The Reckoning - Savile

Oreo

It’s hard to watch, but brilliantly done.My Mum always said she thought he was wrong ‘un and she was usually right about most things.

Quite a few of our parents' generation were not taken in by him it would seem.

It's a shame their voices were not listened to.

Louella12

My Grandma loathed him. Every time she saw him on TV she'd say there was something peculiar about him and we'd turn over to watch something else.

Your Grandma's instinct was spot on, wasn't it?

I often think that we have this intuition - as part of our self-preservation / survival instinct - and sometimes ignore it for fear of offending or being thought 'silly', but I don't think we should.

It's difficult to know - without knowing an individual - why they rub you up the wrong way... but that feeling that something's not quite right - we should rely on it.

My Mum wouldn't let me write to him either as she said he didn't act normally with the children. I had no idea at the time what she was talking about anyway, I most probably only wanted to have my ears pierced or something else she wouldn't let me do

Oreo

I agree LovelyLady
I didn’t know that Savile adopted a boy, I don’t think it was a legal adoption tho.He may have been joking in the programme of course, and the man was just a partner in the DJ business?
The Duchess was a strange one as well.

The 'son' is Ray Teret who was caught and sent to prison.

Quote: Ray Teret was a close associate of the paedophile presenter Jimmy Savile who mentored Teret in the early days of his career. He became known as Savile’s "shadow" and soon acted as his chauffeur. Teret spent his final years in prison after being sentenced to 25 years in prison for a string of heinous sex crimes.

www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1821786/ray-teret-now-jimmy-savile-associate-death-explained

I refused to go to a neighbours allotment when he asked and my foster Mother was annoyed with me. Later saying I was a brat and he was just a lonely old man and often asked kids along for company. Some years later she reminded me of the incident. Asking why I hadn’t wanted to go. I said that he just gave me the creeps and I didn’t want to be in his company. I was 15 by then and she admitted that he had recently been arrested because of his behaviour towards children.
Saying that she felt terrible about how she’d moaned at me because I wouldn’t go over his allotment with him yet now she was just relieved that I’d refused.

It’s hard to watch, but brilliantly done.My Mum always said she thought he was wrong ‘un and she was usually right about most things.

I watched this reluctantly and was drawn in by Coogan's amazing performance as Savile. The BBC did not come out of it well. They turned a blind eye to the growing evidence of Savile's creepy and perverted behaviour. Their main concern was to keep up their viewing figures and ratings. I found it more surprising that the NHS allowed Savile such close and unmonitored access to patients. Looking back to those times now it seems incredible that he was able to continue his vile acts and behaviour for so long whilst at the same time becoming an icon for charity and fundraising.

its a great programme and we all really need to know how he charmed people and fooled millions with just enough menace to ensure no-one challenged him. I think it's especially good how Coogan's expression drops from nice and smiley to 'I'm gonna get what I want' at the crucial moment. I never saw Coogan as a serious actor, but he really deserves a BAFTA for this performance and I think we do need to be aware that just because someone has a cheerful outlook and loads of charisma does not mean they are on our side, indeed that can trick people into seeing the best in people. Boris Johnson had a similar charisma, smiled and told us how leaving the eu would leave us with extra money for the NHS, cheaper food etc. but this was not the case

My Grandma loathed him. Every time she saw him on TV she'd say there was something peculiar about him and we'd turn over to watch something else.

On the rare occasions I saw him on JFI I was absolutely convinced by his manner that he was completely insincere. There was a coldness about him; he didn't engage with people - just went through the motions like an automaton. His charitable work was just a 'job', his modus operandi.

If ever his name came up in conversation, I would mention this... and always the same response... "but he does raise a lot of money for charity..." So I stopped saying anything, except "hmm".

Then one day, my son was watching JFI and I looked for a few minutes at the programme and just exploded to my late OH, "that man is bogus, he's conning people", and my OH agreed.

Of course, I had no idea of the way he was deceiving people - I simply thought it was his way of making a name for himself and hobnobbing with the high and mighty.

There must have been some lay people - those working in the field of psychology / psychiatry who watched him and were not convinced by his purported good intentions, and his intensely irritating 'yodel'?

Steve Coogan is an superb actor and his portrayal of Savile is outstanding. Savile was a truly odious man. I heard he was mooted as potential godfather to Prince Harry...

As a youngster I never liked Jimmy Savile. I had Davey Jones and Il'ya Kuryakin on my walls, he could never appeal to me.
I used to sigh when Jim'll Fix It came on: that odd looking old man with that weird tarzan call - ugh! but there weren't that many channels to watch and my Dad had supreme control of the Doofer (remote control).

When he died, I was living in Leeds. When I learnt that his cortege was going to pass by my road end, I felt guilty that I'd mentally rubbished him for his looks, and he'd done so much good! So I dressed smartly and went to stand on the kerb as the coffin was driven past.

