The Reckoning - Savile

I watched the first 2 episodes and yes it’s uncomfortable viewing but it’s meant to be and yes those of a certain generation know what he did . But I think it’s important to tell the story . He manipulated and conned a nation including the RF , politicians and religious leaders. There were staff at the hospitals and bbc who had their concerns but were ignored. So it’s important to make sure it doesn’t happen again with future generations.
Obviously there will always be famous powerful men who use their power and fame to manipulate and abuse and hopefully future victims will know they will be listened to.

I think he deserves an award. His performance was frighteningly believable.

There's talk of Steve Coogan being awarded a BAFTA for his portrayal of Savile. He has got the voice spot on from my memory of Savile.

I just watched the first two episodes on BBC player and found it diffcult to believe I was not watching Saville himself. A brilliant portryal.

I wonder what relationship he had with his siblings they must be in a terribly difficult situation
He always called his mum ‘The duchess’ didn’t he ? He seemed to have a complex relationship with her Was there a father around
I never really thought of him as creepy I thought he was eccentric but saw all the ‘good’ he was doing and that overrode his strangeness for me Only ever saw him on ‘Jim ll fix it’ never really connected in any other way

I am so angry and annoyed he wasn’t outed before he died
I didn’t know a child had committed suicide so you do still learn things from different programmes

In the later 1980s Sovile visited Jersey and there were many rumours. People said ‘sooner or later someone will fix it for Jim’. Sadly it was much later.
Elsewhere I worked in a church school where the local vicar spoke proudly of his good friend Rolf Harris. When in UK Harris had visited the school.
As previous posters have said ‘trust your instincts’.

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202310/medium-833115-savile-grave-before.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202310/medium-185329-savile-grave-after.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202310/medium-458335-savile-plaque-before.jpg

I decided to watch it and was astounded to see the lavish funeral at the beginning. I'm not sure I ever saw that at the time. He got away with it for the funeral and burial, but he never kept his dignity after that. The gravestone was removed, and his plaque was defaced, probably gone now.

Am halfway through ep 2- I’m mid 60’s now so JS was always on the tv as I was growing up. I remember my mum commenting that he was ‘strange’ and he always seemed creepy to me, but tv shows like Jim’ll Fixit, on prime time Saturday evening tv were very popular and discussed at school very innocently each following Monday. In plain sight indeed…

I was a teenager in the 1960’s and used to love radio Caroline and top of the pops but I always thought that he was creepy , mainly because he was the same age as my dad ! This meant to me that he was an old man and seriously un-cool .
I much preferred Tony Blackburn !

I have watched the first episode to see what everyone is talking about, but I just can't watch any more. I know what he did, of course, but it's just so creepy and horrible and it's making me very angry. The world is such an awful place at the moment ... I need something more escapist and uplifting.

Anniebach

The drama starts with ‘some names have been changed and some characters and scenes created for dramatic effect’

Yes, and that's why I would urge people to watch the factual Netflix documentary if they can. As I said upthread, I didn't watch more than a few minutes of The Reckoning before switching off but I am mindful of what Phil Harrison wrote in The Guardian about the Netflix series:

As the film emphasises, the burying of Meirion Jones and Liz MacKean’s initial Savile exposé is one of the most shameful episodes in the BBC’s history.

Lucy Mangan wrote in the The Guardian:

Journalist Meirion Jones eventually found victims willing to testify, despite their enduring vulnerability, but his Newsnight investigation into the by-then late Savile’s rape and abuse of countless children and adults was infamously pulled at the last minute, apparently to save the BBC embarrassment.

I don't know to what extent The Reckoning deals with the BBC failures. Again, Lucy Mangan writes:

A lot of emphasis is given to a couple of fairly inconsequential investigations into his conduct there. But a lot more emphasis is given to the failures of NHS staff to protect their patients at the various hospitals Savile was allowed unfettered access to, to editors caving in to pressures to shut down a Fleet Street exposé, and the many other failings by individuals and institutions (sometimes indistinguishable – such as when Thatcher, whom we see charmed by Savile at Chequers, gave him the knighthood he longed for) that turned a blind eye to the red flags he scattered with an increasingly lavish and contemptuous hand.

To what extent is the BBC attempting to deflect blame?

Just a little correction for those here writing Saville. His name was Savile because he is vile.

The drama starts with ‘some names have been changed and some characters and scenes created for dramatic effect’

I think people often don't read the thread, Chestnut .

Someone in their 20s now would have been too young to follow the case, but they will be decision-makers of the future, so they need to understand how these things can happen.

Clearly lessons haven't been learnt though, or we wouldn't have the scandals we do now. Fame gives people power, and many people will defend a famous person just because they are famous.

Philippa111

I think it is really important to call out these creepy criminals but what is it that people want to watch, never mind make, programmes about the disgusting behaviour and abuse of power by sleazy celebrities?

We all know what he did so do we really have to go through it all over again.

