Martin Clunes insists we ‘don’t know full story’ about disgraced Huw Edwards

The undoing of Huw Edwards was not a story Martin Clunes knew before playing the BBC newreader in an upcoming Channel 5 drama.

Clunes believes the events of Power: The Downfall of Huw Edwards will also be news to viewers tuning in.

The feature-length film is set to detail the young man Ryan, played by Osian Morgan, with whom the presenter began messaging and sending large sums of money in exchange for sexual images.

At the screening for the upcoming film, Clunes, 64, told Metro and other press about receiving the script for the drama from his agent, joking: ‘My first thought was, Michael Sheen is busy.’
He continued: ‘I thought it was a challenge.

Just the name Huw Edwards is a story.

But I didn’t know the story until I read it.’

Questioning the audience in the screening room, he said: ‘Did anybody here know the whole story before you saw this afternoon?

No, I don’t think anybody did.‘
He continued: ‘There was a lot of fudgery around it.

First, they announced it was some presenter, and then all these people said, “It’s not me, it’s not me”.

And then there was that sympathy for Huw Edwards, until they found what was on his phone.

‘I think maybe everybody had lost interest by that point, because the next bit of news had come along.

Donald Trump had done something.’
In July 2023, it was reported that ‘a top BBC star’ had paid a teenager for sexual images.

Days later, Edwards was named as the presenter by his wife, who said he had entered an inpatient facility.

Nearly a year later, Edwards was charged and later sentenced to a suspended jail sentence for three charges of making indecent images of children.

He is now a registered sex offender.

The Channel 5 trailer for the drama shows select scenes of Edwards and the young man speaking on the phone, which Clunes said he and Osian Morgan always filmed together to create a sense of ‘intimacy’.

‘Traditionally in television and film, [phone calls] are done abysmally with somebody reading it very badly for the other person, because they’re not booked that day,’ explained Clunes.

POLL

Will you be tuning in to the drama next week?

• Yes

• No

So when the camera was on Os, I was there, and when it was on me, he was there.

That was the perfect way to get that genuine intimacy of those overlong phone calls you’d have with a young girlfriend or something.’
Clunes also spoke about trying to emulate Edwards’s Welsh voice, noting it isn’t quite a straight reproduction of the disgraced newsreader’s familiar accent.

‘It’s my version of him, that’s all it was ever going to be,’ explained Clunes.

‘But there’s enough out there of him.

We watched him every night and he sort of seeps in.’
Power: The Downfall of Huw Edwards will air tonight at 9pm on Channel 5 and its streaming service My5.
A version of this article was first published on March 19, 2026.
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.