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Channel 5 has defended its controversial drama about the downfall of Huw Edwards, saying it raises the “urgent” issue of grooming and online safety and gives voice to his alleged victim, who worked with the programme to tell his side of the story so “no one who has been silenced feels they are alone”.
Starring Martin Clunes as the disgraced former BBC newsreader, the drama charts the claim of a relationship and texts between Edwards and a vulnerable young man who was at the centre of a scandal reported by the Sun in 2023, which alleged the presenter made payments to a 17-year-old for sexually explicit images.
Power: The Downfall of Huw Edwards includes an onscreen message from the alleged victim at the end of the programme in which says he hopes his story will help others who feel powerless.
Given the name “Ryan Davies” to protect his identity, he worked with producers on the scripts and says in his message: “I chose to tell my story now for the first time so that no one who has been silenced feels they are alone. Your truth matters and it deserves to be heard.”
Now aged 23, Ryan adds: “After years of struggle, I have finally overcome my battle with drugs. I refuse to let Huw Edwards or what he did define who I am or the life I will yet lead.”
The fall from grace of the BBC’s leading news presenter, who was the face of its coverage of major events including the death of Queen Elizabeth II, is shown after the Sun reported that “a top BBC star” had paid a “teenager for sexual pictures”.
The programme also documents how Edwards struck up a separate online friendship with a man called Alex Williams, who between 2020 and 2021 sent him messages containing child abuse imagery that he accessed. It led to Edwards’s conviction in 2024 for accessing indecent images of children as young as seven, for which he was given a six-month suspended prison sentence.
Speaking at a screening of the drama in London, producers said reading the texts Edwards sent to the young man was like “going into the heart of darkness” of a “disturbing” and “very imbalanced relationship”.
The executive producer Sam Anstiss, whose company Wonderhood Studios made the programme, said: “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.”
She said Wonderhood made the programme with the cooperation of Ryan, his family and the Sun.
Like the Netflix hit Adolescence, Power shines a light on children’s vulnerabilities online. Anstiss said: “It’s grappling with some really urgent and important themes. It’s proper public service broadcasting at its finest.”
The Channel 5 owner Paramount’s chief content officer, Ben Frow, said Power gave “a different side of the story” and highlighted “a very serious issue, in this case the grooming of young men and abuse of power”.
Frow acknowledged there had been criticism of Channel 5’s decision to make the show. But he added: “I think it isn’t too soon … 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.”
The show also covers how the family of Ryan tried to complain to the BBC but had problems with the procedure, which the BBC apologised for in 2024 and has reviewed. The corporation has been made aware by producers that it features in the programme.
Osian Morgan, who plays Ryan, said he was “hugely inspired by him”, while Clunes said his uncannily similar version of Edwards was helped by watching him nightly on the BBC.
Power reiterates on screen that no criminal action was taken against Edwards in relation to Ryan and “he has always disputed the principal allegations made in the Sun in July 2023”. It says: “Huw Edwards was offered an opportunity to comment on the allegation made in this film but declined to do so.”
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Power: The Downfall of Huw Edwards will air at 9pm on 24 March on Channel 5.
