PA averageWhen I started working at BBC News three years ago, a work friend gave me some advice about my new colleague Huw Edwards.
“You can be funny,” they say. “But don’t get any more interesting than Hugh.
“You can be smart, but not too smart.”
It was a light-hearted warning to a then-top anchor who was highly regarded by many in the newsroom for his talent, intelligence and diligent professionalism.
But over the past year, Edwards has gone from being the king of the BBC newsroom – on a salary almost as much as that of the director-general – to a convicted sex offender who will be jailed on Monday for making indecent images of children Sentenced.
He admitted possessing 41 indecent images which were sent to him via WhatsApp by another man. These include seven Category A images – the strictest classification. Two of them involved a child approximately seven to nine years old.
All of the abused children in these photos have experienced the worst of humanity. They are victims of degradation.
Some colleagues expressed sympathy for Edwards until we learned of his crimes.
People in the newsroom were shocked to find out the presenter had committed such a horrific crime.
One BBC staff member spoke of “feeling uncomfortable”.
Another described it as a “bombshell”.
“We were all stunned watching him walk into court wearing sunglasses. Is this contempt? Is this shame? No one knows.
“People are upset and angry about what he has done, the extent of his depravity, the impact it has on the rest of us and the impact it has on the BBC.”
It’s been a tough year for employees, especially those who work with him.
“There were so many twists and turns that it felt like a shock every time another horror was revealed. It felt like it was never-ending.”
The Sun caused shock in July 2023 when it revealed that an unnamed presenter had paid a “young man” for sexually explicit images.
Many of us knew from the beginning that the speaker was Edwards because he had disappeared from the list of speakers.
This was a testing story for me and my colleagues.
Every word we say and write is scrutinized, yet we ourselves know very little about the facts. With the support of amazing producers and editors, I reported the story as I understood it.
But many – both inside and outside the BBC – believe Edwards’ privacy has been violated. Having to cover a colleague — and not just any colleague, but the face of News at Ten — is ruthless.
When his name was revealed, we learned he was suffering from poor mental health, and police said there was no foul play in the case, some even felt sympathy and concern.
For the next nine months we heard nothing official – until a brief statement in April that he had resigned from the BBC.
The statement made no mention of Edwards’ passionate words, suggesting a complete breakdown in the relationship. Even so, no one was prepared for what was about to happen.
BBC chairman Samir Shah told the House of Lords communications and digital committee last week that he and other colleagues “feel angry and betrayed”.
When he emailed staff after we learned Edwards had been charged and pleaded guilty, he called the former broadcaster “the villain of the article.”
A senior insider told me: “No one wants to be in a situation where your flagship presenter, who is nationally known and a trusted voice in every home, is found guilty of a crime of this nature.
“This is so far off the radar of what you might need to deal with.”
I understand there was widespread anger among the senior team that Edwards knew there were images of serious child abuse on his phone but denied all wrongdoing.
Employees and management alike are hurting.
Edwards has been involved in serious offenses involving children. We must never forget the victims of these crimes.
Edwards was the criminal, not the BBC, although some suspected he was being used to attack the organization for ideological reasons.
As one senior insider told me, with a hint of sarcasm, “Ultimately, it’s always the BBC’s fault.”
But in this difficult year, the company faces some important questions.
It requires Edwards to return around £200,000 paid to him in the five months after his arrest and then resign.
But why did higher-ups continue to pay his salary after learning about the arrest? Several HR and legal sources told me that the BBC acted appropriately, balancing its duty of care and contractual responsibilities towards staff with wider reputational concerns.
But director-general Tim Davie, speaking to a House of Lords committee, questioned whether the BBC could have “taken stronger measures on payments”.
A small number of senior figures were aware of the November arrests (we are told the police have asked the BBC to keep them secret).
They were told some of the images were Category A, although they did not suspect the pictures involved children of such young age. The Sun’s story involved a young man who was originally 17 years old – a context that led people to believe the images involved older teenagers.
Even so, they knew the images contained Category A photographs. None of the BBC News staff I spoke to, including senior figures, believed that civil enforcement of his employment contract would allow him to keep his job when the allegations were so serious.
In hindsight, a “stronger” approach would certainly have helped protect the BBC’s reputation.
Details of the disciplinary proceedings launched against Edwards by the BBC following the allegations in The Sun, including details of other allegations against him, were never released. I’m told this is standard across organizations, but this has led to accusations of a lack of transparency.
The BBC has launched an independent review into strengthening workplace culture. The chairman told staff he was “particularly troubled by the ongoing issue of how we deal with bad behavior by those in power at the BBC”.
Some people I spoke to said they felt uneasy.
“The review of his complaints has been suppressed. So there is no confidence. It is convenient for the BBC that he no longer works for the BBC. So they have scrapped it.”
A senior source dismissed the idea that there was “a backlash to this”.
Another insider noted that power structures in media organizations are “complex”, with managers having power but “talent” also being powerful because of their influence and status.
“Companies that employ them have to be more vigilant and above these power dynamics.”
When Edwards boarded a train from Edinburgh to London on 5 July 2023 after presenting News at Ten in the Scottish capital, his career and place in television history seemed secure.
He negotiated a £40,000 pay rise, taking his salary to more than £475,000. He was trusted by the BBC and was chosen to announce the Queen’s death.
A talented pianist, he has also been announced as the new face of the BBC Proms and will appear on the One Show this week to talk about it.
His appearance was put on hold. He would not give his first ball, Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy,” and it would be his last announcement.
Edwards was told of the Sun’s claims at a face-to-face meeting the day after the lecture in Edinburgh. A few days later, he was suspended.
Just last week, he apparently updated his Linkedin profile to say he was “available for free to charities and non-profits” (the profile appears to have been deleted).
This caused some surprise among some colleagues—perhaps an insight into the mind of someone they once thought they knew.
When Edwards was presenting the news at Ten, he would sit at a row of desks in the middle of the newsroom across from the people who edited the Six and Ten o’clock news programs.
He was respected by his colleagues for his long journalistic pedigree and stature within the BBC landscape, and editorially he often had his way.
This is fairly common for giants in broadcasting, and none was greater than Edwards.
When I started working my friend warned me about getting him on side, which reminded me of Hilary Mantel’s Henry VIII in Wolf Hall, Edwards’ TV presenter The Tudors of the monarch.
“You could be happy with the king, you could share a joke with him,” Mantel wrote in Bringing the Body.
But courtiers compared Henry VIII to a tamed lion.
“You ruffle its mane and pull its ears, but you keep thinking about those claws, those claws, those claws.”
