Martin Clunes reveals weight loss and ‘quite involved’ physical transformation for Huw Edwards role

After a lifetime playing a wide range of characters, Martin Clunes has taken on one of his most unrecognisable roles in the upcoming Channel 5 drama Power: The Downfall of Huw Edwards.

In the two-part factual drama, the Doc Martin actor plays Huw Edwards, the once highly trusted BBC newsreader who fell from grace after allegations accused him of grooming a 17-year-old man.

In July 2024, Huw pled guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children at Westminster Magistrates Court and was given a six-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, in September 2024. 

While viewers will see Martin’s portrayal of Huw on screen when the drama airs on 24 March, the actor has revealed just how he managed to physically transform into the former presenter.

Martin’s physical transformation

While Martin and Huw are both 64, the resemblance between them isn’t immediately obvious. That’s where the makeup team stepped in, Martin told The Times, explaining that his ears were pulled back for the role.

“I don’t know how they fixed them, but it was quite involved,” he said. “Quite a few times they shot me from behind so it wasn’t tape, because that would show. They were back there for ages. And I had to lose a bit of weight.”

© Matt Towers / 5 Broadcasting Limited / Paramount / Wonderhood Studios

As well as altering his appearance, Martin also carried out research on Huw to get a sense of what the presenter had been like behind the cameras of the Ten O’Clock News.

In one instance, Martin revealed: “One of the archive bits I watched was an outside broadcast. He’s outside Number 10 at night in a coat, and he’s just texting, waiting to go live, which I found chilling in light of what we know.”

When asked about Huw’s former colleagues, Martin said: “I don’t want to be drawn into [explicit] Huw Edwards off, because I don’t see that as my role. But I didn’t hear any compliments.”

What is Power: The Downfall of Huw Edwards about?

Described as “a year in the making”, the Channel 5 drama explores Huw’s double life and the events that ultimately led to his exit from the BBC and public life, as well as his later conviction.

© ©5 Broadcasting Limited / ©Won

The synopsis reads: “Building on extensive factual research over the past 12 months, including extensive first hand interviews and co-operation from those at the heart of the scandal and exclusive access to The Sun newspaper’s award-winning investigation into Edwards, this unflinching drama paints a complex, emotional and nuanced portrait,  revealing how the grooming of a vulnerable 17-year old over many months led to Edwards’ downfall, disgrace and the end of his life in the public eye.”

Power: The Downfall of Huw Edwards lands on Channel 5 on 24 March at 9pm.