PLATELL’S PEOPLE: What’s next for Huw? No – What’s next for his poor wife and kids?
When married father-of-five Huw Edwards was finally revealed by his wife to be the BBC star accused of inappropriate behaviour with a younger person, the question most sympathetic colleagues, friends and commentators asked was: ‘What next for poor Huw?’
But that’s not the first question that came to my mind. All I could think of was: What next for Huw’s poor wife Vicky Flind — and especially their children?
Vicky’s statement, delivered just minutes after the Met police revealed no criminal act had been committed, was almost pitifully pleading. Telling the world Huw was ‘suffering from serious mental health issues’ and receiving ‘in-patient hospital care’, she was acting, she said, ‘primarily out of concern for his mental well-being and to protect our children’.
A lioness protecting her pride of cubs and perhaps her own pride, too. How courageous of her and yet how utterly humiliating to have to do it.
PLATELL’S PEOPLE: All I could think of was: What next for Huw’s poor wife Vicky Flind — and especially their children?
It made my blood boil. Why is it always the innocent wife who has to clean up the mess her husband made? Why does Vicky have to explain Huw’s moments of madness? How can his kids — and yes, I know they are over 18 — ever recover from these startling allegations about their dependable dad?
Imagine the moment an ashen-faced Huw must have had to tell Vicky — and then their family — of the shame he’d brought on to them.
An alleged £35,000 paid into a young person’s bank account for sexual images, and rumours of further secret conversations with other young people. And, now we discover several complaints had been made at the BBC about Edwards’s behaviour towards younger colleagues.
Vicky added in her statement that ‘once well enough to do so, [Huw] intends to respond to the stories that have been published’. Good luck with that.
Given his mental health issues, Edwards almost certainly can’t be sacked by the BBC and will be on the payroll for the foreseeable future since the Corporation has a duty of care to its employees. What a tragedy he did not consider his duty of care to his wife and children.
Margot’s mini marvel
Before she agreed to play Barbie, Margot Robbie insisted the new film would not reinforce the harmful stereotype of the impossibly perfect, big-bosomed, tiny-waisted plastic original. Yet she’s turned up for every premiere as a perfect-bodied, big-busted slim woman — sporting a crotch-skimming fuchsia mini-dress after the London opening.
Barbie-loving eight-year-old me would have blushed pink with embarrassment.
Margot Robbie’s turned up for every premiere as a perfect-bodied, big-busted slim woman
Joe is so slow
A bit worrying that doddery President Biden, leader of the free world, needed notes to remind him to talk about the special relationship between the UK and the U.S.
And what a shame that he could spare less than an hour meeting King Charles to discuss their shared passion for beating climate change — arriving at Windsor Castle in a fleet of massive helicopters.
Don’t be court knickerless!
Much debate as to why many women players at Wimbledon — such as Aryna Sabalenka — are wearing Nike’s crochet-style outfit: it’s moderately flirty, but a bit like a loo-roll cover.
For sexiness, nothing will ever compare to that 1976 picture Tennis Girl, even though she wasn’t a player and wasn’t wearing knickers. Not to be encouraged on Centre Court.
Much debate as to why many women players at Wimbledon — such as Aryna Sabalenka — are wearing Nike’s crochet-style outfit
A blessing at last! The Hollywood writers’ strike means several films will be delayed, including the sequel to Avatar: The Way Of Water, yawnathon rehashes of superhero franchises and Gladiator 2 with Paul Mescal following in the footsteps of Russell Crowe, who is so out of shape now he’d be lucky to get a role as a Colosseum elephant.
Covid lockdown turned most of us into binge-watching TV addicts, with all episodes of most series available on demand. So how frustrating that Idris Elba’s latest offering, Hijack, is only available week by week. It asks us what we’d do if our plane was hijacked. I know the answer! Get a seat next to the hunky guy who looks as if he could have been James Bond.
Hail the hero cops…
Fourteen police officers who ignored safety guidelines and formed a human chain to smash through a frozen lake in a tragically failed attempt to save four young boys from drowning in Solihull, West Midlands, last December, are given the highest award for bravery. Amid all the police scandals of recent times, remember that — at heart — most of our cops are good guys and gals.
Promoting his BBC2 Earth series, Chris Packham warns the planet faces ‘extermination’ by humans. The Just Stop Oil supporter is also making a documentary called Is It Time To Break The Law? My question: Is it time for Chris to lie in a darkened room?
Just Stop Oil supporter and presenter Chris Packham. Pictured in a video shared by the group
After being hospitalised with an infection, Madonna says when she woke in intensive care: ‘My first thought was my children.’ Her second? ‘I did not want to disappoint anyone who bought tickets for the tour.’ Perhaps it’s time for Madonna to put profits and her ego aside. You’re 64, love.
- The first 46 asylum seekers at the new centre in Essex get a room, access to a gym, bus travel, their own health centre with GPs and free meals, which is more than Britain’s 271,000 homeless get. And that’s supposed to be a deterrent to people entering the UK illegally…
- Defence Secretary Ben Wallace snaps ‘we’re not an Amazon [delivery service]’ when it comes to sending arms to Ukraine — with £4.6 billion committed already. Yet wasn’t he reflecting what many people are beginning to feel: a bit of war-weariness when many Brits are suffering at home?
When Rishi Sunak vowed to stop the small boats, we hadn’t imagined an amnesty for 10,000 migrants. Interest rates soaring, inflation swelled by public sector pay rises, record NHS waiting lists. Will the PM meet a single one of his pledges?
Beware the deadly toll of tans
Reports that skin cancer is at a record high reminded me to get checked this week. Four biopsies on suspicious moles — that can be a sign of a potentially deadly melanoma — and about a dozen benign Basal Cell Carcinomas were removed.
Can I urge all those heading to 40C+ holiday destinations to remember a tan today can lead to horrid skin cancer in years to come?
Good news at last for the Sussexes holed up in their Californian mansion. Their nasty Netflix docuseries, with all its bare-faced fibs, has been nominated for a Hollywood Critics award in a ‘non-fiction’ category. What a joke. Is it because, as one U.S. commentator dryly noted, you always put a dud in nominations to garner interest in a little-known awards ceremony?
Difficult to know what is more appalling: that teenagers Prabjeet Veadhesa and Sukhman Shergill were able to stab 16-year-old Ronan Kanda to death in daylight — or that they collected their weapons (a ninja sword and machete) from a Post Office after buying them online.
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