LONDON: Veteran news anchor Huw Edwards was on Wednesday revealed by his wife as the BBC presenter accused of paying for explicit images, as police said no criminal offence had been committed.
Vicky Flind said in a statement that her husband was “suffering from serious mental health issues” and was now “receiving in-patient hospital care where he will stay for the foreseeable future.”
Huw Edwards has been the reassuring face and voice of the BBC for decades, and was entrusted last year with breaking the news to the world that Queen Elizabeth had died.
The softly-spoken, proud Welshman began delivering the nightly news to millions in 1994, and has either anchored or commentated on the UK’s most tumultuous events since then.
The 61-year-old presenter fronted the national broadcaster’s “Six O’Clock News” between 1994 and 2003, when it was the most-watched news programme in the UK.
He then moved on to become the main presenter of the flagship “Ten O’Clock News”.
His authoritative tones are most readily associated with some of the biggest events in the country’s recent political, social and royal history.
“I don’t think of myself as a severe person, but the job lends itself to seriousness,” he told the Radio Times of his sombre demeanour.
“I often turn up for events and one of the first things people say with surprise is that I have a good sense of humour.”
He led the BBC commentary team at the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2012 Olympics in London.
He also presented coverage of the 2011 wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, which was watched by a peak domestic audience of 20 million viewers.
Edwards shared the 2016 EU referendum coverage and has presented several election specials.
Nerves
The broadcaster had made detailed plans for how it would break the seismic news of the Queen’s death, and Edwards was the obvious choice.
He announced the news on September 8, 2022, presenting rolling news coverage and then her state funeral.
“I do get quite nervous when I’m broadcasting sometimes,” Edwards, who has previously spoken of his battle with depression, told the Radio Times.
“But this time, I was very calm and not nervous at all, I think because I was really focused on getting it right,” he said of the Queen’s death.
Edwards was born on August 18, 1961, in Bridgend, south Wales.
His father was an activist for the Welsh language and for Plaid Cymru — the political party that wants Wales to be independent of the United Kingdom.
He graduated with a first-class honours degree in French and started postgraduate work in Medieval French, before becoming a local reporter and then joining the BBC.
Edwards worked himself up to become the broadcaster’s chief political correspondent and spent more than a decade reporting from Westminster, the seat of British politics.
His central role in UK broadcasting was recognised by a cameo role in the James Bond film “Skyfall”, in which he delivered the news of an attack on the British intelligence service MI6.
On Monday, the BBC said in its latest annual report that Edwards was the corporation’s highest-paid journalist, earning more than £435,000 ($565,000) — six per cent more than in 2022.
He is married to television producer Vicky Flind and they have five children.