When future generations look back at all the trends and micro-trends that shaped television over the years, you have to assume they’ll be quite surprised when they arrive at the glut of dramatisations that have been made about famous men caught up in sex scandals.
Suddenly they are everywhere. Jimmy Savile got one, with Steve Coogan playing him in The Reckoning. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor got two, with Michael Sheen and Rufus Sewell playing him in A Very Royal Scandal and Scoop respectively. And now, with almost crushing inevitability, comes the turn of Huw Edwards, the subject of Channel 5’s Power: The Downfall of Huw Edwards.
Edwards is, of course, the high-profile BBC newsreader who resigned from the BBC in 2024, two months before he was charged with three counts of making indecent images of children. Despite pleading guilty, Edwards remains on the defensive to this day, releasing a statement prior to the broadcast of this film asserting that “Channel 5’s ‘factual drama’ is hardly likely to convey the reality of what happened,” while adding: “I am repelled by the idea that some people enjoy viewing indecent images of children.”
But his protestations are likely to fade away now that Power is out in the world. Immediately, you can see why it got its name. The feature-length drama is a portrayal of a powerful man, utilising a queasy power dynamic to convince a teenage boy to fulfil his sexual desires. The resulting film might not represent the pinnacle of drama – in truth, its eagerness to exist comes at the expense of nuance – but it does go an awfully long way to capture a sickening feeling in the pit of your stomach.
Aside from its ripped-from-the-headlines nature, the main draw of Power comes in its casting. To look at any of the promotional material over the last couple of weeks has been to go: “Wait a minute, is that Martin Clunes?” This might require some of the audience to expect a bit of mental gymnastics on their part. After all, this is a man who, for much of his career, has relied upon an innate Clunesiness that sets him entirely at odds with playing a paedophilic authority figure.
And yet, not only has Clunes decided to stretch his legs a bit – he recently ran away with Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights – but he has created an impressively accurate Edwards. He manages to capture Edwards’ fascinating mix of swagger and vulnerability, and his accent and diction. Even during the almost cartoonishly grim scene that sees him ejaculating at the sight of a boy undressing, his performance never wavers.
Perhaps his job has been aided by the fact that, for the bulk of this film, Edwards remains a figure of distant menace. Instead, this is really the story of Ryan (Osian Morgan), a teenage boy who finds himself being groomed by Edwards.
Power bills itself as being constructed around first-hand interviews with Ryan (he was given the name “Ryan” to protect his identity) and as such we see all the vacillating states he went through during his relationship with Edwards. We see how Edwards first validated his desire for connection, only to quickly make it transactional by sending money and demands for loyalty in return for sexual videos. We see how Ryan began to feel used – how Edwards would flick between calling him “baby” and ordering him to get into better shape – and how he turned to drugs as a method of self-medication.
Most powerfully of all, we see the effect this had on his parents, played by Sian Reese-Williams and Jason Hughes, as their dismay at Ryan’s increasing waywardness first became anger directed at Edwards and then – in the lull between Edwards resigning and being charged, when it wasn’t yet clear that he had broken the law – fear that they had become the bad guys.
Still, you’re left with the sense that the producers have done the best they can with what is ultimately not a very visually interesting story. The bulk of the relationship between Ryan and Edwards happened over text, which means that far too much time is spent watching people either type or narrate messages to each other. And the film keeps making odd little stylistic lurches that don’t quite mesh with everything else. Framing the entire thing around the death of the Queen (rather than providing numerical dates) is a strange choice, as is the decision to leave reality behind and end with Edwards reporting on his own charges.
Nevertheless, this may not mark the end of the matter. In his statement, Edwards promised to tell his side of the story, a process that will take some time given “the fragile state of my health”. It is a testament to Power that, if this day ever arrives, few will have the stomach to hear it.
• Power: The Downfall of Huw Edwards is on Channel 5 now
