He was twice named Interviewer of the Year by the Royal Television Society and received the British Academy award for contributions to factual television.

Memorable interviews with world leaders have included US Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, South African Presidents Thabo Mbeki and FW de Klerk, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, Rwandan President Paul Kagame, and the last leader of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev.

Sebastian is the founder and chairman of The Doha Debates and the New Arab Debates. Early on in his career he was a BBC foreign correspondent based in Warsaw, Moscow and Washington and is best known for being the original host of the BBC's flagship interview program HARDtalk. He studied modern languages at Oxford University and journalism at Cardiff University.

He is currently hosting Conflict Zone on DW.