Huw Edwards to open up about battle with depression in S4C documentary

BBC broadcaster Huw Edwards is to discuss his battle with depression in a documentary to be aired on S4C between Christmas and the new year.

In Huw Edwards yn 60 to be broadcast on December 29 he says that his focus on fitness over the last decade is linked to his battle against depression.

“The worst was when the doctor told me I weighed far too much and was at risk of dying early,” he says in the documentary. “That’s when I decided: right, I’m going to do something about it.

“Like everyone who suffers from depression, [I find] it tends to come and go. For me it started around 2002 … I didn’t want to get out of bed and didn’t want to go to work and didn’t want to talk to anyone.

“It might be something to do with the fact that I wasn’t completely happy at work, but that wouldn’t explain how overwhelming it was.

“The problem is you are a familiar face and you have to maintain a public image. Before going on the air, a few minutes before 6 o’clock, I had to tell myself, ‘OK, you’ll be fine — you just have to do it.’

‘Stamina’

It was announced this week that Huw Edwards will be one of five presenters to take over BBC Radio Cymru’s 8-10am Sunday Morning programme from next year onwards.

The News at Ten presenter will alongside four others jointly take over the slot left by Dewi Llwyd, who has been the voice of Sunday mornings on the station for 14 years.

In the S4C documentary, he will add that he would like to keep working into his 80s like his fellow Welsh language presenter Beti George, who is 82.

“When the time will come for me to quit the job — or for them to let me go — I don’t want to put my feet up and do nothing. I’ll be looking for other work, because keeping busy is one of life’s best secrets,” he says.

“For me the key to staying fit in every sense is to keep active and busy, and it follows that the concept of retirement to me is rather alien. I have the greatest respect and admiration for people like David Attenborough, David Dimbleby, Mary Berry, my good friend Beti George and other distinguished broadcasters who show exemplary professionalism as veterans, and their enduring popularity with our audiences speaks for itself.

He added: “Viewers appreciate the reassuring experience that these broadcasters bring to the screen. It remains to be seen whether I have the talent and the stamina to do the same thing, but I will certainly give it a good go.”