Jimmy Saville documentary on Netflix

[AlternativePerspective]

Have just watched this, obviously we all know what he did and the absolutely reprehensible individual he was.

But watching the documentary and all the clips they played, even if he hadn’t committed all those hideous acts, he was a really creepy repulsive bloke. So why did the nation love him so much?

I’m not talking royals and other celebs etc, but ordinary people. The people who filed past his coffin after his death, and mourned his passing, sent in hundreds of tributes etc. Why? He was just so repulsive. Or is it just me?

@Lovebroccoli

I'm watching the documentary. The trouble is, he wasn't seen as repulsive (a bit odd, of course) or particularly 'creepy' at the time. I'm not too sure of how you define 'creepy' to be honest. The word is bandied about a lot but I've never heard anyone properly explain what they mean by it. Phrases such as 'makes my skin crawl' are obviously exaggerations.

It's only with hindsight that people think of him as repellent. He certainly did a lot of good and raised millions for charity during his life, even though his horrendous secret life was going on at the same time.

At one time he was a national treasure and the nation loved him so much because of his enormous publicity. He aligned himself with popular figures such as the Rolling Stones and The Beatles, as well as Margaret Thatcher and royalty, with the result that he partook of some of their aura. He was a very complex character.

If you read his autobiography you will see that a lot of his traits stemmed from his childhood which was what we now define as disfunctional.

It's very easy to say in hindsight, 'I always thought he was creepy and repulsive,' but I'm not sure how true that is.

This. He just seemed to be an oddball, I for one was gutted not to get on Jim'll Fix It, am bloody glad now though. The more i hear, the more depraved he seems to be, talk about hiding in plain sight!

I’m watching it now.
I’m of the Jim’ll era and I didn’t see anything wrong with him either in those days either. As others said, misogyny was rife and it was a different time (past is a foreign country and all that), looking back with hindsight it’s bloody obvious he was a creepy weirdo (at best).
My teen DD watched some of it with me & says he’s so ugly, why were women obsessed? She had a good point there, although I’m sure he affected a charming persona (to get what he wanted).

[quote Trixiefirecracker]@Imabouttoexplode exactly this, that’s mine and many of my friend’s experience too, I remember being distinctly freaked out about my ‘uncles’ wandering hands. He wasn’t an uncle but we all seemed to be persuaded to call any of my parents friends ‘uncles’ even though they were no relation whatsoever. Safeguarding children certainly wasn’t a thing back then and we just roamed out all day, my folks had no idea where I was at any given point.[/quote]
Likewise. I had the most loving, caring, worried parents ever but I too was out on my bike all day, typically several miles away, from the age of about 9 ish. You were just expected home for your tea when it got dark. Same with all the local kids. Normal, loving parents. That's just how life was.

@Notwithittoday

I don’t remember him much so I think it must have been turned off in our house. I never liked Bruce Forsyth either and he was another of those ‘national treasures’

I was never keen on Bruce, my mum found him abhorrent.

I wasn’t allowed to write to JFI, which I thought terribly unfair at the time, but my parents worked in child protection so……
We didn’t watch it regularly, either. I just remember the bits with him boring on in that big chair as being a bit dull.

The character played by Sean Bean in Red Riding:1974 was supposed to be loosely based on JS, I recall reading. I’d already heard the John Lydon and Jerry Sadowitz accusations by then, so it didn’t come as a surprise that programme skirted closer to rumours that JS had been involved in the murders of young women.

The HIGNFY episode was shocking. I have a lot of respect for Ian Hislop, but I lost a bit of it seeing him sit there and not challenge that. But then again, anyone who challenged JS tended to lose their livelihood so I can’t really blame him. We’re seeing it all again with GC women and male allies being cancelled.

@Malibuismysecrethome

The thing is even in the 70s and 80s it really wasn’t acceptable to joke about sex, nonces and young children. We were all taught to say no and to not let anyone interfere with us. My background is working class so no boarding schools etc. I think the kids in care had a horrifying time and pedophiles picked their targets.

Yea I remember the adverts we had. . Don't go off with strangers. Don't get into a car to see the puppies. Plus stay away from trainlines, how to cross the road, what to do during lightening, don't play with matches and much more.I

They were a series of stuff set up during the 1970's

Here's the strangers one

m.youtube.com/watch?v=y3FnCiRpdQ4

Kids in care sadly were targeted well last then. As a resident in one during the early 90's we were still targeted and thankfully the met took our allegations very seriously. Shame those who were supposed to be protecting us didnt. Because of our vulnerabilities we had to contend with paedos and pimps. As a result of us exposing it to the evening standard it also became national knowledge. And decades later despite all the various investigations we are still doubted by many. Earlier victims asked why they didn't speak out early yet they did. Some of accused of jumping on the bandwagon. I still remember one of the girls telling me on the first night to block my door to stop night staff getting in. We were threatened in many ways to stay quiet.

Safeguarding children was a ‘thing’ in that we knew who to avoid and what to say to anyone who tried to get us to do things which would harm us. Stranger Danger tackled quite well, but not the dangers in the home for those unfortunate enough to face that.

[quote AprilMae]@Valencebalance was the Netflix show ‘Is it Cake’? I stopped watching because of the creepy host lol[/quote]
He’s awful!

You also have to remember there was no social media and 3 TV channels. You didn't get to go back and look at stuff again and disect it.
You saw a couple of TV programmes a week, a few newspaper articles and that was it.

