BBC bosses have denied a long-awaited Jimmy Savile drama is a ‘face-saving exercise’, after it emerged the series does not dramatise the shelved Newsnight probe into the paedophile presenter.
The four episodes of The Reckoning, which feature Steve Coogan as the disgraced star, portray events up until Savile’s death in October 2011.
But it does not dramatise the massive fall-out at the BBC over the way bosses buried a Newsnight investigation into the star launched shortly after his death.
Despite gathering evidence that Savile had a history of abusing young women, the broadcast was pulled from schedules in December 2011. The aftermath sparked a series of tumultuous events at the corporation, which saw the then editor of Newsnight step aside after it emerged his programme had been aware of sexual abuse claims about Savile.
Seedy: Steve Coogan as Jimmy Savile in the BBC four-part drama which portrays events until his death in October 2011
BBC bosses have denied a long-awaited Jimmy Savile drama is a ‘face-saving exercise’, after it emerged the series does not dramatise the shelved Newsnight probe into the paedophile presenter
Programme bosses, appearing at a press screening ahead of Monday’s opening episode, were last night forced to deny the show sought to cover up the BBC’s actions after Savile’s death.
Executive producer Jeff Pope claimed the series had ‘dealt with what happened after his death’ and did not ‘ignore the fact that the BBC dropped Newsnight and put out a glowing tribute instead’. Mr Pope added that he did not think viewers would think ‘the BBC comes out of this smelling of roses’.
Coogan, best known for his role as spoof TV presenter Alan Partridge, said suggestions the series was a ‘face-saving exercise by the BBC’ were ‘not true’. He added: ‘There’s no agenda other than telling this story.’
The dropped probe is briefly acknowledged at the end of the final episode, with a caption explaining the BBC ‘broadcast a tribute’ to Savile in November 2011, adding that a month later bosses ‘shelved a Newsnight investigation that would have included interviews with some of Savile’s victims’.
The BBC aired a special tribute on November 11, with Chris Evans leading a host of stars in paying tribute. At the time, Newsnight journalists were investigating abuse allegations against Savile. After the investigation was pulled, the programme was aired again, on December 28, along with a special episode of Fix It with Shane Richie on Boxing Day.
Despite gathering evidence that Savile had a history of abusing young women, the broadcast was pulled from schedules in December 2011
Meirion Jones, who led the dropped investigation, said: ‘I still don’t think they have dealt with the problem and really confronted how they covered up for Savile, and again when the Newsnight investigation was dropped.
‘What I am hearing from people in the BBC is that they still don’t deal with the problem today.’ The BBC’s chief content officer Charlotte Moore said ‘no-one’ involved in the show was ‘shying away from those moments when something could have been done’ to stop Savile.
And she also admitted she could not completely rule out these type of offences happening again at the BBC. ‘I don’t really believe that any process will safeguard you from [any] of this happening again,’ she said, saying ‘a safe place to talk’ was ‘the best hope we have’.
Last night, Tory MP Bill Cash said the BBC ‘have no business simply making a reference to what happened’ on Newsnight, adding that including ‘their own failures’ was the only way of giving an ‘honest account’. Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith said the series should show ‘a whole new generation how awful it was’, by fully telling ‘the true story’.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
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