BBC Boss Says Huw Edwards Won’t Return After Conviction of “Appalling” Crimes: “An Affair Like This Impacts Our Reputation”

The BBC, the U.K. public broadcaster, has been hurt by Huw Edwards’ crimes director-general Tim Davie said at a big industry conference in London on Tuesday. “An affair like this impacts our reputation,” he said while emphasizing that the full fallout on the TV giant isn’t clear yet. But he also argued: “You can maintain trust by doing the right thing.”

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Speaking during a keynote address at the Royal Television Society’s (RTS) London Convention 2024, he addressed the six-month prison sentence , suspended for two years, handed to former BBC News presenter Huw Edwards on Monday after he pleaded guilty to making indecent images of children. The 63-year-old said he was “profoundly sorry” for the “repugnant” images before he was sentenced.

Could Edwards return to the BBC? “I can’t see that happen,” Davie said. “This man has just been convicted of appalling crimes.”

How about the impact on the archive? Will old programs featuring the former host be banned or locked? “I would never say never,” Davie said, signaling a case-by-case approach rather than a blanket ban on the use of archival footage of Edwards.

The BBC boss also shared that “we wrestled with it” when he and others decided to continue paying the former host, calling that “a very difficult call.” But the decision to keep paying him until he was charged, which the BBC boss argued was the correct way to proceed, was reached with everyone acting “in good faith,” he said. However, the BBC will review what it could have done differently, such as maybe putting Edwards’ pay into a separate pot and keeping it there until a legal decision is made, the BBC boss said.

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Davie on Tuesday also said that the BBC has asked for Edwards to return the 200,000 pounds ($265,000) that he received in salary after his arrest. “We are just shocked,” Davie said about the emotional side of the affair, and people at the BBC feel “deeply let down.”

He concluded that the media industry is still a place where some people are creatively brilliant but their behavior is inappropriate. A board review of the work culture at the BBC, which must still be signed off on, is expected to launch in the near future, according to Davie. And he shared that he expects a review of the beloved celebrity dance show Strictly Come Dancing , following complaints about the behavior of two former professionals and the launch of new welfare measures on set, to be concluded soon.

In late March, in outlining his priorities , Davie said that the BBC needs more partnerships with media, entertainment and technology giants, such as one with the Walt Disney Co. for sci-fi hit show Doctor Who , and change how it does business further in a competitive and polarized world. He described the BBC’s three essential roles and goals as: “pursue truth with no agenda, back British storytelling, and bring people together.” The proactive, but considered, use of AI and “ethical algorithms” is also part of his plans for the broadcaster.

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