BBC blasted by Tory MPs for ‘capitalising’ on Jimmy Savile’s ‘sordid’ past

Jimmy Saville avoids questions by eating banana during interview

Jimmy Savile, the infamous now-dead children’s broadcaster who sexually abused dozens of victims, should not have been the subject of a drama by the BBC, Tory MPs have claimed.

The Corporation, which employed the infamous broadcaster, who presented shows like Jim’ll Fix It, have been accused of “capitalising” on the late presenter’s infamy while downplaying their own involvement in allegedly covering up his activities.

The show, starring Steve Coogan as Savile, is called The Reckoning and features interviews with four of his victims.

But it glosses over the Corporation’s involvement and why his activities did not fully come to life after his death in 2011.

Coogan himself has admitted that he had to think carefully about whether to play the role.

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GB News presenter and Shipley MP Philip Davies said that the BBC had no business cashing on Savile’s sordid activities.

He also questioned why the BBC downplayed its own role in the whole scandal.

Mr Davies told Express.co.uk: “It seems like a convenient selective memory about his sordid past and their involvement in it.

“If they want to cover him they should be much more up front about their failings in the scandal.”

Dudley North MP Marco Longhi was equally angry about the production.

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Mr Longhi said: “Jimmy Savile was at the forefront of television presenting for several years at a time when the BBC was the main channel in the country.

“This ‘documentary’ is something many people will see as a programme made by the BBC, for the BBC, through the licence fee of those who remain sickened at tacit acceptance of what so many in the BBC must have known was happening.

“In effect, the BBC is ‘judge and jury’ over its own very serious shortcomings – and all of this paid for via the licence fee – perversely capitalising on Savile’s notoriety.

“If this programme was to be made, it certainly should not have been the BBC that made it.”

The BBC has defended the production.

A BBC spokesperson said: “The focus of the drama has not shifted.

“We have always said that we’re working closely with many people whose lives were impacted by Savile, including survivors — four of whom also feature in the drama.”

Savile is now believed to have been a prolific child sex offender using his fame and influence as cover as well as his power at the BBC.

He was also accused of having intercourse with dead bodies and being given the key to hospitals to go where he wished in a litany of crimes which only became public after a full-scale inquiry was carried out.

Recently, Tory MP Lee Anderson raised the case of Savile when he controversially described the BBC as “a safe haven for perverts.”

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