The BBC has pulled the 2006 Doctor Who episode “Fear Her” from streaming on its iPlayer platform, after one of its guest stars, former BBC news anchor Huw Edwards, plead guilty in UK courts on counts of accessing indecent images of children.
Edwards—who left the BBC in April 2024, having been suspended related to separate allegations in November 2023—appears in a cameo during the climax of the 11th episode of Doctor Who‘s 2006 season. Set in the near-future around the then-upcoming 2012 London Olympics, the episode follows a young girl possessed by an alien being, whose otherworldly powers begin to make people mysteriously vanish. Edwards features prominently in the climax of the episode, reporting on the disappearances around a ceremony for the lighting of the Olympic flame.
Up until his suspension last year, Edwards was one of the most recognizable and prominent news anchors in the UK. A main presenter for the BBC’s 10 O’clock News program, Edwards led coverage for the broadcaster on major news events, including multiple elections, as well as the death and funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. Doctor Who is not Edwards’ only cameo in film and TV, either: he also appears in the 2012 James Bond movie Skyfall, playing himself reporting on an attack on the British Intelligence service MI6.
“In November 2023, whilst Mr Edwards was suspended, the BBC as his employer at the time was made aware in confidence that he had been arrested on suspicion of serious offences and released on bail whilst the police continued their investigation. At the time, no charges had been brought against Mr Edwards and the BBC had also been made aware of significant risk to his health,” the BBC said in a statement, released after Edwards appeared in court yesterday to plead guilty to three counts of “making” indecent images of children, the broad legal term for having either downloaded, accessed, or stored images on a computer, or be sent them over social media and chat services.
“Today we have learnt of the conclusion of the police process in the details as presented to the court. If at any point during the period Mr Edwards was employed by the BBC he had been charged, the BBC had determined it would act immediately to dismiss him.”
The BBC has yet to confirm its plans to return “Fear Her” to the iPlayer platform—which had recently become Doctor Who‘s definitive streaming home in the UK last year, hosting almost every available episode of the series across its 60+ year history. British tabloid the Mirror reports that the broadcaster has plans re-dub Edwards’ performance in the episode with another actor, although it remains unknown if the BBC will replace or remove the footage of Edwards’ appearance altogether.
The episode currently remains available to stream in the U.S. on Max. io9 has reached out to Max to ask if it has plans to remove the episode, and will update this post if we hear back.
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