James Bond fans are questioning if Huw Edwards’ cameo as a BBC newsreader in Skyfall will be cut after he pleaded guilty to making indecent images of children.
The veteran broadcaster, who resigned from his job in April ‘on the basis of medical advice’, has admitted to having 41 pictures on WhatsApp, including seven of the most serious type.
The 62-year-oldhe has been charged with between December 2020 and April 2021 after becoming involved in online chat with an adult man on WhatsApp.
Between December 2020 and August 2021, Edwards was sent 377 sexual images, of which 41 were indecent images of children – with one of the seven in Category A, the most serious type, estimated to show a child as young as between seven and nine.
He was also sent 12 category B images and 22 category C.
During his four-decade career at the BBC, Edwards had risen through the ranks to become lead presenter on BBC News at Ten for 20 years from 2003.
Given the Welshman’s high profile and viewers’ trust in him, he also had the perk of appearing as himself in 2012 007 film Skyfall, to add a sense of authenticity.
In the movie, he is seen presenting a news report for the BBC on a fictional attack on British Intelligence service MI6, for whom Bond (Daniel Craig in that film) works.
‘So are they going to cut Huw Edwards out of Skyfall?’ asked one social media user on X this week, while @MisunMisun echoed that question today, tweeting: ‘Will the Huw Edwards appearance in the James Bond 007 film Skyfall be cut from all future screenings?’
‘So much BBC archive with Huw Edwards will be impossible to show now. Royal events, funerals, segues in documentaries with him reading the news,’ pointed out The Times’ Deputy TV editor Ben Dowell on the platform.
‘“An abyss in the archive,” says one. Can they even show Skyfall with this in it?’
Others had also recently watched the film and been reminded of Edwards’ cameo.
‘Oop Huw Edwards. Never thought THAT would date a film, but here we are,’ commented @HelenSwire.
‘Did I just see Huw Edwards in Skyfall @007? May want to cancel that bit!’ shared Ross Cochran.
Edwards has also made appearances as himself or an unidentified newsreader in Casualty, Psychoville and BBC PR drama Absolute Power with Stephen Fry.
He was heard as a commentator in a 2006 episode of Doctor Who as well, according to IMDb.
Outside of popular media, it had fallen to him to cover most of the key news events of the past several years, including co-hosting the results of the Brexit referendum in 2016 and fronting coverage of the late Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral in April 2021.
More recently he also led the corporation’s coverage of the late Queen’s platinum jubilee, her death and her funeral, as well as the coronation of King Charles.
Prior to the shock revelation of his arrest in November on Monday – and the subsequent charges from June being made public – he had been suspended by the BBC in July 2023 following allegations that he paid more than £35,000 to a young person who sent him sexually explicit images.
The Metropolitan Police confirmed afterwards that there was no evidence to suggest that a criminal offence had been committed.
A second young person claimed that the newsreader sent them expletive-filled messages, while a third alleged that he broke lockdown rules to meet them.
It was claimed by BBC programme Newsnight that Edwards sent ‘inappropriate’ and ‘suggestive’ messages to junior employees of the broadcaster, but the messages were not deemed to be criminal.
Metro.co.uk has contacted Eon and reps for Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson for comment.