ALISON BOSHOFF: Jealous Huw Edwards was ‘poison’ in BBC information room

There is understandable shock in the BBC newsroom after former anchor Huw Edwards admitted child pornography charges in court last week.

And now, with his career decisively over, some former colleagues are lifting the lid on what a ‘tricky’ colleague he was over his 40 years at the Corporation – long before the scandal broke.

Last week Sir Craig Oliver, who was at the helm of BBC News at Six and Ten during Edwards’ time, told The World At One: ‘There were, I think, a number of people who were worried about his behaviour . . . was he throwing his weight around and behaving well enough to staff?’

This week I am told by a senior source that the truth is worse than Oliver admitted. He said: ‘Huw would spit poison about all the big names. He was very jealous and a divisive figure. Now you think: ‘God, how dare he have behaved like this?’ He was jealous and would bad-mouth all of the other presenters. He was poison.’

Highly-paid Huw, 62, would complain bitterly in private about the pay cut he was forced to take in 2018, following a row over gender pay inequality.

One issue which rankled was his belief that colleague Fiona Bruce hugely outearned him – and that this was not reflected in the BBC Annual Report, the most recent of which showed he was paid between £475,000 and £479,999, while she was paid £405,000 to £409,999.

However Bruce’s earnings for shows like Question Time, Antiques Roadshow and Fake Or Fortune were not taken into account — because they are made by the BBC’s commercial arm, BBC Studios.

Edwards reckoned that all told, Bruce earned a cool million — twice as much as him — and he would point out he also did state events and elections for that money.

‘Huw was always furious about his pay, compared with Fiona’s; and he also felt that the BBC completely invaded his privacy by disclosing it,’ a former colleague recalled.

But it was not just Bruce who attracted Edwards’ ire. One old colleague says: ‘Huw was the leading light, but he was very jealous of other people who were up and coming. He would gossip and backbite. He was not the ‘father of the newsroom’. Although he could be very witty and funny, some of what he said was far from nice.’

BBC Breakfast presenter Naga Munchetty was described by Huw as ‘a menace’ and he observed that colleagues ‘absolutely hate her imperious manner’.

And Dan Walker – who has since departed for Channel 5 – was nicknamed ‘The Bishop’ by the anchorman; a sardonic reference to his Christian faith which saw him refuse to do presenting work on a Sunday.

In May 2021 the BBC started publishing a register of outside earnings for news presenters. Edwards was outraged, calling it ‘a gross invasion’ of his privacy, and a ‘total farce’.

He was resentful, too, of the number of lucrative corporate presenting gigs taken on by others and said: ‘Fiona Bruce gets away with murder.’ (The most recent register of outside earnings has no entries at all for Bruce over the first three months of this year.)

A spokesman for Bruce did not respond to requests for comment.

Edwards said on a podcast in 2022 that he understood the BBC had to address issues of pay and gender. ‘I haven’t got a problem with the principle of the decision,’ he said. ‘I do have a view, which is unprintable, about the way the BBC got itself into that position — and the way that was allowed to develop — because that really isn’t any presenter’s fault.’

Appearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court last week, Edwards admitted charges relating to making seven Category A, 12 Category B and 22 Category C indecent images of children.

Top Dogg at the Olympics

He’s far removed from the usual jock-ish sports broadcasters — and for that reason Snoop Dogg is proving to beratings gold at the Olympics.

The rapper and actor has doubled US viewers of the Olympics as NBC’s special correspondent and is proving brilliant at delivering powerfully entertaining moments to audiences, especially younger ones.

Wearing full riding gear at the dressage (and accompanied by Martha Stewart, providing moral support because he is scared of horses) was a highlight; as was his private tour of the Louvre, during which he revealed he is the Mona Lisa’s twin brother, Tony Lisa.

BAFTA nominees like Emma will have to say if they’re an ‘actor’ or an ‘actress’ 

BAFTA has dealt a blow to nonbinary performers, deciding – after spending two years debating the thorny question of ‘gendered’ acting categories – that awards nominees will have to pick a side and choose whether they want to compete as ‘actors’ or ‘actresses‘. 

The announcement places non-binary performers – like Emma Corrin, Emma D’Arcy and Bella Ramsey – in a tricky position. 

Revised guidelines released last week say that film producers must ‘confirm the gender/gender identity of each candidate for nomination’. 

A source adds: ‘It is up to the entrant which category they enter into.’ 

