‘Doctor Who’ Episode Featuring Disgraced BBC News Anchor Huw Edwards Removed From iPlayer
A Doctor Who episode co-starring Huw Edwards has been removed from BBC iPlayer after the news anchor pleaded guilty to making indecent images of children.
Fans are also calling for the 62-year-old’s scene in James Bond film Skyfall to be cut as Edwards, once the BBC’s highest-paid news presenter, was arrested in November — a development only shared with the public this week — and charged last month. On Wednesday, he made his pleas during a brief hearing at Westminster Magistrates Court in the U.K. capital.
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The offenses are alleged to have taken place between 2020 and 2022. Edwards admitted to having 41 indecent images of children, sent to him by a convicted pedophile called Alex Williams on WhatsApp. This included seven category A images, the most severe classification, two of which showed a child between seven and nine, the court heard.
In the Doctor Who episode, which aired in 2006, David Tennant and Billie Piper (as companion Rose Tyler) travel to the future to the London 2012 Olympics, but find themselves once again saving lives when a young girl turns out to be accidentally making people disappear by drawing them. In one scene, Edwards’ voice can be heard from a televised BBC news report: “My God, what’s going on here? The crowd has just vanished, right in front of my eyes. It’s impossible. Bob, can we go to you in the box? Bob? Not you too?”
Later, when the tenth Doctor makes the crowd reappear, Edwards’ voice is heard again: “They’ve reappeared. It’s quite incredible. And a mystery man, we’ve no idea who he is, has picked up the flame. It’s more than heat and light, it’s hope and it’s courage and it’s love.” The episode is currently not appearing alongside the rest of series two on iPlayer.
A BBC spokesperson confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that the episode has been removed while Edwards’ voice is dubbed over. “As you would expect we are actively considering the availability of our archive. While we don’t routinely delete content from the BBC archive as it is a matter of historical record, we do consider the continued use and re-use of material on a case-by-case basis,” they also said.
Other film and TV fans are wondering what can be done about Edwards’ cameo in Skyfall (2012), in which he appears as himself reporting on a fictional attack on MI6.
BBC News faces bigger problems — and a lot more of the archive to sift through. Edwards was its most trusted presenter for years, leading landmark coverage for the broadcaster, including the announcement of Queen Elizabeth II’s death and the London 2012 Olympics.
The anchorman, who hosted the BBC’s flagship News at Ten program, arrived at the court Wednesday expressionless and flanked by eight police officers. He faces a jail sentence.
Under British law, images can mean photos or videos. “Making” indecent images covers a range of actions per its legal definition. It can, for example, include opening an email attachment with an image, downloading an image from a website to a screen; storing an image on a computer; accessing a pornographic website in which images appear in “pop-up” windows; or receiving an image via social media, even if unsolicited and if part of a group; as well as live-streaming images of children.
The culture secretary, Labour’s Lisa Nandy, spoke to BBC’s director-general, Tim Davie, on the phone Thursday to question the organization’s handling of the case. A spokesperson for the U.K.’s Department of Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS) told The Hollywood Reporter on Friday that Nandy is “shocked” by Edwards’ “abhorrent actions.” The DCMS said it is now up to the judiciary to decide on “an appropriate sentence” for the former news anchor.
The BBC suspended Edwards in July last year, over allegations, also made by The Sun, that he paid a teenager for sexually explicit photos. Police did not take any action against Edwards relating to those claims, saying there was no evidence that a criminal offense had been committed.
As these allegations emerged, Edwards was confirmed by his wife, Vicky Flind, to be in hospital with “serious” mental health issues last summer. After taking a 10-month leave of absence, Edwards resigned from the BBC in April on medical grounds.
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