A Physician Who episode co-starring Huw Edwards has been faraway from BBC iPlayer after the information anchor pleaded responsible to creating indecent pictures of kids.
Followers are additionally calling for the 62-year-old’s scene in James Bond movie Skyfall to be minimize as Edwards, as soon as the BBC’s highest-paid information presenter, was arrested in November — a growth solely shared with the general public this week — and charged final month. On Wednesday, he made his pleas throughout a short listening to at Westminster Magistrates Court docket within the U.Okay. capital.
The offenses are alleged to have taken place between 2020 and 2022. Edwards admitted to having 41 indecent pictures of kids, despatched to him by a convicted pedophile referred to as Alex Williams on WhatsApp. This included seven class A pictures, essentially the most extreme classification, two of which confirmed a baby between seven and 9, the court docket heard.
Within the Physician Who episode, which aired in 2006, David Tennant and Billie Piper (as companion Rose Tyler) journey to the longer term to the London 2012 Olympics, however discover themselves as soon as once more saving lives when a younger woman seems to be by accident making individuals disappear by drawing them. In a single scene, Edwards’ voice could be heard from a televised BBC information report: “My God, what’s happening right here? The group has simply vanished, proper in entrance of my eyes. It’s not possible. Bob, can we go to you within the field? Bob? Not you too?”
Later, when the tenth Physician makes the group reappear, Edwards’ voice is heard once more: “They’ve reappeared. It’s fairly unbelievable. And a thriller man, we’ve no concept who he’s, has picked up the flame. It’s greater than warmth and lightweight, it’s hope and it’s braveness and it’s love.” The episode is at the moment not showing alongside the remainder of collection two on iPlayer. The BBC didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark from The Hollywood Reporter.
Different movie and TV followers are questioning what could be performed about Edwards’ cameo in Skyfall (2012), wherein he seems as himself reporting on a fictional assault on MI6.
BBC Information faces greater issues — and much more of the archive to sift by. Edwards was its most trusted presenter for years, main landmark protection for the broadcaster, together with the announcement of Queen Elizabeth II’s loss of life and the London 2012 Olympics.
The anchorman, who hosted the BBC’s flagship Information at Ten program, arrived on the court docket Wednesday expressionless and flanked by eight cops. He faces a jail sentence.
Beneath British legislation, pictures can imply photographs or movies. “Making” indecent pictures covers a variety of actions per its authorized definition. It could possibly, for instance, embrace opening an e mail attachment with a picture, downloading a picture from an internet site to a display; storing a picture on a pc; accessing a pornographic web site wherein pictures seem in “pop-up” home windows; or receiving a picture through social media, even when unsolicited and if a part of a gaggle; in addition to live-streaming pictures of kids.
The tradition secretary, Labour’s Lisa Nandy, spoke to BBC’s director-general, Tim Davie, on the cellphone Thursday to query the group’s dealing with of the case. A spokesperson for the U.Okay.’s Division of Tradition, Media, and Sport (DCMS) instructed The Hollywood Reporter on Friday that Nandy is “shocked” by Edwards’ “abhorrent actions.” The DCMS stated it’s now as much as the judiciary to resolve on “an applicable sentence” for the previous information anchor.
The BBC suspended Edwards in July final yr, over allegations, additionally made by The Solar, that he paid a teen for sexually specific photographs. Police didn’t take any motion in opposition to Edwards referring to these claims, saying there was no proof {that a} felony offense had been dedicated.
As these allegations emerged, Edwards was confirmed by his spouse, Vicky Flind, to be in hospital with “severe” psychological well being points final summer time. After taking a 10-month depart of absence, Edwards resigned from the BBC in April on medical grounds.