We've already said....not everyone knows what he did if they are young now and certainly won't in the future. So they are not 'going through it all over again'. The story needs to be told, although our age group might not want to hear it again.

I think it is really important to call out these creepy criminals but what is it that people want to watch, never mind make, programmes about the disgusting behaviour and abuse of power by sleazy celebrities?

We all know what he did so do we really have to go through it all over again.

I knew something and warned my children and younger relatives against him.
The girl that I knew about was not believed.
This culture of disbelief towards young women continues to this day.

I started to watch it, but couldn't continue for personal reasons. I was in the dance world in my teens and often went on Top of the Pops at Shepherd's Bush studios. A girl from our dance school committed suicide and her diary explicit contained stories about two DJs who invited her back after the shows. Her mum reported it to the police and to the BBC, but an inquest decided she was a star-struck fantasist and that her suicide had nothing to do with a celebrity sex scandal. She was 15 I think, it was maybe 1970.
The names of Jimmy Savile and another famous DJ at the time were there for all who knew.

I wasn't going to watch it because I felt the whole upsetting disaster had been well explored by the media. However I decided to see what it was like and I have to say that Coogan becomes Saville within a few minutes of watching him act. He is brave to take on the part, I wonder if it will have an effect on him psychologically.
I cannot imagine anyone now being allowed to roam the wards in a jokers costume and sitting on the beds of young girls. That part was awful. I always thought he was a nasty creep, I could never watch Top of the Pops for that reason. I think any programme that warns young people to listen to their intuition and to be wary of revolting creatures like Saville is worth showing.

Steve Coogan is a good actor he got Savile off very well.
I meet him once.. Savile sat next to me once on a families day on a War Ship. There was something about him, that made me just acknowledge his presence with a tight smile. He didn't IMO come across as someone you wanted to talk too. And belive me I would have done.
There were also a few children there who knew who he was, who approached him to say hello but he was cold and distant to them (thank goodness).

I also worked with someone who knew him from Leeds Royal Infirmary, he was always know as "now then, now then" word went out were he was so to avoid him and that area for a while. If they knew why was nothing done?

It appallingly he didn't have to face court like Rolph Harris or Gary Glitter what a slime ball.

Years before he was exposed for the monster he was, I remember reading an article about him and his charity work, and he was widely praised by hospitals for the fact that he actually worked there as a porter.
Nothing glamorous, and the point was made that famous people often turn up at hospitals, stay for a short while chatting to some patients and then leave.
Savile, it was said, got stuck in, worked long hours and of course back then most patients would have been delighted to have him around.

Of course we all know now that it was a means to an end.

He was obviously a very complex character, a challenge for any psychiatrist I imagine, and of course he raised many millions of pounds with his marathon runs, which continued even as he grew older.

This complexity I think, along with his intelligence, enabled him to fool so many people.

Mollygo

^I still can't believe that the culture was such that so many people were 'aware' but refused to do anything.^

I can’t either, but I’m grateful for the off button.

The powers that be: the BBC turned a blind eye because of his popularity.

Oh no! I didn’t realise it’s a four-parter! 30 minutes was enough for me. I don’t want to be reminded of that horrible creep - brilliantly portrayed as he was by Steve Coogan.

It's not clear whether he did fool almost everyone though - did they believe he was innocent or did they turn a blind eye because of the money he raised and his connections? Who knows?

Everyone I know says they knew he was a 'wrong 'un', but he still got away with it. Maybe it's a case of hindsight being a wonderful thing, but I agree that I felt there was something creepy about him. I never met him, and don't know anyone who did, so that was just based on his appearance and demeanour, as well as rumours.

I also agree that saying anything about people like Savile is fraught with danger, as there is a good chance that you will meet the response you describe, Primrose. People leap to the defence of men (possibly women too, but I can't think of an example of that) who have been accused by multiple people of the same crimes - often with very similar experiences, and anyone saying 'hang on - there's a pattern forming here' is expected to have fingerprints, DNA and CCTV evidence to back up what they say. Of course we don't want to see anyone convicted in Salem-style witch hunts, but equally, this attitude creates the atmosphere in which people like Savile can get away with their behaviour. It's difficult to know how to get that balance right.

The thing is with Savile he fooled almost everyone from the Royals, BBC management, to hospital directors and prison governors.

But he didn’t fool me! Several years before he died and all the scandal was exposed someone on another forum was praising him for his charity work. I went on saying he was a weirdo and questioned how he was allowed access to patients, to smoke on hospital wards and to do as he pleased. I also said my gut feeling was that one day he would be exposed as I had read his autobiography some time before which contained some seriously creepy stuff about young girls yet it got published.

OMG there was outcry about how wonderful he was, such a character, all his charity work etc and what a horrible person I was because I was badmouthing Saint Jimmy! I think I came close to being chucked off. 🤣🤣. Some years later I found the old thread and went back on to say “I knew it” but they all kept very quiet. 😉