Shocking scene released ahead of launch of new Huw Edwards drama
After it was revealed Martin Clunes is set to play the disgraced broadcaster, it’s emerged the new Huw Edwards drama includes a scene of the ex-BBC news anchor curled up in bed talking to a teenage victim.
The new Huw Edwards drama includes a scene of the disgraced ex-BBC news anchor curled up in bed talking to a teenage victim.
Images released by Channel 5, show Martin Clunes, 64, in character as Edwards, also 64, in scenes from its upcoming two-part drama Power: The Downfall of Huw Edwards.
The production dramatises the events surrounding the former BBC presenter, who fronted the corporation’s News at Ten for decades and announced the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
Huw pleaded guilty in July 2024 to making indecent images of children and later received a six-month suspended sentence in September 2024.
The series explores the allegations that emerged while he was one of Britain’s most recognisable television journalists and follows the circumstances that led to his removal from public life.
The programme is directed by BAFTA and Emmy Award-winning director Michael Samuels.
Channel 5 described the focus of the drama in a statement accompanying the release of new images from the show showing Edwards grooming a teenager from bed.
The broadcaster said: “The drama explores the story of how a vulnerable 17-year-old was groomed by one of the most powerful figures in television – Huw Edwards.”
The statement added: “Starring Martin Clunes as Edwards, the series explores the newsreader’s double life as it spirals out of control, leading him to make the greatest announcement of his career – his total exit from public life following his conviction for serious child sexual offences.”
Promotional stills from the production depict Martin in scenes portraying the online contact between Huw and the teenager at the centre of the case.
One image shows Martin, portraying Huw, on a bed while speaking on a phone during a conversation with a teenage boy. Another image depicts the same teenager talking on a phone while outside.
Channel 5 also released details of how the drama portrays Huw’s online behaviour.
The broadcaster said: “Edwards had a secret. Online, he was repeatedly soliciting explicit sexual photos from young men, and in particular grooming a vulnerable 17-year-old.”
The statement added: “He had also struck up a separate online friendship with a man who, from December 2020 to August 2021, repeatedly sent him messages containing child abuse imagery which he accessed, including so-called ‘Category A’ images – the most extreme.”
An earlier promotional clip for the programme showed Martin portraying Huw preparing to present a broadcast, placing an earpiece in while looking directly into a television studio camera.
A voiceover in the clip said: “Martin Clunes stars as in Power: The Downfall of Huw Edwards, coming soon to 5.”
Huw was suspended by the BBC in July 2023 while the allegations were investigated.
Roger Mosey, the former head of BBC TV News who later became master of Selwyn College, Cambridge, said dramatising the case could present legal risks.
He added on Times Radio: “Dramas involving living people are always very risky.
“A documentary approach seems to me to be completely legitimate and right and you should have the right to investigate.
“But as we saw, you remember Steve Coogan's film made about Richard III... once you start doing a narrative in a movie of good guys and bad guys and who did it, you can run into legal problems really very, very rapidly.
“Drama would not be my preferred route of looking at this.”
