Channel 5 Boss Insists New Huw Edwards Drama Is Not ‘Too Soon’

5, the broadcaster previously known as Channel 5, has defended its upcoming drama about the downfall of disgraced BBC News presenter Huw Edwards.

Back in January, it was announced that Martin Clunes would play the former news anchor in the two-part series Power: The Downfall Of Huw Edwards, which is due to air on 5 next week.

Of course, in the lead-up to the series airing, there’s been some debate about whether it was “too soon” for the story to be turned into a fictionalised drama, with the broadcaster’s chief content officer Ben Frow responding at a recent screening.

“I think it isn’t too soon,” he insisted, as reported by The Guardian. “If you want to reach as many people as possible and highlight how grooming works and the insidiousness of grooming, drama is [the] most powerful way to do it.”

He also said that Power offered “a different side of the story”, while the show itself shone a light on the more “serious issue” of “the grooming of young men and abuse of power”.

Executive producer Sam Antiss also claimed: “People have talked about the timing of this drama and I would say the timing is really right. Foremost because the victim says it’s right, he’s ready to tell his story, and there are really urgent themes in this drama around online safety, child pornography [and] the leniency of the sentencing.”

5 explained earlier this year that Power: The Downfall Of Huw Edwards would reflect on Edwards’ “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”.

In 2023, Edwards first became the subject of public scandal when it was revealed he had been accused of paying a young person to pose for sexually explicit photos, which led to him being suspended from the BBC.

A year later, after withdrawing from public life, it was made public that he had pleaded guilty to having 41 indecent images of children, which, according to BBC News’ reporting at the time, included seven of the most serious category A images – and two clips showing a child as young as seven.

He was subsequently given a suspended prison sentence in 2024 after pleading guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children.