I’ve mentioned before the significant contribution made to my TV education by news correspondents but even more fundamental are the men and women who front the bulletins. As a young child, I hated the News. There’s only so many starving children in Biafra, grainy shots of US troops in Vietnam, Budget debates or Industrial Relations Acts a boy can take, let alone understand. And the presentation format hardly helped.
The Beeb’s main newsreaders were Richard Baker, Kenneth Kendall and Robert Dougall, each oozing trust and authority but with impeccably private education speaking voices honed in the Reithian Corporation since the early Fifties, they weren’t exactly lively. And they were firmly rooted behind a desk. Fortunately, like society generally, the news broadcaster’s role has changed substantially in my lifetime.
For starters, the personnel became more diverse. Some must have thought the world was ending in the Seventies when women were introduced. Yet for all their femininity Anna Ford, Angela Rippon and Jan Leeming perpetuated the old-school sound of TV news, still sounding cloyingly posh. ITN’s Trevor MacDonald signalled a further change in the Nineties, bringing a Caribbean lilt to proceedings and fellow former foreign correspondents like John Humphrys, Michael Buerk, Peter Sissons and Mark Austin have stepped out of the firing line and into the relative safety of a studio with great success.
Technological advances have also changed the whole purpose of TV News. Satellites, video and digital editing have turned the bulletin from the staid and static into a fast-moving mosaic of live ‘two-ways’ with reporters on the spot all over the globe, studio interviews and recorded filmed reports. Consequently, the evening News has become a much more engaging programme and the presenter’s role has become much more complex. Bringing the autocue words to life was a skill in itself but now there are complicated, time-constrained conversations, writing links, and the increasing importance to engage with the viewer, and that requires the presenter to show some personality, be more like us. Headlines are everywhere these days, so broadcasts need to explain and place those headlines into context. I do despair that ITV bulletin scripts have been dumbed down to an embarrassing degree but the past year’s stranglehold on the agenda of Brexit and Covid-19 have further demonstrated to me the value of a news presenter – and Huw Edwards ticks every single box.
With his trademark oblique stance and slightly upturned corner of the mouth, you know there’s always a slight twinkle in the eye awaiting its opportunity to shine. However, there’s a time and place. Twenty years ago he had some pretty serious subjects to handle on the Six o’Clock News, from the catastrophic Foot & Mouth outbreak to the horrors of 9/11. I think I was watching when Edwards brokered a live discussion from Westminster with two jovial Labour politicians who nonetheless harboured opposite opinions on electoral reform. Despite Alan Johnson’s use of the word ‘Bullshit” (shock, horror!) he entered into the spirit and handled it delightfully.
Huw
has fronted coverage of elections everywhere, from the Wales devolution and EU
membership referenda to local authority polls,
General elections (of which there have been a plethora in recent years) and those abroad
including the calamitous US presidential vote of 2020. David Dimbleby’s
ownership of the microphone for the major solemn events has also come under a
serious challenge from Mr Edwards. Whether reporting from the State Opening of Parliament,
royal weddings or funerals, I’d rather hear the lyrical Welsh lilt to public
school English.
He’s even an accomplished location broadcaster, handy when a major story demands that the primetime news presenter is actually on the spot, such as after the Grenfell Tower fire. Edwards is not just about News either. Paxman and Humphrys have exploited their reputation as interrogators in quiz shows, while the boy from Bridgend has also mastered the art of documentary-making, specially related to the nation of his birth. Whether addressing the camera standing heroically on clifftops, striding through meadows or rowing across lakes, he was the ideal multi-tasker to front The History of Wales. It also demonstrated his proud bilingualism.
Huw’s flair for languages is matched by his creative talent, and several Christmases ago he even accompanied Tom Jones on piano in a BBC trail. Beat that, Fiona Bruce! He’s also an entertainer, as illustrated by his 2012 turn on Would I Lie To You? Check out the clip to see if he would! Lately he has probably priced himself out of BBC Wales roles but Huw Edwards, now a silver fox (only six weeks younger than me!), is always a welcome, trusty, reassuring presence on my telly.
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