Power: The Downfall of Huw Edwards, the 5 docudrama on the disgraced former BBC News anchor, is being investigated by Ofcom over “fairness and privacy” concerns.
The investigation has been launched into the two-parter from for Skydance UK-owned network (since the merger of Paramount and Warner Bros) under the regulator’s Broadcasting Code. No more detail have so far been given., with an Ofcom spokesperson simply confirming that “We are investigating a fairness and privacy complaint about this programme.”
Starring Martin Clunes as Edwards, Power explored the allegations around the relationship between the BBC news anchor and a vulnerable teenager. Edwards rose to become one of the UK’s best-known news anchors and was one of the BBC’s highest paid presenters before workplace misconduct allegations and a child pornography conviction ruined his career and reputation. In 2024, he pled guilty to making indecent images of children and was given a suspended sentence.
Edwards has been publicly critical of the 5 drama, saying the team behind it “made no attempt” to verify its story.
“Fairness and privacy complaints” are complaints about “unjust or unfair treatment in programmes, or about unwarranted infringements of privacy in programmes.”
Edwards has not publiclycommented on the complaint, however it is a safe assumption that the complaint came from the former newsreader or his representatives as complaints must either come from the “person affected or a person authorised by the person affected,” according to Ofcom’s own rules.
Ofcom will now take representations from both sides before making its decision, and this could include a private hearing with the complainant, 5 and producer Wonderhood Studios.
5 has stood by the programme and said it will “robustly defending this complaint.”
5 (formerly Channel 5) has previously said Power was based on “extensive interviews with the victim and his family” as well as court reporting. When Edwards first criticised the show on release six months ago, 5 said: “It has been produced in accordance with Ofcom’s Broadcasting Code. All allegations made in the film were put to Huw Edwards via his solicitors six weeks before transmission.”
Ofcom could dish out a range of punishments if the programme is found to have broken the code.
