Disgraced former BBC news anchor Huw Edwards has condemned an upcoming dramatization of his downfall.
Edwards, who became the BBC’s best paid and best known news anchor over his 20 year career at the broadcaster, was convicted of three counts of making indecent images of children in 2024 after pleading guilty. He was given a suspended sentence, meaning he served no jail time. He was also ordered to complete a sex offender treatment program and has been added to the sex offender register for seven years.
“[The producers] made no attempt to check with me the truth of any aspect of their narrative before going ahead with the production,” Edwards said in a statement to the Daily Mail, apparently referring to producers Wonderhood Studios.
“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.”
In the statement he reportedly expresses his “deep regret and remorse” for the crimes and adds he plans to tell his side of the story. “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. 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.”
In 2024 Westminster Crown Court in London heard how Edwards had paid a convicted pedophile to send him dozens of images of child sex abuse, including six deemed “Category A,” the most serious. Some featured children believed to be as young as 7. Edwards claimed the money he had sent the pedophile had not been in exchange for the images.
The court case came while Edwards was already on leave from the BBC after a tabloid story the previous summer exposed that he had been paying a teenager for explicit images over a period of years.
Now “The Downfall of Huw Edwards,” a new drama airing this week on Paramount-owned Channel 5, is set to detail how Edwards found and groomed the teenager through the same pedophile who supplied him with the child abuse images. Edwards, who is played by Martin Clunes in the 90-minute dramatization, was never arrested or convicted for any crimes in relation to the teenager.
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