First look at grooming scenes in Huw Edwards drama with Martin Clunes

Channel 5‘s scandalous new docudrama about Huw Edwards has released a first look at its grooming scenes – depicting the disgraced former BBC newsreader curled up in bed.

Under the working title Power: The Downfall of Huw Edwards, the docudrama stars Martin Clunes as Edwards.

It will follow the real-life story of how the former BBC news presenter became the centre of a grooming scandal.

Edwards, who presented the BBC’s News at Ten for decades and broke some of the biggest stories including the death of Queen Elizabeth II, pled guilty to making indecent images of children in July 2024.

New pictures from the drama show Martin, 64, in character to portray the grooming scenes.

One shot depicts Edwards curled up on his bed while on the phone to a teenage victim.

Meanwhile, another shows the same teenage boy on the phone to Edwards while out and about.

Channel 5 teased of the series: ‘The drama explores the story of how a vulnerable 17-year-old was groomed by one of the most powerful figures in television – Huw Edwards.

‘Starring Martin Clunes as Edwards, the series explores the newsreader’s double life as it spirals out of control, leading him to make the greatest announcement of his career – his total exit from public life following his conviction for serious child sexual offences.

‘Edwards had a secret. Online, he was repeatedly soliciting explicit sexual photos from young men, and in particular grooming a vulnerable 17-year-old.

‘He had also struck up a separate online friendship with a man who, from December 2020 to August 2021, repeatedly sent him messages containing child abuse imagery which he accessed, including so called ‘Category A’ images – the most extreme.’

An earlier first look at the programme, which is directed by BAFTA and Emmy Award-winning Michael Samuels, saw the Doc Martin actor transformed into Edwards.

Seen putting in an earpiece as he prepares for broadcast in a TV studio, Martin stared down the lens of the camera in the ten-second clip.

‘Martin Clunes stars as in Power: The Downfall of Huw Edwards, coming soon to 5,’ a voiceover rung out over the dramatic shot.

Edwards, who earned £475,000 a year at the corporation, secretly groomed a vulnerable 17-year-old boy while working as Britain’s most respected newsreader.

Edwards, 64, was suspended by the BBC in July 2023 and was later convicted of making indecent images of children for which he received a six-month suspended sentence in September 2024.

Meanwhile, a former BBC boss issued Channel 5 a stern warning, speculating that their new drama about Edwards ‘will rapidly run into legal problems’.

Roger Mosey, who previously headed up BBC TV News, admitted he felt the series was ‘very risky’ – instead noting a ‘documentary approach’ would have been safer.

Speaking on Times Radio, Roger, 68, who left the broadcaster in 2013 to become Master of Cambridge‘s Selwyn College, told radio hosts Jane Garvey and Fi Glover that a drama would not have been his ‘preferred route’ of looking at the case. 

He said: ‘Dramas involving living people are always very risky. A documentary approach seems to me to be completely legitimate and right and you should have the right to investigate.

‘But as we saw, you remember Steve Coogan‘s film made about Richard III… once you start doing a narrative in a movie of good guys and bad guys and who did it, you can run into legal problems really very, very rapidly. 

‘Drama would not be my preferred route of looking at this.’