Comments by "Glamdolly" (@glamdolly30) on "heretics. clips"
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I met Huw Edwards 20 years ago when I was a TV producer and booked him to appear as a talking head on a prime time TV show. We'd hired a suite in a big hotel to do his interview.
I recall he bounced in and immediately dominated the room, holding court to the male camera crew, and ignoring the women present. As the producer I was his first point of contact, and had to brief him about the job he was there to do. He was very dismissive, like he'd done it all before, and was far too important to be briefed. As soon as I'd said my piece he turned back to the guys, who were his focus for the rest of the afternoon.
He was all about the anecdotes and wisecracks, name-dropping shamelessly and putting famous people down to score laughs. He also talked a lot about sports. It was all very macho. I found him utterly charmless, and very much a man's man.
I would have liked to hear Dr Raj Persaud talk more about the stark difference between Huw Edwards' public and private personas. I think it's significant that he was always so deadpan on TV - not only when reading the news, but in general. He rarely showed any sense of humour or spontaneity. Despite being a household name as the BBC's top news anchor, it was a highly controlled public image, and he gave nothing away.
That's absolutely not how he behaves off-camera, when he's very 'hail fellow well met', laddish and even gossipy. I suspect the dramatic division between his telly profile and the way he acts in person, reflects his double life as a paedophile sex predator. He was reigned in and buttoned up when the cameras were on him, due to a profound and deep-seated fear of his true character being revealed - which of course has now come to pass.
I got the impression of a self-serving man, who always has his eye on the main chance. The sort who will only talk to you at a party until someone more important walks in - their gaze is permanently directed somewhere over your shoulder, awaiting that moment.
Jeremy Vine was very taken aback one day when a TV colleague asked him: "Why does Huw (Edwards) hate you so much?" JV had hitherto been under the impression he and HE were old friends! The colleague then told him he'd recently had lunch with Edwards, and he'd launched into an angry tirade about various presenters, Vine included, and why he loathed them.
BBC colleagues said Edwards bullied everyone he worked with, including his bosses! I believe his toxic, domineering personality is the reason he got away with his now well-documented predatory behaviour towards young male colleagues - and no doubt umpteen other professional transgressions.
Television builds these autocue readers up into gods, and makes monsters of them. I've seen it with my own eyes (Jonathan Ross and Jeremy Clarkson spring instantly to mind). TV executives are scared of 'the talent', and never say no to them. Is it surprising these narcissists come to believe the rules don't apply to them - or that the Beeb continued to pay Edwards' inflated salary, even after he was arrested on child porn offences?
Incidentally, no one should think this phenomenon is unique to the BBC. I've seen it at umpteen different TV companies, as the Phillip Schofield scandal/cover up confirms.
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