Sonia Deol

Sonia Deol is an English radio and television presenter of Indian descent.

Background Deol's media career began before she left school, when at the age of 14 she presented a oneoff programme to raise money for Comic Relief on the BBC Local Radio station, BBC Radio WM.

Career

Early career In 1994, after university Deol joined Sunrise Radio. The show was broadcast live on weekdays from 9.00am to 12.00 noon featuring a phone-in and discussion on news, current affairs and matters generally interspersed with music notably Bhangra. On 26 September 2003 she interviewed Indian film director Kaizad Gustad about his 2003 Bollywood film, Boom.

On 6 October 2003, she was the co-host, with then Director-General of the BBC, Greg Dyke, of the BBC local radio's Frank Gillard Awards ceremony held at the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television (now renamed the National Media Museum) in Bradford. In an interview with The Independent newspaper in May 2006, Deol would state that co-hosting the awards with Dyke was one of the proudest achievements in her working life. Her show won a bronze award in the Interactive Category of the 2003 Sony Radio Academy Awards. On 2 September she presented her show live from Paris, France, one year on from the ban on wearing headscarves and religious symbols in French public schools, often known as the French headscarf ban, looking at the impact the ban had on the Asian community in France and whether the wearing of religious symbols should be banned in British schools.

BBC Asian Network: Sonia Deol on the BBC Asian Network Show (April 2006February 2008) In January 2006, the BBC announced major programme changes for the revamp of the Asian Network which took place the following April. Deol was moved from the mid-morning slot to the breakfast slot, and from 24 April she was the presenter of Sonia Deol on the BBC Asian Network which was moved back to the 6am to 9am weekday slot replacing the Breakfast Show, with Anita Rani taking over the mid-morning slot, having previously filled in on the programme. She won the Asian Achievers Media Award for 2006. Deol hosted a special Asian Network Report - Big Brother special debate, broadcast live from the University of East London following on from the Celebrity Big Brother racism controversy. As part of the 2007 Diwali celebrations on 9 November, Deol presented a Diwali special on her morning show, which included her talking with British R&B singer, Jay Sean in the studio about his Diwali plans. These included a visit to a KFC and taking a train from Clapham Junction to Victoria, and then back again to Clapham Junction, while talking for the entire time on a mobile telephone.

Other work (February 2008April 2009) She was a roving reporter on The Heaven and Earth Show on BBC One interviewing the likes of Olivia Newton-John former Labour Member of Parliament, Clare Short. In September 2007 she began as working as a co-presenter on its successor The Big Questions, a Sunday morning debate show, presented by Nicky Campbell, also on BBC One. where she embarked on a personal journey to unravel the events of 1984, an iconic year for the Sikhs.

In March 2012, Deol broadcast her final show on the BBC Asian Network to pursue a personal life in Canada.

Global BC (November 2015March 2022) On 26 November 2015 it was announced that Deol had joined CHAN-DT (Global BC) as a co-presenter of the station's regional morning news program, alongside Steve Darling. Previously, she worked occasionally for the CBC in Vancouver as a TV host. She now works at Global BC as weekend news anchor and reporter.