Huw Edwards

Edwards spent a short time on work experience at the commercial radio station Swansea Sound, before joining the BBC as a news trainee in 1984. In 1986, he became parliamentary correspondent for BBC Wales. Between 1994 and January 2003, Edwards presented the BBC Six O'Clock News, then the most watched news programme in Britain.

In January 2003, Edwards became the main presenter of the Ten O'Clock News on BBC One, the BBC's flagship news broadcast. He also presented various special programmes such as the Festival of Remembrance. He led the BBC commentary team at the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, 2012 London Olympics and 2014 Commonwealth Games. He presented several election specials, including coverage of the 2007 National Assembly for Wales election for BBC Wales and the BBC coverage of the results of the 2008 United States elections and the inauguration of Barack Obama. He was formerly chief political correspondent for BBC News, and spent more than 14 years reporting politics from Westminster across a range of BBC programmes.

Edwards presented or contributed to a range of other BBC News programmes, including Breakfast News, One O'Clock News, Newsnight and Panorama. From April 2006 until 2020, he presented the BBC News at Five on the 24-hour BBC News channel. On 29 April 2011, he presented the BBC coverage of the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton. At its peak, the coverage was watched by 20 million viewers in the UK and the team won a BAFTA Award for Best Coverage of a Live Event. In June 2012, Edwards presented the BBC coverage of the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II. In May 2013, Edwards took over BBC coverage of local elections from David Dimbleby. He presented a special news report for the BBC following the death of Nelson Mandela in December 2013.

Edwards shared the BBC's 2015 UK general election coverage with Dimbleby, and contributed to the coverage of the 2016 UK European Union referendum. In May 2018, he shared the presentation of the BBC coverage of the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. In 2019, he succeeded Dimbleby as the host of BBC election night coverage. and was the lead presenter for the 2019 UK general election coverage. In April 2021, he presented the rolling coverage across BBC One, BBC Two, BBC News Channel and BBC World News following the death and funeral of Prince Philip.

In August 2021, Edwards told BBC Radio Cymru he was contemplating his future, saying 20 years of news "can be taxing" and that viewers should "get a change". In January 2022, he joined BBC Radio Cymru as one of five regular presenters for the Sunday morning current affairs programme Bore Sul. On 8 September 2022, Edwards announced the death of Queen Elizabeth II, presenting rolling news coverage from around 14:00 BST following an announcement from Buckingham Palace earlier in the day. He presented the BBC's coverage of her state funeral on 19 September.

Beyond news, Edwards presented a range of programming on television and radio, including documentaries on classical music, religion and the Welsh language (of which he is a native speaker), and hosted various events such as the BAFTA Cymru award ceremonies. He has presented historical documentaries including Owain Glyndŵr, the South Wales Valleys, Gladstone and Disraeli and a series following the work of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales. He presented Bread of Heaven with Huw Edwards, a documentary about the impact of religion in Wales, which won the 2005 BAFTA Cymru for best documentary and nominations in four other categories. In 2006, Edwards made a voice appearance in the Doctor Who episode "Fear Her".

In September 2008, the BBC Trust ruled that a documentary on Welsh politics presented by Edwards, Wales: Power and the People – Back to the Future, had broken the BBC's editorial guidelines. The documentary covered the Welsh Assembly, with Edwards stating: "To achieve its full potential it needs even greater support for the people of Wales than it's received so far ... The more people that take part, the stronger and healthier our democracy in Wales will be." Following a complaint, the governing body concluded that Edwards's words were not objective and even-handed, saying: "It is not the role of BBC presenters to encourage audiences to exercise their right to vote on particular occasions." It was also found that the documentary as a whole was biased against the Conservative Party.

In 2010, Edwards presented The Prince and the Plotter about the investiture of the Prince of Wales and the part played by Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru ("Defence of Wales Movement"). He received the Best On-Screen Presenter award at the BAFTA Cymru Awards. In February 2012, Edwards launched a historical documentary series made by BBC Wales, The Story of Wales. That year, Edwards appeared as himself in the James Bond film Skyfall, presenting a BBC News report on a fictional attack on the British intelligence service MI6.

In 2015, Edwards presented a history of the Welsh colony in Patagonia—in English and Welsh versions—to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the colony's establishment. In December 2018, he was a guest of Mary Berry in BBC One's Mary Berry's Christmas Party. In December 2022, he was the narrator for the BBC Four programme Organ Stops: Saving the King of Instruments.

Edwards earned £550,000–£599,999 as a BBC presenter for several years. His salary was reduced voluntarily in the light of gender pay differences found within the BBC. Press Gazette announced his new salary as £520,000–£529,999 as of July 2018. His salary was reduced to £465,000 as of May 2019, and reduced further to £435,000–£439,999 in July 2023. It was raised by £40,000 between April 2023 and April 2024, when he resigned from the BBC "on medical advice". By then, he had been suspended for nine months over allegations in The Sun newspaper that he had been paying a young person for sexually explicit photos.

In March 2011, Edwards opened Swansea University's "Hoffi Coffi" cafe in the library, created to support the aims of Academi Hywel Teifi, named after his father who spent his academic career at the university. He gave a speech in Welsh as he unveiled a mural of a poem by Tudur Hallam, Professor of Welsh at the university and winner of the Chair in the previous year's National Eisteddfod; Edwards called it a moving tribute to his father, who had died in January 2010.

In 2003, Edwards was made a Fellow of the University of Wales and in 2007 he became Honorary Professor of Journalism at Cardiff University. In 2005, he was appointed Patron of the National College of Music and in October 2008 he was appointed President of the London Welsh Trust which runs the London Welsh Centre. In April 2009 he was elected vice president, later Pro Chancellor, of Cardiff University for four years. He was honorary President of London's Gwalia Male Choir from 2005 to 2016, and was a vice president of the National Churches Trust until his removal from the position in 2024 after his sexual misconduct charges.

In 2020, Edwards criticised The Times for printing a story dismissive of the use of the Welsh language. He responded to comments in The Times written by the scientist Michael Pepper in which it was suggested that his late colleague John Meurig Thomas wrote notes in Welsh purely to stop others from reading them; Edwards said that Welsh speakers do not "use our native language in our daily lives simply to thwart others". In 2021, he criticised the former journalist Max Hastings for saying that Welsh was of "marginal value" and that Wales could not succeed as an independent country because it was "dependent on English largesse".

On 5 July 2019, Edwards was awarded a fellowship of the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. Edwards is also an amateur organist, taught to play at a chapel in Llanelli, and occasionally plays at the Jewin Welsh Presbyterian Chapel in Clerkenwell, north London.

In 1993, Edwards married Vicky Flind, a television producer, whose credits include editing This Week and Peston. They lived in Dulwich, London, and have five children. In July 2024 it was reported that Edwards and Flind had separated some time ago and that Edwards had been living elsewhere. Edwards is a Christian who as of 2013 attended Presbyterian services in Welsh. He said he has had bouts of depression since 2002.