THE RECKONING - bbc 1 mon 9th - 9pm and Tue - TV PACE NO SPOILERS

[Blondeshavemorefun]

There will be four episodes in total, with the second airing at 9pm on Tuesday, October 10.

The third and fourth episodes are likely to air on the following Monday and Tuesday.

The Reckoning stars Steve Coogan as Savile and has spent a long time in production, with a planned release in 2022 reportedly being delayed due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

It will trace the life of Savile from a working-class background to one of the biggest stars in television and will also focus on his years of sexual abuse and the impact he had on his victims.

Saville (https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/national/uk-today/23729749.bbc-reveal-first-official-image-steve-coogan-jimmy-savile/)
died in October 2011 aged 84 having never been brought to justice for his crimes.

By not talking about it, you don’t get to the nub of that and if you don’t look at it you’re destined for those things to happen again.

The drama answers the question: how did he get away with it?

"The drama answers that question which is a very important one."
The series will also feature interviews with four of Savile's victims.

I like the strong focus on the victims. I thought that was well done in episode 1 (and hopefully others too.)

It’s well done but staggers me that eg the senior female BBC person and her male colleague who said don’t employ Savile were so easily ignored.

His childhood friend (ex Army) seems like he tried to speak out and warn about Savile but was mostly ignored or half believed.

His poor mother.

I hope Savile is burning in hell.

I may be cynical, but I was wondering while watching part 1 last night if everyone portrayed as feeling there was something ‘off’ about him actually did so at the time, or if there’s a bit of hindsight affecting recollections (or scenes being invented for dramatic effect) going on.

@SoundTheSirens it does say at the beginning that some were added for dramatic purposes. It's so chilling that he was able to manipulate in the way he did.

@SoundTheSirens I think it's easy to have a thought of "he's a weirdo" but without any evidence to back it up, you can't do a lot. I wonder if they're voicing what people thought at the time, because obviously we can't see thoughts on tv.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Teret

I am quite old. I trained as a journalist in the mid 80s. A colleague whose father was also a journalist for a London newspaper had tales to tell about Jimmy Saville. All of them later proven to be true. People in power knew what Saville was doing. They just didn't care enough to try and stop it. It was an open secret.

Steve Coogan is superb and I hope gets the recognition he deserves for this portrayal. Incredible talent and interviews I’ve seen about why he took this role seem spot on in tone and respect for the victims.

My only criticism, which may be due to hindsight of the makers of the series, is that in every scene there seems to be someone ‘knowing’, who feels he’s off, who doesn’t like JS. I’m unconvinced that they spoke up as much as this is showing. I don’t doubt people may well have thought he was weird, or disliked him, but the culture of the time would have been to stay silent which is how he got away with it. Maybe I just don’t want to believe that people were having these conversations and then carrying on as before.

I sincerely hope the victims get some peace and closure from this. What a vile man JS was.

Different girls in different places at different times, and maybe young men or boys, didn't all know one another so they couldn't compare notes at the time.

I remember that documentary series they did a few years back about police investigations into sex crimes, which featured (among others) Ray Teret. It was an excellent series but a really difficult watch. Teret came across as incredibly creepy.

That is awful

So he was left to do whatever he wanted to defenceless children and adults - I'm thinking in particular of those he may have met in the Central Remedial Clinic in Dublin.
An aristocratic woman ( there are only a few still in Ireland ) called Lady Goulding ( nee Monckton - her father was Viscount Monckton ) was instrumental in advancing care for people with physical disabilities in Ireland and set up the CRC along with Katherine O Rourke.
Jimmy Saville would arrive over to Dublin to great fanfare and lead a sponsored walk for the CRC having ingratiated himself with Lady G.
🤮
Phil Lynott and Thin Lizzy played at an event in our largest stadium at the time, organised after one of the sponsored walks.
I'm hoping The Reckoning will awaken people's memories here and someone will start investigating JS in Ireland.

While they have included the victims I would prefer to see a drama that was even more from their point of view. The drama “The 6th Commandment” was excellent because it was mostly about the victims and the role of the perpetrator was smaller. I would like other true crime dramas to do the same moving forward. I am sick of seeing dramas where the criminal is the main character.

i agree that Steve Cigna is great. He is also very brave to take on the role.

I was undecided whether to watch but everyone gave such good reviews for Steve Coogan . It was certainly a difficult watch but not unexpected .

I wasn't quite sure of how the character of the mother was portrayed , as I never remember her talking about Savile in real life but he often used to talk about 'the Duchess' on tv progs . I always thought he was creepy as did my friends but no idea why at the time .

The man at the beginning who was writing a biography ... was he fictitious ?

The Long Shadow, currently halfway through being shown on ITV / available on ITVX, is much more focused on the victims than it is on Peter Sutcliffe.

The man at the beginning who was writing a biography ... was he fictitious ?

No, he’s Dan Davies - a real writer who wrote the book (In Plain Sight; The Life and Lies of Jimmy Savile) which The Reckoning is based on.

I get the feeling that anyone who tried to say anything (the nurse who married the ex army friend) were swiftly won over in the end but also Savile bullied them.

As @Motnight says people did know but didn’t care. The woman at the BBC who worked with Bill Cotton, she was repeatedly shut down. And it was all very much scratch your back you scratch mine with eg Thatcher.

There were so many similarities between Savile’s case and another recently in the public eye. I just hope that this person doesn’t get away with it.

I know Steve Coogan isn't very popular but I thought he was great in the movie Philomena, he also co wrote the screenplay. It was based on a book.
It helped open people's eyes (to a wider audience) to what happened in Mother and Baby Homes in Ireland.

He might be unpopular on Mumsnet but not what I get in real life. Then again I'm a big fan of his serious acting & comedy. I saw Alan Partridge live last year.

I'm interested in the relationship with his mother. Apart from the bit where she was confessing her doubts and dislike to the priest, I see similarities with my ex and his mother. She treated him badly much of the time but he idolised her, especially after her death.

Said ex said at the time of JS's death that he was hard done by because he didn't have a chance to defend himself in court and the victims were only 'coming out of the woodwork' because they wanted fame and money. Arsehole.

It was clever how they switched to and from the 'present' with the interviewer and the past of his life.
Very much a case of now/then now/then now/then.

Can anyone tell me, in episode two the agent comes to his van and says Bill wants to see them. The agent looks at something in the van and I can't tell what it is. Does anyone know?

I don't think it's his agent actually, I think it's one of the producers of top of the pops.

That is a really really clever point about now then, now then.

It's absolutely disgraceful that he was allowed to wear a white doctor's coat while he was working in Leeds. How come nobody stopped that?