SHE’S the former shop girl who became an internet sensation by dropping Star Wars puns into her Channel 5 weather reports.
Now Sian Welby is storming into the lead in the race to become Holly Willoughby’s replacement on This Morning – after a successful debut with Dermot O’Leary on the show this week.
The former weather girl, 37, proved a hit with fans, with one gushing: “Sian is the absolute best since Holly left.”
Bookmakers Coral have put her ahead of frontrunners Josie Gibson, Alison Hammond and Emma Willis as the 2-1 favourite to take over from Holly, who quit in October 2023 after 14 years.
Currently a host on Capital Breakfast, with Roman Kemp and Chris Stark, the Nottingham-born star boasts celebrity pals including Ed Sheeran and Amanda Holden and regularly snaps selfies with A-listers, including Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie and Tom Cruise.
It’s a far cry from her days as a New Look sales assistant, who dreamed of getting her big break on TV.
Here we look at the stellar rise of Sian Welby – from shop floor to morning star.
Sian’s early ambition was to be an actor, but a chance remark from a classmate, who told her, “You remind me of Cat Deeley,” changed her focus to presenting.
She found an online site which helps to build showreels for wannabe TV stars and began filming clips, working around her job at New Look.
“It advised dressing for the job and I took it to the next level with a friend who helped film a showreel full of clips of me doing the jobs I wanted: pretending to be at Glastonbury, interviewing celebrities, and it worked,” she told Essence magazine.
“Once I landed real jobs, I gradually replaced the clips until my showreel was pretty strong.”
On her breaks in the store she would film clips in the changing rooms, posting them online to build a social media presence.
Her big break came aged 24 when, after bunking off work on a Saturday to appear in an advert for New! Magazine, she was spotted by former Channel 5 owner Richard Desmond.
A month later, in October 2010, she was unveiled as the channel’s new weather girl.
“It was surreal. I was part time presenting, part time working in New Look, and I remember taking a Saturday off without asking to do an advert in London,” she said.
“I got a call from my boss at the time asking, ‘Sian, where are you?’ and I had to admit what I was doing.”
After a meeting at the Channel she says she left “feeling positive”, but never expected a call two weeks later inviting her to be the new face of Channel 5 weather.
“I knew nothing about weather!” she admitted. “It was amazing.”
At the time she had almost given up on her hopes of a TV career, but told the Express the offer was a “dream come true”, adding: “All the girls at New Look were chuffed to bits.
“I still can’t believe it’s finally happening. Everything has happened so fast.
“As soon as I took the job I was off down to the Met Office learning how it all worked and it really is harder than it looks.”
Funny girl
Sian presented on Channel 5 until 2016 and was a hit with viewers, vowing to bring some humour to her daily weather bulletins.
Her reports went viral after she began slotting in movie puns, peppering one in 2016 with Star Wars references such as “the Force is strong for northern Scotland” and “If you Luke father west you’ll be seeing a glimmer of sunshine if you’re Wookiee”.
The clip was viewed by 4.4m online and she was shortlisted by the Radio Times in a poll of Great Britain’s best ever weather presenters.
“I’m trying to put more personality into the weather and make it less boring,” she said.
“A lot of the time I’m competing with reality stars or even pop stars when it comes to presenting jobs, things have changed a bit.”
Sian moved on to her own weekday radio show on Heart in 2017, before taking over the Sunday morning show from Emma Willis and Stephen Mulhern a year later.
The same year she teamed up with Ed Sheeran to record a kazoo cover of his hit Shape of You live on air.
A handwritten thank you note from the singer now takes pride of place in her house.
In March 2020 Sian moved to Capital Radio, replacing Vick Hope on the Breakfast Show.
The sporty presenter has also fronted Channel’s 4’s cycling show Revolution as well as the documentary Sarah Storey’s Longest Hour.
Her job as a presenter has also seen her hob-nobbing with A-listers at red carpet events including the National Television Awards and the Attitude Awards, and she has posted selfies with Brad Pitt, Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie.
In March 2021, she broke the Guinness World Record for the most sounds recognised in a minute and, later that year, she was slimed on CBBC show Saturday Mash Up alongside Capital Radio co-star Sonny Jay.
Like her idol Cat Deeley, she has said that she will always be able to laugh at herself, adding: “No matter what kind of show I am working on, or what kind of day I might be having, my goal is always the same – find the funny in everything.”
Covid ‘miracle’
Sian’s celebrity pals came to the rescue when she faced a family trauma – as her dad battled Covid in May 22.
Emma Bunton and Amanda Holden were among those who helped her dad “cheat” death as he lay in hospital for seven weeks suffering from sepsis and pneumonia in both lungs.
Already suffering from cancer, she told HOAR he “went so downhill in such a short amount of time”.
“He couldn’t speak, couldn’t drink, too ill to have his chemo cancer treatment, so we just honestly thought he was going to die,” she added.
But after posting an update online she was overwhelmed by the response.
“A week after that post of me hugging him, and after 37,000 people liking and commenting on my story, I really believe in the power of positivity,” she said.
“He couldn’t believe Emma Bunton and Amanda Holden sent him a message to get well soon!
“He asked me to print all the DMs out so he can look at them when I’m not there! It was honestly a miracle.”
Love life
Sian’s career has also brought her love – she got engaged to Jake Becket in August after meeting him at Heart Radio, where he works as a creative producer.
She announced their engagement on Capital Radio, revealing his romantic proposal on a holiday in Crete.
“We always like to do a boat day where we hire a little boat and take it out on the water for a few hours, and so again, that wasn’t suspicious because I expected us to do that,” Sian said.
She revealed Jake hid the ring “up the back of his T-shirt” until the right moment, adding: “He didn’t go on one knee because we’re on the back of a boat. So there wasn’t a lot of room. But he was sat on the back and it was romantic, it was really nice.
“He’d said a load of nice things. And then at that point I looked up because I was lying down sunbathing. Then he had the ring in his hand and then I didn’t know what to say. I was all awkward then said ‘Oh my God yes!’”
Sian’s soaring career has also enabled her to buy her first home in south west London, and she moved in in December 2022.
“It feels like a proper home. Before that it was all renting and flatshares,” she told Time and Leisure. “I lived in Clapham and Battersea before. And despite being from the Midlands, I feel like a South London girl and would never move north of the river!”
In the same interview, Sian – who also does screen and playwriting on the side – laid out her ambition to break into more mainstream TV, foreshadowing her triumphant debut on This Morning.
“I’ve had little mini missions but to know where I’ll be in five years, honestly, I don’t know,” she says.
“I would love to do more TV work one day. I’d like to do some entertainment TV. I love having a laugh… I’ve never had a plan B and I don’t love anything else like I love this.
“It was always my dream to do something in entertainment, whether behind the camera or in front of it.”
It seems Sian’s wish may very soon come true.
