BBC to retain BAFTA for Huw Edwards royal coverage – but others under review

The BBC will keep its BAFTA won for royal coverage fronted by disgraced former newsreader Huw Edwards, but individual awards he received remain under review, it is understood.

Seven individual presenter prizes handed out to Edwards by the BAFTA Cymru Awards, between 2002 and 2017, are being reviewed.

It comes after the 62-year-old pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children at a court hearing last month.

“Like everyone in the industry and country we were shocked by the news – given the seriousness of this abhorrent crime, we are reviewing,” a BAFTA spokesperson said.

Huw Edwards attending the Virgin Media BAFTA TV awards, held at the Royal Festival Hall in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday May 12, 2019. See PA story SHOWBIZ Bafta. Photo credit should read: Matt Crossick/PA Wire
Image:
Edwards at the BAFTAs in 2019. Pic: Matt Crossick/PA Wire

The BBC will keep its BAFTA won in 2012 for Edwards’ coverage of Prince William and Kate’s wedding the previous year.

The state funeral of the late Queen Elizabeth II, which featured commentary from presenters including Edwards, also won two BAFTAs for sound and directing last year.

Edwards has won the best on-screen presenter prize at the BAFTA Cymru awards numerous times over the years, the first being in 2002 for his Election Exchange show.

BAFTA is not the only institution looking into honours previously given to the former broadcaster. Cardiff University, which made him an honorary journalism professor in 2007, and Bangor University, which awarded him an honorary fellowship in 2014, are also carrying out reviews.

Read more:
Teen allegedly paid for photos says he felt ‘groomed’
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It emerged last month that Edwards had been arrested in November and charged in June in relation to indecent images of children. In court last week, the veteran broadcaster admitted the charges against him, with seven of the 41 images being of the most serious type.

His court appearance came a year after he was named as the presenter at the centre of claims of paying a young person for sexually explicit photos. Police found no evidence of criminal behaviour in relation to this separate matter.

Following his suspension over these initial separate allegations, Edwards resigned from the BBC in April this year “on the basis of medical advice from his doctors”.


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The BBC’s annual report, released the week before the charges against him were announced, showed he was among the broadcaster’s highest-paid stars for 2023-24, despite being off-air for most of the year.

BBC director general Tim Davie has defended his decision to employ him until that point, five months after he was told of the arrest in November.

Edwards will next appear in court on 16 September.

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