Steve Coogan As Jimmy Saville

[North Cardiff Blue]

The BBC making programmes for entertainment / profit that show them in a really bad light historically. Some mental gymnatics going on there even by that loon LoMs standards.

Hes just got the hump that they also showed Thatcher for what she was.

Jesus even a Saville thread and the Lefties try and score a point, OK Wales is a mess and is fiddling the NHS A&E waiting times, and instead of improving waste the money on a daft slower speed than England but Thatcher met Saville twice, how pathetic can people get, they've both been dead for years.

If anyone has actually watched it he fooled everyone that's the story!

[JamesWales]

this is such a weird take

Yeah, BBC are in it up to their necks on Savile really. And maybe the drama spread the blame a bit (perhaps fairly, I dunno) but it can't be said they shied away from it.

Thought the series was very well done overall

[superfeathers]

Jesus even a Saville thread and the Lefties try and score a point, OK Wales is a mess and is fiddling the NHS A&E waiting times, and instead of improving waste the money on a daft slower speed than England but Thatcher met Saville twice, how pathetic can people get, they've both been dead for years.

If anyone has actually watched it he fooled everyone that's the story!

Wales has a slower speed limit? You didn’t say

[Robin Friday's Ghost]

Jesus even a Saville thread and the Lefties try and score a point, OK Wales is a mess and is fiddling the NHS A&E waiting times, and instead of improving waste the money on a daft slower speed than England but Thatcher met Saville twice, how pathetic can people get, they've both been dead for years.

If anyone has actually watched it he fooled everyone that's the story!

He didn't fool everyone though. Admittedly there aren't many who put their heads above the parapet, understandably maybe in view of his frequent threats of legal action. But you had Lydon in the late 70s and the comedian above in 1987 referring to his actions. They weren't guessing were they? Nor would you think they had any special inside knowledge. It seems it was fairly common knowledge. I agree it's a bit pathetic trying to tie Thatcher in with him, even if I can't stand her.

[JamesWales]

I’ve mentioned before on here that my thinking on Savile was influenced by something an uncle of mine said to me in the seventies when I would have been around twenty (I didn’t like him before that mind because I always thought he came over as having little interest in or knowledge of the music which was the basis of him becoming a celebrity in the first place). My uncle was in the Merchant Navy and spent some time around the Liverpool/Manchester area around the late fifties and early sixties and although I don’t think he knew him that well, came across Savile a few times.

He was visiting us one day and I remember there was just me and him watching telly in the house at the time when Savile appeared on there, he said straight away “he’s a bad, bad man”, I pressed him for more, but he left it at that, apart from saying he’d heard some awful things about him when he was younger. If I had to guess, I’d say he was talking more about things like him having that young man beaten up at his night club that appeared at the start of the episode, rather than the sex stuff, but I may be wrong.

My uncle was never one to engage in gossip and I never heard him talk about anyone else in the showbiz and sporting world (he got to meet a few fairly big stars in his life) in the same way.

Even without that though, I don’t think my opinion of Savile would have been too different - I agree he was weird, but I also found him dislikable and boring.

Very interesting! Thanks for posting.

[JamesWales]

He didn't fool everyone though. Admittedly there aren't many who put their heads above the parapet, understandably maybe in view of his frequent threats of legal action. But you had Lydon in the late 70s and the comedian above in 1987 referring to his actions. They weren't guessing were they? Nor would you think they had any special inside knowledge. It seems it was fairly common knowledge. I agree it's a bit pathetic trying to tie Thatcher in with him, even if I can't stand her.

Sorry if I missed it in the thread, but what's the comedian in 1987 you are referring to?

[North Cardiff Blue]

Very interesting! Thanks for posting.

Agreed good post, it seems many knew but couldn't do anything to stop it.

I find similarities with some of the stories with Brand, not kids obviously but abusing his status and power to get women going to see his TV shows, and there are probably a lot more who will be exposed in the coming years.

[Robin Friday's Ghost]

Sorry if I missed it in the thread, but what's the comedian in 1987 you are referring to?

Jerry Sadowitz. Eric's post on this page. I didn't fancy trying to spell his name 😂

[Hot Shot Hamish.]

Going off on a slight tangent(can you actually have a slight tangent?), I remember Saville’s brother Vince being a bit of a celebrity around here. I think I met him in Barry Zoo back in the late 60s. The wonder of the internet, let me check it out, and it says that Saville had family in and around Pontypridd and the Rhondda. The piece I read was just after he died, before his “outing”, with his nephew saying how JS loved the valleys, and loved spending time with all the children around Porth. Well that aged well didn’t it!

[splott parker]

I posted on here just after he died in the thread that actually had posters praising him. I made the remark “I wouldn’t have wanted him baby sitting for my kids”. A few shot me down in flames saying it was a poor comment on such a decent fund raiser. I smugly dug the thread out a while later when his horrors were unfolding and did an ‘I told you so’ to one of my decriers. I’m sure he never posted again or, most probably, discreetly changed his name. I’d love to read that thread again, if I recall it was a bit of an eye opener to how the creep fooled a lot of the public.

[tforturton]

I watched the series, and thought Coogan played a good part, but the programme as a whole pulled far too many punches. The BBC let itself off very lightly, and elsewhere, there were too many people standing around stroking their chins and saying "Hmm, I'm not too sure about that Saville fella". No shit.
I guess it's easy to be wise after the event, but he certainly fooled a lot of people. I've heard that the mortuary stories were made up, but who knows? As someone who used to listen regularly to his 'Double Top Ten' Shows on a Sunday lunchtime, years ago, I was surprised when the news broke. but anyone who has read Saville's own autobiography will have come across a couple of episodes that were just a bit more than you wanted to read.

