After university she joined Schroders Investment Bank , then moved into journalism with the weekly '' Investors Chronicle '' . Pillai joined the BBC in 1986 , first working on '' The Money Programme '' , then '' Panorama '' from 1990 to 1995 . Her nine-month investigation into financial affairs of media proprietor Robert Maxwell was presented as " The Max Factor " , which won an award from the Royal Television Society in 1991 . Another of her notable programmes , titled " Underclass in Purdah " , reported on Muslims in Britain , and predicted social turmoil and violence . She joined the BBC World News channel in 1995 as one of the main anchors , presenting the hourly news reports . In 1997 she presented the channel 's coverage of Pakistan 's 50th anniversary of independence in Islamabad , and , from Jerusalem in 1998 , Israel 's 50th anniversary of its declaration of independence . More recently , Pillai gave live coverage of the September 11 attacks and the fall of Baghdad . She has also hosted live interactive debates between audiences in America and in connected studios in Pakistan and Jordan . She has also presented the BBC 's flagship interview programme '' HARDtalk '' , and listed her most notable interviewees as Hindu nationalist Bal Thackeray of the Shiv Sena , musician Phil Collins , writer V. S. Naipaul and Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
Nisha Pillai