Newsman Huw shocked by ‘nutter’ comment
WELSH newsreader Huw Edwards has revealed that when he told his bosses he had depression he was told by a colleague that “the BBC doesn’t really want people to think there’s a nutter reading the 10 o’clock news” in response.
Llanelli-raised Huw, 60, has said he was stunned by a colleague’s comment after speaking out about his mental health struggles, the Mirror reports.
Huw said: “One said to me, ‘Well, the BBC doesn’t really want people to think there’s a nutter reading the 10 o’clock news’.
“And I said, ‘What do you mean, a nutter?’ I said, ‘What kind of phrase is that?’ But that’s actually quite a good insight into the way some people still perceive these issues.”
The broadcaster, who still suffers from depression, opened up publicly about it four months ago. He says at first the BBC was nervous when he told the organisation about his struggle. But the corporation later became more supportive and many news colleagues confided they too had mental health issues.
The journalist, who has fronted News At Ten for 18 years, talked about his problems on the eve of Mental Health Awareness Week starting today. Speaking to BBC journalists Jane Garvey and Fi Glover on their podcast, the father-of-five said his problems began in 2002 and were so severe they left him bed-bound.
When asked how the BBC treated him, he replied: “With a kind of deep-freeze silence to start with, which is always the kind of way it does. It can be a very sympathetic and supportive organisation. It can be not that. It’s a very bureaucratic organisation.
“It’s just how the machine delivers something. So on this one, the machine took a while to respond. I think they were rather nervous.”
Asked if he still had depression, Huw replied: “Yes, but it’s not as bad as it was.” A BBC spokesman would not comment on specific cases, but said: “The welfare and mental health of our staff is of paramount importance and we have a wide range of measures in place to support them. They can access our employee assistance programme 24/7 from anywhere in the world. We also have trained mental health first-aiders.”