Power: Fall of Huw Edwards starts on the main day BBCThe main news anchor announced the death of the Queen.
It was a powerful, era-changing moment, carried off with such fury by Edwards that it was met with calls for his knighthood.
But, like new cooling Channel 5 the film tells us that this most trusted newsreader was simultaneously receiving sexual images of children and caring for a young man.
The young man is Ryan Davies (Osian Morgan) – his real name has been changed, but the 23-year-old has now been interviewed extensively about it – a queer teenager reckoning with his sexuality and his disillusioned stepfather on an estate in Wales.
Into this vulnerable man’s life comes a bolt from the blue message courtesy of Edwards (Martin Clunes). He is given Ryan’s number by the same creep who sends the broadcaster the child abuse material he is later convicted of.
From that first message follows a £500 PayPal transfer. Then Ryan undresses for Edwards on a video call.
Over the following years, Ryan and Edwards continue to text and call. In turn, the noticeably older Edwards begins calling the boy Ryan “kid”, demanding that he be called “Dad” in return.
Many of them the texts are dramatized verbatim. It’s as bleak as it sounds.
Edwards occasionally pushes for too much, orchestrating a hotel meeting that the camera never enters. We’re made to understand that it doesn’t go to plan and Ryan is told that he ‘let her down’. This fatherly advice is repeated over and over.
As the abuse continues, Ryan begins to fall apart, turning to drink and drugs, all funded by Edwards’ bank transfers. “Huw don’t no,” Ryan tells a friend he confides in about this bad mess.
Desperate, he tells his mother. She and her husband take action, first (in vain) involving the BBC’s complaints department and then (successfully) with The Sun.
That’s when Edwards again, dramatically, entered our lives, this time as the BBC presenter who had paid thousands in exchange for sexual images.
You wouldn’t know it from the promo, but Morgan is the lead of the part, who comes with a host of credits including Emmerdale and Waterloo Street. He gives a solid performance as Ryan, even if he does veer towards those soapy waters at times.
The acting elsewhere in the cast can be a bit ‘Channel 5’ in places. The description of an editorial is kind of laughable, even if I’m sure The Sun was consulted. They’ve certainly plastered the mast around to suggest as much as possible.
Clunes strikes a balance between Welsh’s suave competence, with the needy, dark-room drunken predator and timeless running gear, prompting Ryan to do his bidding as a schoolteacher. There is also calculating the curvealways covering his back and admonishing perceived mistakes.
There are gestures for the Welsh baritone and Clunes’ happy ears seem to have been beaten down. It has a touch of eyebrows, I’m not entirely sure it’s authentically Edwards, but it gives an arched look.
Power: The Fall of Huw Edwards: Highlights
directory
Michael Samuels
Writer
Mark Burt
Cast
Martin Clunes, Osian Morgan, Clare Calbraith, Ben Bishop, Chanel Cresswell, Sian Reese-Williams, Jason Hughes
TRANSMISSION
Channel 5 and My5
You may not want to go anywhere near Edwards’ crimes. Who can blame you? It’s not strictly a ‘nice’ drama. Even the actors at the press screening tried to describe it as ‘good’ or ‘great’.
The decision to move this from a miniseries to a movie forces you to sit with what this mainstay of our news media did, even if this is more of a direct-to-video movie than a movie worthy of theaters.
verdict
A capstone on the sordid legacy of Huw Edwards. What it lacks in artistry, it makes up for with (mostly) sensitive description.
I had doubts Power: The fall of Huw Edwards (poor choice of title) could be justified. But it is a compelling account of caution against a major power imbalance. For the most part, it’s respectable and toes the line that I’m sure a bunch of lawyers set.
There are denials all over the place. The camera cuts most of the reward. An egregious exception is a table-bound Edwards masturbation scene. I wanted to wash myself with disinfectant after watching it. That may have been the point, but when the restriction was exercised elsewhere, it felt pointless.
The final scene acknowledges the irony of someone spending decades telling us the news, to be done so horribly. It doesn’t quite work, but it certainly marks the severity of Edwards’ crimes, for which he received no jail time.
Looking at it all, you might feel the need for that sanitizer too.
Power: The Fall of Huw Edwards is available to watch on Channel 5‘My5 streaming service.
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