We should maybe start by saying this new 2 part Netflix series: Jimmy Savile A British Horror Story is not in the same vein as the recent A Very British Scandal. The latter which we also reviewed was the fascinating tale of the stunning socialite Duchess of Argyll who have a very scandalous public divorce from the Duke. Whereas Savile’s story is of a publicity-seeking DJ/TV host who conned not just a whole nation but also the Queen and Pope into honoring him whilst it was discovered after his death that he was in fact the most prolific pedophile in the country’s history.
Savile, born in 1926, into a North England working-class family, started out working life like the rest of his village in the coal mines. That didn’t suit his extravert personality so he left and became a wrestler and a local DJ. His flair for eccentricity and flamboyance was noticed by the national broadcaster the BBC who hired him to present the very first edition of Top of the Pops in 1964 .
The success of the program catapulted Saville into lucrative radio work and his own prime-time TV Show called Jim’ll Fix It where he fulfilled the dreams of viewers. Now in the public eye, Saville, always a self-seeking publicity hound began a lifetime of fund-raising and supporting charities and hospitals. In particular, Stoke Mandeville Hospital which was also the National Spinal Injuries Centre, and Broadmoor Hospital the biggest high-security psychiatric hospital in the UK.
National media dubbed him as a “prodigious philanthropist” who not only raised millions of pounds for these institutions but also worked regular shifts at each of them as a voluntary worker. He ensured that none of these acts went unnoticed by not just the general public and the media but also by the several members of the Royal Family too. There is shocking archival footage in the documentary of Saville actually being lauded by Prince Charles, Princess Diana, and even the Duke of Edinburgh.
The most surprising Savile supporter was Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher who is not only seen heaping praise on him. but who had actively lobbied the Honours Committee on four different occasions to get Savile a knighthood. The Committee which researches and vets all nominations for national awards, including knighthoods, refused on the first three occasions on the grounds of rumors that Savile was far from the saint he portrayed himself. Thatcher persisted and eventually won when she presented her final list of nominees when she resigned as PM.
These rumors were not new at all although for some reason the media didn’t talk publicly about them or even pursue them. In April 2000, Savile was the subject of a TV documentary by Louis Theroux, in the When Louis Met… series, in which Theroux accompanied British celebrities going about their daily business and interviewed them about their lives and experiences. Theroux challenged Savile about rumors of pedophilia over a decade before, Savile said: “We live in a very funny world. And it’s easier for me, as a single man, to say ‘I don’t like children’, because that puts a lot of salacious tabloid people off the hunt.“
In 2007, Savile was interviewed by police investigating an allegation of indecent assault in the 1970s at the now-closed Duncroft Approved School for Girls near where he was a regular visitor. In October 2009 the Crown Prosecution Service advised there was insufficient evidence to take any further action and no charges were brought. In March 2008, Savile started legal proceedings against The Sun, which had linked him in several articles to child abuse at the Jersey children’s home Haut de la Garenne.
Initially, after his death in 2011, it looked Savile’s predatory activities may never be exposed even though the BBC’s Newsnight program began an investigation into reports that he was a sexual abuser. The interviewees’ alleged abuse at Duncroft approved school for girls in Staines, Stoke Mandeville Hospital, and they also discovered that Surrey Police had investigated allegations of abuse against Savile. The item was scheduled for broadcast on Newsnight on 7 December 2011 but was withdrawn before broadcast; instead over Christmas 2011, the BBC broadcast two tributes to Savile.
In fact, it wasn’t until almost a year after his death, that an ITV documentary examined claims of sexual abuse by Savile. It finally led to extensive media coverage and a substantial and rapidly growing body of witness statements and sexual abuse claims, including accusations against public bodies for covering up or failure of duty. Scotland Yard launched a criminal investigation into allegations of child sex abuse by Savile spanning six decades, describing him as a “predatory sex offender”, and later stated that they were pursuing more than 400 lines of inquiry based on the testimony of 300 potential victims via 14 police forces across the UK.
By late October 2012, the scandal had grown to such a proportion that it resulted in inquiries or reviews at the BBC, within the National Health Service, the Crown Prosecution Service, and the Department of Health. In June 2014, investigations into Savile’s activities at 28 NHS hospitals, including Leeds General Infirmary and Broadmoor psychiatric hospital, concluded that he had sexually assaulted staff and patients aged between 5 and 75 over several decades.
This may be a very British scandal but the sad thing is it could happen in so many other places in the world. Celebrity worship on any level is an open invitation to allow anyone in the limelight to believe that they are above society’s ethics and morals, and the law of the land too. Savile’s story is particularly disturbing because his victims in hospitals and approved homes were physically unable to resist or fight back. This story will make you sick to your stomach, but we hope that exposing this vile behaviour will result in greater awareness and vigilance in the future so we have no more Saviles.
Labels: 2022, documentary, Jimmy Savile, pedophile, vile