When stories first began to emerge, I stood up for him. The 1970s are a different country where, if you didn't come back from a party without getting nipped or squeezed, there was something wrong with you. I was never teenybopper material, I usually came home unsqueezed.

When stories nearer the truth began to emerge, I was horrified. I had never imagined anything like it. Even any of my friends who said, "We always Knew..." just meant that they'd thought him "a bit of a lad".

I'm half way through Part 2, and finding it repelling and fascinating in equal measure.

Steve Coogan has him off pat.

Nannashirlz

I didn’t watch it and have no interest in this and one question is why did bbc turn a blind eye and let him get away with it. Was it because he had high ratings it’s the bbc that have a lot to answer too

Yes, it would appear to be greed on the part of the BBC that, although rumours were rife, they continued to use Savile - on programmes with young girls! The hospital and prison where he “volunteered” were, I guess, conflicted because he did appear to do a lot of fundraising.
Horrid man.

I didn’t watch it and have no interest in this and one question is why did bbc turn a blind eye and let him get away with it. Was it because he had high ratings it’s the bbc that have a lot to answer too

I watched the whole series on catch up. OMG. I never liked Saville. Jim'll fix it and top of the pops were on TV when I was a teenager. The very worst bit was when he was very old and visiting the hospital morgue. I will say no more. Despicable man.

I missed this as, but I find the very sight of that obnoxious creep unbearable, he makes my skin crawl. I always feel uneasy and feel that surely someone at the BBC must have known about his activities but did nothing.

In the early 1970 my folks lived not far from Broadmoor, and became friendly with the chief psychiatrist and his wife - my younger sister and their dd were at the same school.

So my folks were often invited to events at Broadmoor - inc. charity events with JS was present. They were introduced more than once, and I still recall my mother saying at the time - she was always a hyper-sensitive type - how he utterly gave her the creeps.

I had only ever seen him on TV and certainly thought he was a weirdo - couldn’t understand what people saw in him - but my mother’s reaction was so much stronger - a truly visceral one.

I agree LovelyLady
I didn’t know that Savile adopted a boy, I don’t think it was a legal adoption tho.He may have been joking in the programme of course, and the man was just a partner in the DJ business?
The Duchess was a strange one as well.

Steve Coogan is a very fine actor and has tackled other difficult roles equally well. Both the Reckoning and Philomena, despite being uncomfortable viewing, demonstrate the evil that is too often kept hidden within so called 'respectable' institutions. Evil prevails when good men (and women) do nothing to stop it. Steve Coogan's depiction of Savile is uncanny. So creepy - I even found myself reading between the lines re. Savile's relationship with his mother. Poor soul - she couldn't / wouldn't testify against him in any case.

Sassanach512

It was interesting to see that even his mother sensed a darkness in him and couldn't bring herself to feel any love for him. Didn't she say to the priest in the confessional that he'd been her seventh child and she hadn't wanted him when he was born. Strangely though, he seems to have cared a lot for her.

Isn’t that typical of an abusive relationship with a parent? I’m a firm believer that offending behaviour, particularly against children, stems from their own abuse. Not that I think it excuses it at all. But often children who are abused love the abusive parent more. It’s a sad reality. It could have been neglect, especially if she didn’t love him. That would have made him crave her love and find affection elsewhere. But lots of people have awful childhoods and don’t go on to abuse. He was a monster.

The Reckoning is not for me. I feel for all his vulnerable victims. As a teenager, watching him on Top of the Pops, I always found him creepy. My instincts weren't wrong.

We watched the Reckoning and thought Steve Coogan was brilliant in the programme. It takes much skill to play someone like Savile. Of course the story is familiar, but what brilliant acting from the cast. It left me feeling sad but I’ll watch all the episodes. Life was cruel for some of these youngsters.
The Catholic Church was hoodwinked like the rest of society. I can’t understand why those who were aware of the abuse and inappropriate behaviour either did nothing or hid behind the ‘organisation needs the money’
The entire cast were superb.

I do remember the Louis Theroux interview with him before he died, when the subject of rumours was brought up, he was emphatic in his response, something along the lines of "I know they're not true" how he had everyone duped even though so many in positions within the BBC and hospitals he visited knew full well he was culpable of abusing young people, it really was a travesty. The knighthood, they way he was eulogised until the lid was finely lifted. Such an unsavoury looking man as well, the horrible hair and all those ghastly gold rings yuk!

Agree 100% Dickens. I met him in the early days of a music program and he had this sleaze about him. Can't put a finger on it. Decades later when everything became plain, I commented on this to a friend who had worked in a hospital he visited. Her take on it was that people knew, but wanted the money he raised.
Still can't credit that.

I watched the Netflix programme and that was enough.