Gary Glitter programme Tuesday

He was a well known pedophile and lost most of his fans way before this programme was aired.

Loved the music (I was 15 when Rock 'n' Roll Part II hit the charts), hate the man. Waiting for him to die so I can listen to the music again without him earning a penny from it. But until then it's off the playlist.

Off the point a bit as usual, apologies, but I do think no convicted criminal, Glitter, the murdering copper, et al, should have their faces shown on tv or in the papers ever again. I’m sure they just love it. It must be triggering for the victims of their evils, prisons have tvs, why pander to their egos.

There were a lot of groups and artists dancing around in glitter back then and they were all very entertaining. We had Mud dancing to Tiger Feet and Showaddywaddy to Under the Moon of Love. I just saw him as one of them, maybe more amusing than anything. I had no idea what he was singing about or how many songs he had released. I've just looked on Wiki and it's astonishing how many there are.

I just remember him on TOTP and thought he was funny. He didn't have much impact on me because the songs were not my type of music, I just thought he was worth 5 mins of my time watching him perform because his costumes were rather fabulous after all.

That bit when Paula Yates interviewed Gary Glitter on the Big Breakfast bed and asked him about liking young fans was interesting. He looked alarmed.

I'm shocked that you are shocked I thought everyone knew by now

I don't live in the UK. I remember that he was in prison in Vietnam, for three years only or thereabouts, and then extradited to Britain, and Qatar Airlines refused to fly him. These details stuck to mind because my aunt used to send me magazines from Australia and the case was covered as was that of Michael Jackson, and Jimmy Savile, and of course, Rolf Harris.

I often used to wonder why nobody stood up and questioned the lyrics in his songs. It was quite obvious he was a weirdo.

Which lyrics did you question?

In the programme there was a line about 'what your mama don't know', which thy made a lot of. But Suzi Quatro had a song at about the same time with those lyrics (a different song) and there is no suggestion that she was in any way suspect. Also, the Glitter song wasn't a single, as far as I know, and the chances are that few of his fans would have been album buyers. Most of his songs didn't have much by way of lyrics - they were chants, really.

I think that after the event people say they knew all along, but rarely have anything to substantiate that. Many people did know about Saville (there is evidence that people reported him to the police, the BBC and hospital authorities), which is why the scandal went even deeper than the crimes themselves, and why I think that programmes about him are important, as they hold the various institutions to account and make it less likely that something like that will happen again.

My point upthread is that the Glitter programme didn't scratch the surface of a cover-up, if indeed there was one. It's always easy to look back and scrutinise tiny bits of video with the knowledge of hindsight, which is what I see the programme as doing. We were no wiser about whether he got away with it because 'times were different', because he was able to hide behind his persona, because people didn't believe women and children, or because he was too big to knock down and people covered for him. For that reason I think the programme was pointless - not because we need more salacious details, but because the only point of going over something like that is to understand how it can be prevented in future.

I didn't like him back in the day as I always thought he was sleazy. Turns out my suspicions were correct.

I think it's quite important to discuss these issues as unpleasant as it is, so we understand what mistakes were made, we need to be more able to question those who are hiding in plain sight.

I didn’t watch it but was well aware of his behaviour and crimes.

I often used to wonder why nobody stood up and questioned the lyrics in his songs. It was quite obvious he was a weirdo. Just like Savile, nobody said or did a thing. Savile even wrote in his autobiography that he often had girls under 16 in his campervan and their parents would be looking for them!

I can’t believe the OP didn’t know about him before watching this programme. My son, like many children, was a big fan and I took him to a GG concert. That was years before the truth emerged. I doubt he has had any fans for decades. Disgusting predator.

LucyV1961

Did anybody watch the programme on Gary Glitter.I was really shocked ,as I used to be a big fan of his when I was about 11.He can't have any fans left after the programme .

Oddly enough when it first came out we avoided it like the plague !
Then on Tuesday evening we did watch , what a vile , disgusting human being ! !!!!

I don't think this disgusting excuse for a human being deserves any further publicity and if as some other posters have said it's a repeat why do we need to have it aired twice, for goodness sake.

I’m shocked that your shocked by the fact. 🤷‍♀️

I watched it but found it disappointing. I didn’t need to know the specifics, but it didn’t give any detail, and more importantly it didn’t explore how he got away with it.

The Saville programmes were more about the cover ups, the complicity and so on, and IMO needed to be shown, but this was more of a skate over the surface. The bits where an interviewer mentioned young fans weren’t explored- were they hints? Did people know, or was it just with hindsight that it seemed dodgy? None of that was even remotely considered. In the end it was just a collection of anecdotes and vague references to something we already knew.

Yes I watched the programme although I was fully aware of his story
I don’t really understand how you were shocked LucyV
there has been enough information of him and his crimes over the years how could you have missed it You sound as if you have only just found out !!

I never liked the man right from when he started out
He should still be in prison in my opinion I don’t think he should be amongst humans.. ever He doesn’t appear to realise the harm he’s done horrible horrible man

Woukdnt watch that disgusting pervert. Neve4 liked him.

Revolting creepy man. Like that Jimmy Saville creature, same sort of thing.

I couldn’t watch that monster and if any of his music Comes on I immediately switch it off

I think it's a repeat.
I'm more worried about the groomers that haven't been brought to justice now.
Don't misunderstand me, of course he is despicable, but we should be focusing on predatory men causing harm today.