Following the decision in 2022 by their music counterparts the Brit Awards to go gender neutral, BAFTA revealed that they were engaged in ‘proactive and thoughtful consultation’ on the subject of gendered acting categories and were speaking to ‘sector peers, industry stakeholders and experts’.

Ultimately, though, they opted to make no change, effectively shutting out the growing band of non-binary performers. (A BAFTA spokesman said that while the actor and actress categories remained, the certificate and mask could carry the term ‘performer’ if that was preferred by the winner.) 

The Brits, meanwhile, no longer have gendered categories, such as ‘Best Male Solo Artist’ (a move widely thought to be driven by non-binary singer Sam Smith). 

Adele, who won Best British Artist in 2022, said on stage: ‘I understand why the name of this award has changed but I really love being a woman and being a female artist.’ 

Last year there was outrage after the Best British Artist shortlist was all-male.

In 2022, the Oscars and the Tonys also started consultations on the possibility of gender neutral categories, but both organisations have retained their ‘Best Actress’ and ‘Best Actor’ categories. 

BBC presenter’s wife leaves couple’s company after firm avoids bankruptcy 

The wife of BBC Breakfast presenter Charlie Stayt has left their company, just days after they avoided bankruptcy. Anne Stayt resigned from Stayt Limited on July 18. 

Three days earlier, at the High Court in London, Judge Sebastian Prentis allowed an HMRC bankruptcy petition to be removed after hearing that they had repaid £159,000 and made a deal to repay the £32,000 still owed to the taxman. 

Dame Maggie Smith wanted Violet Crawley to be ‘killed off’, producer reveals

Downtown producer Gareth Neame says that it was a doddle persuading Dame Maggie Smith that her character Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess of Grantham, should meet her end in the 2022 film Downton Abbey: A New Era.

‘This was a terribly easy one, because she used to find the whole thing so draining at times,’ he said. 

‘Every year, when another series would come round, she’d say: “Oh can’t you just kill me off?” So when we eventually did, I think part of her might have been quite relieved.’

Neame is currently making a third Downton Abbey film, but says that it just wasn’t sustainable to make any more TV series – even though ITV really wanted them to. 

‘We’d spend a third to half a year in production. I knew that wasn’t going to be sustainable for ever. The actors wanted to do other things.’

Family heartache as Fiddler opens 

The new production of Fiddler On The Roof at the Open Air Theatre in Regent’s Park is attracting rave reviews. But there is heartache for the family of Topol, the late actor who will forever be associated with the role of Tevye the milkman.

Topol’s wife Galia died at the weekend, just days before the official opening night of the show.

To add to the poignancy, their granddaughter, Darya Topol Margalith, is making her professional stage debut in the musical – playing Tevye’s fourth daughter Schprintze.

Fiddler has long been a Topol family affair. Darya’s mother played Chava – alongside her father – in the 1994 revival at the Palladium.

Galia and Chaim Topol were married in 1956, and he became a star thanks to the 1971 Norman Jewison film of the musical.

The sound of money . . . a lot of money

F. Scott Fitzgerald was quite right when he observed: ‘The rich are different from you and me.’

Megabucks Tracy Anderson – Madonna’s fitness trainer turned entrepreneur – hosted a dinner at her home in Sag Harbor last weekend to celebrate the launch of her new fragrance, HeartStone.

Guests at the house in the Hamptons on Long Island, including Hugh Jackman’s ex Deborra-Lee Furness and socialite Olivia Palermo, were treated to the services of a ‘sound healer’, who was on hand throughout the evening to ‘help the guests reach a higher frequency’.

Saleka Shyamalan says making film with her father was ‘biggest gift’ 

Saleka Shyamalan – daughter of filmmaker M. Night – says it was a ‘dream’ and a ‘gift’ to work with her father on his new film Trap.

Musician Saleka, 27, plays pop star Lady Raven in the film, which opens today, and wrote 14 songs for it.

Speaking at the London premiere, she said: ‘It’s such a blessing to be able to work with people that you love. The fact that he trusted me with this and wanted to make it with me is just the biggest gift that I’ve ever been given.’

From McLaren to Ralph Lauren: F1 driver Lando Norris lands fragrance deal

British F1 driver Lando Norris is set to join international sports stars including Spurs captain Son Heung-Min and American tennis player Ben Shelton as a celebrity face of Ralph Lauren fragrance.

The deal is in the offing but has yet to be announced. 

Norris, 24, who was born in Bristol, became the youngest ever British Formula 1 driver at 19 and races for McLaren.