award for best ‘Travel and Exploration’. His BBC television series received nominations for Best Series and Best Presenter in the Grierson, Broadcast, Bannf, Kendal, and the Televisual Bulldog awards; and have been broadcast to millions worldwide on the BBC Network, plus PBS, Netflix and BBC Worldwide. Closer to home, he has presented several very popular domestic BBC series on rivers, urban exploration and history including: Hidden Wales, The River Wye, The River Taff, The Miners Who Made Us and Go Fish!
Will is also a prolific Children’s author with My First Day Fishing (translated into 14 languages worldwide), plus Animal Words for Little Zoologists, In the Pond, In the Tree, In the Rockpool and In the Garden, all for Magic Cat, and his latest pairing: The Beaver Who Saved Christmas and The Squirrel Who Lost Her Nuts for Hachette.
In print media, Will writes full-time for Fallons Angler magazine and has contributed features to several publications including BBC News, The Daily Telegraph, Vice, The Guardian, Geographical, and Countryfile magazine.
Will is a regular school speaker with his Ask The Explorer and The Magic of Fish workshops, both ideal for KS1 and KS2 and adaptable for SEN. For adults, he has lectured on all his work at venues throughout the UK including the Royal Geographical Society’s ‘Monday Night Lectures’ and their Regional lecture theatre tours held across England and Wales, and Scotland with the Royal Scottish Geographical Society. He spoke to a single audience of over 5,000 people, with astronaut Tim Peake, as part of New Scientist Live at the Excel Arena, and he has presented at numerous other events and festivals including: Hay Festival, St.James’ Palace for the DofE Gold Awards, London’s National Geographic Store, the Wilderness Lectures in Bristol, Between The Trees and Adventure Travel Live.
Will is a Fellow of both the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) and the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust; an Ambassador for The World Fish Migration Day, Keep Wales Tidy, the Rivers Trust and the Angling Trust; and he is the very proud Patron of Mobile Education Partnerships, a charity which provides teacher trainers and learning resources to isolated and war torn schools in Myanmar.
He is currently writing a history book with the map-making Ordnance Survey (due October 2026) and is researching for a new book project on the state of British rivers for Hodder & Stoughton (due 2027).
You can follow all of his work on his Facebook, Instagram or Twitter pages, or contact him here.
“Will Millard writes with a genuine sense of humility, humour, and reflection” –Countryfile Magazine
“This is post-modern nature writing that embraces beauty where it finds it and marvels at nature’s tenacity” – Geographical Magazine
“Will writes with flawless charm, light humour and gentle authority – A major talent and the best writer of this type since I first discovered Bill Bryson” –Heat Magazine
“A wonderful talk that reflected perfectly the reasons why we love Geography” – Sir Michael Palin
“Millard is a natural presenter…Even when faced with aggression from tribes people who have no idea who this sunburnt stranger is he wins them – and us – over with his warmth. This man is one to watch” – Radio Times
“Millard came across as a man of boundless heart and decency. The foregoing film, full, of light and laughter and uncomfortable truths, established him as a prize catch for the BBC.” – Daily Express
“Will Millard’s Hunters of the South Seas was un-improvable. One advantage is that although Millard is a bona fide explorer he looks like a book worm not Bear Grylls.” – The Times
“Will becomes passionately involved with his hosts. He clearly adores them and they adore him, and trust him… A lovely, touching, very human little film.” – The Guardian