How Huw Edwards case shows BBC 'talent' culture is rotten

Huw Edwards pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent pictures of children between 2020 and 2022 (Picture: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images) | Getty Images

As long as stars are treated differently from mere mortals, they will feel empowered to do as they will

When new recruits join the BBC, they are trained on the BBC's standards of behaviour. They must be beyond reproach, they are warned: working for the BBC is different to elsewhere.

That responsibility should also mean BBC management carefully monitors matters which may impact on that reputation, and is open to taxpayers when things go wrong.

In the case of Huw Edwards, the newsreader unmasked as a paedophile, the Corporation is perceived to have fallen short. It appears to have been insufficiently curious as to whether Edwards was guilty of more serious offences when stories about his behaviour first surfaced. It is certainly guilty of not explaining its lack of action since then.

At the heart of the issue is ‘talent’. For, while this might be the BBC's worst scandal since Savile, it is not even the first scandal this summer to involve ‘talent’ behaving badly.

As long as stars are treated differently from mere mortals, they will feel empowered to do as they will. That may not just hide bad behaviour: it may help encourage it. And that would be unforgivable.