Disgraced BBC News anchor Huw Edwards, who in 2024 was convicted of accessing child sex abuse images, has issued a furious statement over a new film depicting the scandal.
Wuthering Heights star Martin Clunes portrays Edwards in 5’s Power: The Downfall of Huw Edwards. It chronicles the “true story” of the ex-broadcaster’s grooming of a 17-year-old boy (named Ryan in drama, played by Osian Morgan) in the lead-up to his criminal conviction.
The producers behind the film, airing in the U.K. on Tuesday, March 24, said at a London screening last week that they pored over reports, police files, and related paperwork, as well as speaking extensively with the victim, their family, and journalists at The Sun who first broke the news of Edwards’ grooming. A note at the end of the program — made to show the public “how grooming works and the insidiousness of grooming,” according to a 5 producer — states that the former BBC presenter declined to comment on the events depicted.
On Monday, in a statement to the Daily Mail, Edwards condemned the producers for making “no attempt to check with me the truth of any aspect of their narrative before going ahead with the production.”
The Welshman said: “They belatedly asked for a response after the drama had been made, while reserving the right to edit any such response. They also refused to disclose whether any of those making allegations had been paid for their contributions. Channel 5’s ‘factual drama’ is hardly likely to convey the reality of what happened.”
He continued, explaining his “deep regret and remorse for the crimes committed were expressed in court.” In pleading guilty “at the earliest opportunity, I took full responsibility for my reprehensible actions. I am repelled by the idea that some people enjoy viewing indecent images of children,” said Edwards. “Every image represents an innocent victim. I offer my sincere and profound apologies for what I did.”
The ex-BBC star then referenced his own struggles with mental health (shortly after the news of his grooming broke in The Sun, Edwards’ wife said he was hospitalized for severe mental health issues). “I am making an effort to produce my own account of these terrible events. This is a slow process, given the fragile state of my health,” Edwards said. “I have been open about my struggle with persistent mental illness over a period of 25 years. What is less well known is the severity of that condition, which was managed successfully until the downward spiral which led to an appalling outcome.”
“Mental illness is misunderstood by many, but can never be an excuse for criminality. It can, however, at least help explain why people sometimes behave in shocking and reprehensible ways, and why things fell apart for me in the way they did,” the statement added.
A 5 spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter in the wake of Edwards’ fresh claims: “Power: The Downfall of Huw Edwards is based on extensive interviews with the victim, his family, the journalists who revealed his story, text exchanges between the victim and Edwards, and court reporting. It has been produced in accordance with Ofcom’s Broadcasting Code. All allegations made in the film were put to Huw Edwards via his solicitors six weeks before transmission.”
Edwards was regarded as one of the U.K.’s most trusted newsreaders, having headlined landmark BBC coverage on Queen Elizabeth II’s death and the London Olympics in 2012.
That was until 2024, when he was convicted for serious child sexual offences and exited public life entirely. It was revealed in court that Edwards had struck up an online friendship with a man named Alex Williams — a key plot point of Power: The Downfall of Huw Edwards — who, from December 2020 to August 2021, sent him messages containing child abuse imagery, which Edwards accessed, including Category A images, considered the most extreme. On these charges, he pleaded guilty to making indecent images of children in a London court and was handed a six-month suspended sentence.
The reports of grooming young men were separate from Edwards’ criminal conviction, and first came to light in The Sun in 2023. The outlet was at first unable to name the “top BBC star” suspended over misconduct. A social media frenzy ensued with Edwards’ wife forced to make a statement on behalf of her partner.
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