BBC defends new drama about Jimmy Savile after backlash

BBC defends new drama about Jimmy Saville after backlash

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The BBC has defended its upcoming drama about Jimmy Savile after a fierce backlash. Lead actor, Steve Coogan, says he did not take the role lightly.

The license-funded BBC said it is “working closely with many people whose lives were impacted by Savile to ensure their stories are told with sensitivity and respect, and the drama will also draw on extensive and wide-ranging research sources. It will examine the impact his appalling crimes had on his victims and the powerlessness many felt when they tried to raise the alarm”.

The Reckoning, which social media users slammed as “an insult to victims” will go ahead despite the backlash and the BBC’s role in promoting Savile throughout the 1970s and 1980s..

Executive Producer, ITV Studios, Jeff Pope said: “The purpose of this drama is to explore how Savile’s offending went unchecked for so long, and in shining a light on this, to ensure such crimes never happen again. Steve Coogan has a unique ability to inhabit complex characters and will approach this role with the greatest care and integrity.”

Steve Coogan added that he had considered the backlash: “To play Jimmy Savile was not a decision I took lightly. Neil McKay has written an intelligent script tackling sensitively an horrific story which – however harrowing – needs to be told.”


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Deirdre Tynan

Deirdre Tynan is an award-winning journalist who enjoys bringing the best in news reporting to Spain’s largest English-language newspaper, Euro Weekly News. She has previously worked at The Mirror, Ireland on Sunday and for news agencies, media outlets and international organisations in America, Europe and Asia. A huge fan of British politics and newspapers, Deirdre is equally fascinated by the political scene in Madrid and Sevilla. She moved to Spain in 2018 and is based in Jaen.

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