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Written July 2024
So one-time telly newsreader favourite, Huw Edwards, has pleaded guilty to a charge of making indecent images of children as young as 7. Who is surprised? He is just the latest in a long line of BBC glitterati to be caught out as the worst kind of pervert. One has to wonder at this point if being a deviant is a prerequisite for working there. Especially as it turns out that, yet again, the BBC were aware of the extremely serious allegations against Edwards as they simultaneously defended him, and continued to keep him on the more than generous payroll. Every person in this country should be utterly sickened by this never-ending parade of perverts who have, at one time or another, been shielded by an organisation that bills itself as honest and trustworthy. Of course, anyone who still believes this of the Beeb is an idiot, and has clearly taken a beating with the stupid stick on more than one occasion.
While the country mourns, and quite rightly expresses grief and outrage for the senseless murder of three little girls in Southport, my mind is unsettled by the lack of equivalent fury that cases like Edwards’ appear to provoke. It is almost as if the public have become so numb to the horror of child abuse that such stories cause barely the bat of an eyelid. Perhaps this is a consequence of the disgusting acceptance that seems to have gained traction in the media, despite the horrendous scandals that have taken place. The children at the heart of the awful cases of child abuse are in the background of their own stories, while the abusers take front and centre. Yes, there is an appetite for mocking and shaming Edwards. But I see little sympathy or acknowledgement of the poor children whose abuse was being stored as image and film files on his phone.
When Jimmy Savile’s crimes became common knowledge, for a short period people could talk of nothing else. And I deliberately use the phrase ‘became common knowledge’ in place of ‘came to light’, as it has since become abundantly clear that many, many people knew of his vile crimes, or at the very least suspected him. Including many at the BBC. Then came the Rolf Harris revelations. The world of 1980s kids suddenly seemed a lot darker than it once had. But still, the focus was again on the celebrity perpetrator, not on the poor children who had suffered at their hands.
And alas, this problem is not one that was solved with the revelations of a few grotesque celebrities from 1980s tv. The world of showbiz is brimming with this sickness, and the BBC has had more than its fair share working within its ranks – Savile, Harris, Page, Hall, Thomas. There comes a point when it seems more than a mere coincidence. Child abuse does, of course, occur in all walks of life, a sad and tragic blight on society. However, an organisation like the BBC has a duty, no, more than that, it owes us, the society, who pays for its extravagances. It owes us integrity, honour and decency. It sanctimoniously trumpets its own virtue at every opportunity, while simultaneously protecting those within its fold who engage in the most heinous of crimes against children. And the Edwards revelation is a further slap in the face to licence payers, who, on pain of imprisonment, are forced to pay this tax, to fund grotesque lovies like him and others, whose opinions of themselves are as over-inflated as their salaries.
The allegations that were initially levelled at Edwards were of his soliciting indecent images from a young person, and then paying him off to keep quiet. Exposed by a Sun investigation, many of Edwards’ BBC and showbiz colleagues unwisely chose to support him at that time, attempting to rebrand his perverse behaviour as something trivial, and the Sun’s probing as a shocking intrusion into a decent man’s private life. The vile Jonathan Pie let rip with one of his trademark sweary rants about the issue, full of ‘wanks’, ‘fucks’, and ‘shits’. As eloquent as ever. And the minor-royal resembling Ava Santina sat with her co-host, Oli Dugmore, on the PoliticsJoe podcast to, as usual, have a pop at normal people. ‘Middle England might have a problem with it’, she announced, referring to the six-figure-salaried Edwards’ illicit purchase of sexually explicit photographs of the young person in question. By implication, then, she finds this perfectly acceptable behaviour. She goes on to say that the fact that half the country now thought the TV presenter was a ‘nonce’ was ‘abominable’. What say you now, Ava? Of course, these annoyingly haughty types are of the same breed as Emma Woolf who just this week took to the GB News desk to promote her bizarre view that there was ambiguity over the rape of a twelve-year-old girl by Dutch Olympian, Steven Van de Velde. Woolf, apparently, has personally known some very ‘sassy’ twelve-year-olds, and Van de Velde’s relationship with the girl was a mere holiday romance. Hmm. Any jobs going at the BBC? I’ve a candidate for you.
Back to the Huw Edwards Fan Club, though, where Ava and Oli continued to pontificate on the disgracefulness of questioning the conduct of a man who paid for indecent images of a ‘young person’, and even asserted their certainty that police would ‘not hang about’ if there were any evidence of criminality on Edwards’ part. Ava says that ‘lessons have been learnt’, referring, presumably to the Savile affair. How I laughed. The naivety, or likely plain stupidity, is mind blowing. The pair then ramble on about ‘Sam Fox on Page 3’, ‘morality police’, and other sundry nonsense of no interest to man nor beast. I am, believe me, no fan of The Sun. But this was a case of shooting the messenger, for sure. Admittedly, the full extent of Edwards’ disgusting behaviour had not yet come to light publicly when they made their fawning podcast, but if it makes me ‘middle England’ to say I’m appalled at what had come to light, a man paying a young person for indecent images, then ‘middle England’ I am happy to be.
Edwards deserves to have the book thrown at him, although I sadly suspect this will not be the case. He abused children, and yes, viewing images of such abuse makes you every bit as culpable as the person on the other end of the camera. And he did so from a position of privilege, power, and protection. How many more BBC revelations will it take before the organisation is rightly seen by all for what it is? A cesspit. A breeding ground. Pastureland for perverts.
Ultimately, my horror is for the huge numbers of vulnerable children at the heart of these cases, the children whose names we rarely know, but whose lives are irreparably damaged by over-privileged, over-paid, entitled men, and their hangers on and apologists. How dare brats like Ava, Oli, and the intolerable Jonathan Pie be so precious about the ‘talent’ who get named and shamed. They show not the slightest concern for the children and young people who must live with the damage. They sit in their studios, with young runners pandering to their needs – Philip Schofield and his ‘young runner’ springs to mind – without a thought for the devastation and destruction to these children’s lives. Shame on all of them.
My brother and I wrote to the Jim’ll Fix It as kids. We wanted to appear in an episode of Knight Rider alongside the Hoff. We thank God now that our dream was so unrealistically ludicrous. We are ever grateful to have dodged that Savile-shaped BBC bullet.
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