Martin Clunes has spoken about portraying disgraced former BBC news anchor Huw Edwards in a new Channel 5 drama, Power: The Downfall of Huw Edwards. The drama, which airs on 24 March, depicts Edwards's fall from being the BBC's top news anchor to a conviction for making indecent images of children. Clunes, best known for his roles in Doc Martin and Men Behaving Badly, said he did not hesitate to take on the role, despite the notoriety of the subject.
The drama recreates Edwards's BBC news desk and shows both his homosexuality, which a court medical report said had long been suppressed, and his criminal sexual interest in children. Clunes noted that the drama is titled Power because it explores how Edwards used his public profile inappropriately, including pursuing a late-teenage boy online. The actor joked about potential criticism for playing a gay man as a straight actor, saying: 'I wonder if I will be attacked for being a straight man playing a gay man, which is very unfashionable these days.'
To achieve a likeness, Clunes underwent minimal prosthetics, with makeup artists using putty to flatten his ears against his head. He also lost weight and had his lips thinned cosmetically to match Edwards's appearance. Clunes has recently taken on more dramatic roles, including playing Mr Earnshaw in Emerald Fennell's upcoming Wuthering Heights film, and said of his varied roles: 'After 18 years of Doc Martin, anything else would look varied!'
Edwards was sentenced for making indecent images of children, including seven category A images, the most serious level of depicted abuse. He has not read the news since July 2023, when he was suspended by the BBC. Clunes declined to comment on whether he would donate his fee to charity, joking that it was not much as it was a Channel 5 production.
