Over-cautious and clumsy: The Downfall of Huw Edwards reviewed |
It’s not easy for a drama to be over-cautious and clumsy at the same time. Or to turn a real-life story that shocked (and, let’s face it, titillated) the nation into an oddly flat piece of television. So how did the much-hyped Power: The Downfall of Huw Edwards manage to do both?
The answer, I’d suggest, is by failing to interrogate – or even engage much – with its own material. Instead, it opted to simply pass on the facts drawn from its own research, making only the most half-hearted and sometimes contradictory attempts to explain them.
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The programme began with Edwards (Martin Clunes) in his voice-of the-nation pomp, as he announced the Queen’s death. Meanwhile in Wales, the pseudonymous ‘Ryan’ (Osian Morgan) met his friend Alex, who boasted about the gifts he’d received in his role as ‘porn dealer’ for someone famous. Hearing who it was, Ryan contacted Edwards with surprising speed. Nor did Edwards waste much time in texting back admiringly that ‘you look younger than 17’ and asking Ryan to set up a PayPal account.
Before long, there was a scene of Ryan........