There are roles that require transformation.
And then there are roles that require restraint.
Martin Clunes finds himself in the latter category with Power: The Downfall Of Huw Edwards, a project that doesn’t just revisit a public scandal, but asks how you portray someone whose public image and private reality diverged so dramatically.
Clunes, best known for Doc Martin, has spoken candidly about his first reaction to the unfolding story, and it’s not quite what you might expect.
Before Huw Edwards was publicly named, the situation existed in a strange, uncertain space. Rumours circulated, speculation built, and for a time, the identity of the presenter at the centre of the allegations remained unconfirmed.
"It was weird at the time because they wouldn't name him, so lots of BBC presenters kept saying it wasn’t them, and it caught fire, and then it was a surprise when Huw Edwards was named," Clunes said.
That uncertainty shaped his initial perspective.
"I remember we were doing the read-through for Out There at the London Welsh Club just as this story was breaking, and there was a photo portrait of Huw Edwards in the entrance, which a few of us commented on."
At that stage, Clunes admits there was a degree of sympathy.
"You felt sympathy for him at first, because it just seemed like a person in the public eye was being outed in the newspapers, and I can say from personal experience that newspapers only want to be nasty about people in the public eye."
But that interpretation didn’t hold.
"But then they found messages on his telephone, and that was a whole different ball game."
It’s a line that neatly captures the shift, from ambiguity to clarity, from speculation to confirmed wrongdoing.
Edwards, once one of the BBC’s most recognisable and trusted faces, later admitted to making indecent images of children. The scale of the case was outlined in court, where it was revealed he had 41 images on WhatsApp, including seven in the most serious category.
For Clunes, portraying that complexity meant avoiding a common trap.
"I was familiar with Huw Edwards, the newsreader, and how he presented himself when he was reading the news," he explained.
"But I’ve seen other actors make the mistake of just inhabiting that projected face of a famous person or politician. I knew that we needed the other side of him too."
That “other side” proved harder to access.
"Finding archive clips of Edwards away from the news was less easy, but I wanted to make sure I did."
What he discovered was a subtle but important distinction.
"I noticed from looking at that archive that he was different when he wasn’t reading the news, and I wanted to make that distinction. If you listen to his rhythms, he’s far more Welsh when he’s not newsreading."
It’s a performance built on nuance rather than imitation.
And crucially, it’s not built on judgement.
"I certainly don’t think you should ever be judging a character you’re playing, you just have to find ways to get into character."
Clunes even framed the process in terms of empathy. Not approval, but understanding.
"I’m not attracted to men, but I’m attracted to women, so I know what it feels like to be attracted."
From there, the approach becomes less about precision and more about instinct.
"Then sometimes with acting you just have to jump off the cliff and hope you land well. You don’t want everything to feel measured and calculated."
Which, in a story like this, might be the only way to approach it at all.
