Channel 5’s Martin Clunes drama about former BBC presenter Huw Edwards is facing an Ofcom investigation after Edwards complained that the programme breached rules on fairness and privacy.
Aired in March, Power: The Downfall Of Huw Edwards portrayed the collapse of the former newsreader’s career and public reputation.
The two-part factual drama showed Edwards, played by Clunes, receiving a suspended prison sentence after admitting to making indecent images of children. It also explored his contact with a 17-year-old referred to in the programme as “Ryan”.
Edwards, 65, who was convicted of making indecent images, had previously described the series as one-sided and indicated that he planned to challenge its account of events.
Ofcom has now opened an investigation after receiving a complaint concerning the programme’s treatment of fairness.
The Daily Mail understands that Edwards himself submitted the complaint, something he confirmed in a statement issued today.
Channel 5 said it intended to “robustly defend” the drama, which was made by Wonderhood Studios.
Edwards pleaded guilty in July 2024 to three charges relating to the making of indecent images. In September that year, he was handed a six-month prison sentence suspended in its entirety.
The material included seven Category A images, the most serious classification, which had been sent to Edwards via WhatsApp by convicted sex offender Alex Williams.
The married father of five was sentenced at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
Campaigners expressed anger that Edwards avoided immediate imprisonment. However, the sentence could not be challenged as unduly lenient because the case was dealt with by a magistrates’ court rather than a Crown Court.
Martin Clunes portrays Huw Edwards in Channel 5’s Power: The Downfall of Huw Edwards. Ofcom is investigating the two-part drama following a complaint about its fairness
Huw Edwards, 65, pictured outside Westminster Magistrates’ Court in September 2024, after receiving a suspended prison sentence for admitting three charges involving indecent images of children
Clunes, best known for comedy and drama series including Men Behaving Badly and Doc Martin, received strong critical praise for his performance as Edwards.
Edwards has previously accused the production of presenting a misleading version of the scandal. He now says he wants the makers held accountable for what he considers an unfair portrayal of the events.
In a statement to the Mail, the former BBC presenter said he was “relieved” that Ofcom had agreed to examine the Channel 5 and Wonderhood Studios “factual drama”.
He added that he made “absolutely no excuses” for his exchanges with “Ryan” and said he would always regret responding to the messages. Edwards also claimed that Ryan was an adult rather than a minor, and described him as a blackmailer.
According to Edwards, the programme offered viewers a “wholly misleading and unfair version of events”. He said he had not been given a proper chance to address what he called numerous inaccuracies and fabrications.
He said he could not comment further while the matter was ongoing, but hoped Ofcom would assess the complaint objectively and without pressure from hostile sections of the press.
Ofcom’s rules state that complaints about fairness and privacy may only be brought by someone directly affected by a broadcast, or by an authorised representative acting on their behalf.
An Ofcom spokesperson said today: ‘We are investigating a fairness and privacy complaint about this programme.’
A 5 spokesperson said: ‘We stand by the programme and will be robustly defending this complaint.’
The channel previously defended the drama in March this year, saying it was ‘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’.
Former BBC newsreader Edwards was arrested in November 2023 by the Metropolitan Police
A spokesman 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.’
Barry Tomes, a publicist who has provided representation for Edwards, told the Daily Mail today: ‘Since the initial furore surrounding the broadcast of the docudrama, I have been offered many TV and interviews – Edwards has turned them all down.
‘He originally discussed with me at great length the inaccuracies in the docudrama and he intended to put the record straight.
‘He also complained that they only approached him for comment after the programme had been recorded.’
Edwards resigned from the BBC in April 2024 on medical advice, having been off air since the previous July after becoming the subject of allegations that he paid a young person for sexually explicit images.
He has since launched a Substack newsletter, sharing his views on his former employer the BBC as well as politics and his mental health.