[PontBlue]

I posted on here just after he died in the thread that actually had posters praising him. I made the remark “I wouldn’t have wanted him baby sitting for my kids”. A few shot me down in flames saying it was a poor comment on such a decent fund raiser. I smugly dug the thread out a while later when his horrors were unfolding and did an ‘I told you so’ to one of my decriers. I’m sure he never posted again or, most probably, discreetly changed his name. I’d love to read that thread again, if I recall it was a bit of an eye opener to how the creep fooled a lot of the public.

This is the best I could find - https://www.ccmb.co.uk/showthread.ph...my-Saville-RIP

[splott parker]

This is the best I could find - https://www.ccmb.co.uk/showthread.ph...my-Saville-RIP

Thanks for that

[splott parker]

This is the best I could find - https://www.ccmb.co.uk/showthread.ph...my-Saville-RIP

Barca Blue, that was the one. Christ, one post does read as if I said he was strange but not a paedophile. I can assure you I was answering Barca Blue.

[J R Hartley]

Jesus even a Saville thread and the Lefties try and score a point, OK Wales is a mess and is fiddling the NHS A&E waiting times, and instead of improving waste the money on a daft slower speed than England but Thatcher met Saville twice, how pathetic can people get, they've both been dead for years.

If anyone has actually watched it he fooled everyone that's the story!

Lay off the Mandy, Feedy. He didn’t have everyone fooled at all but thanks to his friends in high places at Beeb, the government and the Royal family he managed to get away with it. He was enabled by the likes of Thatcher. A blind eye was turned because of all his charity work.

[AfricanBluebird]

I thought it was done well. Coogan was exceptional but I am not sure it tells us anything new. He was clever in making friends with people who could protect him through their powerful positions, many of course without realising what savile was doing or how he was using them.

Thatcher tried to get him knighted loads of times, she was a strong savile advocate, as were the royal family. Savile was called in by the queen to provide marriage counselling when Charles and Diana had marriage problems. Diana rebuked it and called Savile creepy. The bbc didn't include that. I can't imagine a worse counsellor.

From a child protection perspective, I thought they did a very sensitive job of revealing the abuse in scenes. Often those kinds of scenes can in themselves be exploitative. Apparently the survivors of saviles abuse were fully involved in the making of the program and provided with counselling and support.

As for the BBC doing it.. I think they had to.. Otherwise someone else would have done it and would have been much harsher on the bbc. But everyone needs to take collective responsibility.

Sadly many powerful people who abuse children are still in situ. The ex-officer who finally exposed savile claims he's been trying to get the CPS to prosecute a household name for year, but the powerful continue to block it.

It seems we've learned nothing.

I'm halfway through the long shadow. It's a tough watch. The police.. Wow. What utter wankers.

[PontBlue]

BBC make a drama about a man they employed and make revenue from it absolutely disgusting, the victims families must be horrified.

Bet the Newsnight incident was down played .

Some actors would do anything for fame and fortune.

Shame on you Cogan and the BBC .

The BBC didn't make it ITV Studios did. The BBC just broadcast it.

[splott parker]

BBC make a drama about a man they employed and make revenue from it absolutely disgusting, the victims families must be horrified.

Bet the Newsnight incident was down played .

Some actors would do anything for fame and fortune.

Shame on you Cogan and the BBC .

So the rest of Penarth get off Scot free then

[the other bob wilson]

I thought it was done well. Coogan was exceptional but I am not sure it tells us anything new. He was clever in making friends with people who could protect him through their powerful positions, many of course without realising what savile was doing or how he was using them.

Thatcher tried to get him knighted loads of times, she was a strong savile advocate, as were the royal family. Savile was called in by the queen to provide marriage counselling when Charles and Diana had marriage problems. Diana rebuked it and called Savile creepy. The bbc didn't include that. I can't imagine a worse counsellor.

From a child protection perspective, I thought they did a very sensitive job of revealing the abuse in scenes. Often those kinds of scenes can in themselves be exploitative. Apparently the survivors of saviles abuse were fully involved in the making of the program and provided with counselling and support.

As for the BBC doing it.. I think they had to.. Otherwise someone else would have done it and would have been much harsher on the bbc. But everyone needs to take collective responsibility.

Sadly many powerful people who abuse children are still in situ. The ex-officer who finally exposed savile claims he's been trying to get the CPS to prosecute a household name for year, but the powerful continue to block it.

It seems we've learned nothing.

I'm halfway through the long shadow. It's a tough watch. The police.. Wow. What utter wankers.

Good point about the stick the BBC would have got if the programme had been aired by another channel.

However as someone who tends to back the BBC against their modern day culture war critics, it's hard to come up with a defence for them when it came to how Savile's awful behaviour was tolerated by people who must have had suspicions, at the very least, about him.

[BLUETIT]

So the rest of Penarth get off Scot free then

Took 3 read backs, but I got there

[NYCBlue]

You could tell Saville was at the very least a creep just by watching him on TOTP. It was obvious to me when I was just a boy.

[Robin Friday's Ghost]

As someone who's boyhood heroes included Gary Glitter and Rolf Harris, I can at least claim that I never liked that ****.

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

Anyone walking around in a gold effect shiney sweat suit needs a leathering

[ToTaL ITK]

Anyone walking around in a gold effect shiney sweat suit needs a leathering

lol

[North Cardiff Blue]

You could tell Saville was at the very least a creep just by watching him on TOTP. It was obvious to me when I was just a boy.

It was so obvious he was a wrong un, God knows how he got away with it, especially at Stoke Mandeville and the BBC!