He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in June 2018 for his services to Arts and Culture.

He was commissioned to present a second TV series of Tate Walks for Sky Arts in 2017 featuring David Bailey, Helena Bonham Carter, Billy Connolly, Robert Lindsay, Jeremy Paxman and Harriet Walter.

He presented a study of William Hogarth and the 18th century for the television series The Genius of British Art, on Channel 4, in 2010 and hosted The Culture Show for BBC 2 in 2012.

Born in London, England, into the prominent Ghanaian Casely-Hayford family, Gus Casely-Hayford attended the private Clayesmore School in Dorset from 1978 to 1980,[10][11] and went on to gain a PhD in African History from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London University.

[12][13] His doctoral thesis was titled "A genealogical history of Cape Coast stool families".

Prior to this, he was the Director of Africa 05,[18] the largest African arts season ever hosted in Britain,[19] involving throughout 2005 more than 150 cultural organisations, including the BBC,[20] the aim of which Casely-Hayford said was to create "sustainable change in the way the art world – and the public – thinks about Africa.

He was chair of the advisory panel for the 2015 British Library exhibition West Africa: Word, Symbol, Song and co-authored the accompanying book of the same title.

[31] In February 2022, Casely-Hayford was announced as the new presenter of the online revival of Time Team, alongside Natalie Haynes.