@SpiderinaWingMirror

You also have to remember there was no social media and 3 TV channels. You didn't get to go back and look at stuff again and disect it. You saw a couple of TV programmes a week, a few newspaper articles and that was it.

Yes, and adding to this there wasn't actually much kids tv. A bit at lunchtime, an hour or two at teatime, then Saturday morning from 7 until 12. So if there was a programme aimed at children you watched it, because there wasn't the choice kids have today, with 20 odd channels on Sky showing 24/7.

So many people who worked with him knew he liked young girls and had regular one night stands with teenagers but obviously not
Going to admit it now

He would invite them to his dressing room after totp

I've commented on this post earlier. I'm not jumping on the bandwagon, I really did think he was a pervert and when it started coming out about him after his death and yet people still defended him it made me sick. There's a clip in the documentary where a young girl lying in a hospital bed is shown with js next to her and she's drawn a picture of him as a monster and he says to her something like what have I done to you and she says 'everything' or something along those lines and you can see him working out how to divert this into something more lighthearted. My heart ached so so much for her as it seemed such a cry for help and yet she was in front of millions with this monster that she had drawn and it was just laughed off. I could be reading wrong things into it but I doubt it. Why I say that is as a young child myself I wrote a story at school about being chased by a monster and it was quite deep for my age, my teacher pulled me aside asking me if everything was OK at home. I lied and said yes. I wish I had told the truth. Like his other victim too was saying 'why didn't I cry out' when he was abusing her in the church in front of everyone there. It's bringing back so many thoughts and feelings of my childhood. Maybe I'm projecting. But there was so many alarm bells ringing it was deafening and yet these children and vulnerable adults were terrified of the repercussions. Its horrific. I just wish he was still alive to be stripped of everything and left to rot in his old age.

I feel the same about Bruce. I didn't want to say on here in case I got flamed.

@WingingItSince1973

I feel the same about Bruce. I didn't want to say on here in case I got flamed.

That was a reply to other pp about Bruce Forsythe 😬

I've said before I wouldn't be surprised if stuff came out about Bruce forsyth after he died. But nothing has so far.

"The thread the PP found says a lot, it really does. And I’ll bet good money that in 20-30 years time there will be another posthumous reckoning over an early 21st century celeb and we’ll all say that we always knew he wasn’t right. I can think of plenty of odd ones, but not someone who makes me think he is an abuser."

I actually disagree with this.I think that Savile would not have got away with what he did if he committed these hideous crimes now. As a society we have a different attitude towards abuse and allowing victims to have a voice and to be believed.
I truly think although it has its flaws the internet has been a positive cause for change. Had it been what it is today Savile couldn't have got away with it.
I just wish it had all come out when he was alive, for him to be unmasked as the monster he was and to lose the adulation of the public would have been a fitting punishment (that and prison obviously)

Ihatethefuckinmuffin I’m so sorry you went through that. I hope you are ok now. Best wishes

@WingingItSince1973

I feel the same about Bruce. I didn't want to say on here in case I got flamed.

I have found my people.

I never understood his popularity, I've often said he must have some dirt on someone to keep being employed.

Back to JS

There is a radio recording of him and a little girl and she says, "Why have you got your hand on my bottom" and his reply is, "How dare you? In front of your parents too"

Then there is this

look at the young woman's reaction, that's what we were taught to do in the 1970s.

I must admit I get a sort of creepy vibe from Russell Brand but of course that is just a feeling of mine, it's not based on fact, and I have never met him. He might be a fine upstanding person for all I know .

My creep radar is hopeless I really enjoyed JFI as a kid and for me watching it with now deceased grandparents was a happy childhood memory.

Think the public (naively) didn’t join the dots because of the fawning endorsement by the media clique and royalty etc. He was basically a court jester character for the royal family and Margaret thatcher. Astounding lack of judgement based on engrained misogyny.

@Sixlegsfoward88

I must admit I get a sort of creepy vibe from Russell Brand but of course that is just a feeling of mine, it's not based on fact, and I have never met him. He might be a fine upstanding person for all I know .

Me too.

And what is he famous for? He's not funny. He looks like he needs to make friends with a bar of soap.

He also told Katie Perry their marriage was over by text message.

Because it was a different generation , no internet etc. you could do what you wanted and get away with it . He travelled around the country so no one could speak to anyone else .
He tricked a nation but I doubt he was the only male doing it at the time .
Have you seen the other documentary about him on discovery ? It was commented that a lot of the famous men at the time were up to no good too and there was a club they were all members of ! They simply can't get away with it now , disgusting as that is !

Times and attitudes have definitely changed. I always thought there was something odd about Jimmy Savile (although I did write to Jim'll Fix It! c.1987!) but I only thought that later as an adult. I bet kids thought he was fun.

There was a lot of sexism in the 1980 and 1990s. Even as a young teenager in the 1990s, when classmates and friends got older boyfriends or even, got pregnant with the father being in their 20s, we all saw it as being the girls fault - now as an adult, I see it as grooming and abuse. When I left school at 16, there were 4 girls in my class who were pregnant - they all had much older boyfriends - aged between 20-30. That would been seen as child abuse now, but in 1996, it was shrugged off. Just awful.

My mum never liked JS and Michael Barrymore she always said was odd

Probably Bruce too

There's a creepy photo of saville and Gary glitter sitting with their arms
Round teenagers

The thing I wonder is if men are still like this now, but just keep it in their head, or if they actually don’t see 14 year olds as fair game for ogling any more.

@Ozgirl75 - men have not changed.

Hence the explosion of porn, which is now as normalised as open perving over teenage girls used to be.