Ahead of the new Channel 5 drama Power: The Downfall of Huw Edwards, leading communication expert Judi James speaks with the Mirror about the disgraced newsreader’s bombshell statement, which gives a clue as to his next steps
Huw Edwards released an explosive statement today, raising questions about his defiant Plan B.
The 64-year-old experienced an extraordinary downfall after harrowing details of his life away from the news studio were made public. It started with a report in The Sun alleging he had paid a young man for sexual pictures. The Met Police investigated but found no evidence of crime. Then came accusations that he inappropriately messaged a freelance journalist, a sixth-form student and other staff at the BBC. Finally, he was arrested after police learned indecent images of children had been sent to his phone by convicted sex offender, Alex Williams. He pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children and was given just six months imprisonment, suspended for two years, with a requirement to complete a sex offender programme.
Now, the shocking chain of events has been dramatised in Channel 5’s Power: The Downfall of Huw Edwards, starring Martin Clunes in the role of the former BBC star. Described as “a major, factual drama”, Power is penned by Mark Burt, who involved the young man in the process, allowing him full control and script-reading privileges.
Edwards, however, has made his fury known and issued an unprecedented missive, lashing out at makers of the two-part programme, claiming: “[They] made no attempt to check with me the truth of any aspect of their narrative before going ahead with the production.” He continued: “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.”
READ MORE: Huw Edwards breaks silence on damning Channel 5 drama with explosive statement
In the sensational statement, he does offer ‘regret and remorse’ for his crimes, admitting that his actions were ‘reprehensible’. Hinting at a comeback, he continues: “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.”
The statement is bound to enrage his former BBC co-workers, with a source previously claiming Edwards “betrayed the BBC by playing the mental health card” in court, where it was heard that he’d viewed images of a child believed to be aged between “seven and nine” years of age. Speaking back in August 2024, the source fumed: “Huw gamed the system – and he’s still doing it. He has been using the huge money given to him by the BBC to build a legal wall around himself.”
And Psychotherapist Shelly Darr believes the structure of the statement gives an alarming insight into Edwards’ warped perception of his crimes. She told The Mirror: “What this statement reveals, more than anything, is that Huw Edwards is still trying to control the story. It doesn’t open with his victims. It opens with a complaint – that the production team didn’t come to him before making the drama. As a psychotherapist, that’s a real tell. When someone has genuinely processed accountability, their focus shifts. It moves toward the people they harmed, not toward their own grievances.
“The apology is in there, and it may be sincere. But it’s sandwiched – he attacks the drama’s credibility, apologises, then pivots straight to announcing his own account of events. That structure says something. It’s the behaviour of someone managing a reputation, not someone who has fully reckoned with what they did.”
Indeed, body language and behavioural expert Judi James agrees, explaining that Edwards’ rant is a brazen attempt to claw back his authority. “The repeated use of ‘they’ in the first paragraph adds to the sense of indignation as it aims the comments rather than just saying ‘I wasn’t involved’,” she says. “So we get an accusatory sounding ‘They belatedly asked…’ ‘They also refused…’ or they ‘made no attempt’. This choice of words makes it read as though Edwards assumes or feels he has rights in this process. The use of quotation marks around ‘factual drama’ seems to be applied to throw doubt on that description. The tone here suggests a state of authority.”
Analysing his words of apology and subsequent complaints about his mental health, Judi says there are several red flags. She tells The Mirror she picked up on “three key verbal implied ‘tones'” – indignant, conditional apology and victimhood.
“The first paragraph uses terms and words that appear to imply he is indignant and in an aggrieved state of complaint. As this paragraph comes first, it implies that it is the most important part of the message. The second paragraph reads as an apology, but with some small verbal provisos. The third and fourth paragraphs seem to suggest victimhood and vulnerability, with what seems to be a desire for sympathy or pity for himself,” she said.
She believes his statement is a dubious attempt to turn the tables of opinion in his favour. “He describes himself as a victim, referring to his own ‘fragile state of my health’, ‘my struggle’ and his ‘downward spiral’ and his ‘persistent mental illness over a period of 25 years. The generalisation is there again when he refers to ‘why people sometimes behave in shocking and reprehensible ways’ rather than choosing to personalise the statement with an ‘I’. He even finishes with the phrase ‘why things fell apart for me….’ which again suggests he believes he is a victim here.”
Despite the litany of allegations and actual court conviction, Shelly Darr believes that Edwards has failed in his apparent quest to offer an explanation rather than an excuse. “The mental illness framing bothers me too. He says it can never excuse criminality, which is correct – but then does exactly that in the next breath, using it to explain why things ‘fell apart.’ The line between explanation and excuse is razor-thin, and I don’t think he stays on the right side of it. The risk is that it asks the public to extend a sympathy that quietly minimises what real people experienced at his hands.”
While other shamed public figures melt away into the background, it appears that Edwards has no such plans. The former News at Ten anchor has now got himself an agent, according to the Daily Mail, with a source insisting, “We are going to be seeing something of him in the coming months.”
For Judi, his words about producing his ‘own account of these terrible events’ “reads as a plug for a new book or ‘My Truth’- style documentary.” And Ms Darr believes that his unwillingness to remain silent for the sake of his victims hints at the true nature of Edwards’ grievance.
“When your entire identity has been built on being trusted, authoritative, the person who delivers truth, and that collapses, the need to reclaim the narrative can feel like survival,” she says. “But to the people harmed by him, and to the public, it looks like what it also is: a man who is still, fundamentally, more preoccupied with his own story than anyone else’s.”
Whichever platform Edwards uses to convey his message, which we can assume may differ from the Channel 5 telling, it’s unlikely he’ll turn to the BBC. Addressing the Royal Television Society (RTS) London conference, the month of his conviction, BBC director-general Tim Davie stated that he “can’t see” Edwards working for the corporation ever again. It’s understood that Edwards still hasn’t paid back the £200,000 requested of him by the Beeb, reflective of the high earnings he continued to pull in some five months after his arrest.
Edwards, who officially resigned from the BBC after 40 years in April 2024, was previously the BBC’s highest-paid newsreader, with a pay bracket of £475,000 to £479,999 for the year 2023/24 for just 160 presenting days, according to the corporation’s latest annual report.
A Channel 5 spokesperson has asserted that Power 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.” They added: “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.”
You can catch Power: The Downfall of Huw Edwards at 9pm on March 24, on Channel 5.
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READ MORE: Huw Edwards’ vile texts laid bare – ‘big boy’ student, nudes and lewd demands
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