Doctor Who episode featuring Huw Edwards finally returns to BBC but with a major change
A DOCTOR Who episode which was deleted from BBC iPlayer as a result of featuring a cameo from Huw Edwards has finally been re-uploaded six months after it vanished.
A 2006 episode of the TV programme, which featured David Tennant as the Doctor and Billie Piper as his companion, was taken down from the Beeb’s platforms as a result of Huw’s voice in his former capacity as a newsreader taking centre stage.
In the episode, Billie’s character Rose watches on a news report at home which sees a man falling ill whilst carrying the Olympic torch upon hearing that London has won the bid to host the sporting tournament in 2012.
The scenes play out live on the news and David’s incarnation of the Doctor is soon forced to step in and continue running with the torch.
Disgraced newsreader Huw can be heard ‘live’ commentating on the action but now this has changed for good.
After having been deleted from iPlayer for six months, the episode is now back with Huw removed entirely.
His voice role has been taken over by actress Becky Wright.
Becky has previously provided voice roles for Doctor Who‘s audio and podcast series.
In the re-upload, she voices Huw’s original narration almost word-for-word albeit with a few very minor changes.
With Huw never physically appearing on the screen, it has allowed the Beeb to easily remove him and replace him with Becky.
He has also been ditched from being mentioned in the final credits.
Last August, Huw was removed from the BBC‘s history with the broadcaster pulling all programmes, specials and uploads featuring him from their library.
It came as he pled guilty to accessing child abuse images after The Sun became the first to report and uncover on his highly inappropriate behaviour.
In July of last year, he admitted being sent a string of indecent photos of children – including sexual videos of a boy as young as seven.
The former BBC presenter, 63, received the images on WhatsApp between December 2020 and August 2021.
Westminster Magistrates’ Court was told seven of the 41 images fall under Category A – the most serious classification.
This included two moving images of a young boy, possibly aged between seven and nine years old.
He also had photos of other children aged between 13 and 15 stored on his phone that were classed as Category A.
A further 12 images were grouped as Category B and 19 as Category C.
The charge of making indecent images can mean opening an email attachment, downloading a picture or receiving an image via social media – even if unsolicited or as part of a group chat.
Edwards was one of the BBC’s highest-profile and highest-paid presenters with a pay bracket between £475,000 and £479,999 for the year 2023/24.