The creators of Jimmy Savile drama The Reckoning have defended themselves against criticism that the show is too gentle on the BBC.
Witer Neil McKay, executive producer Jeff Pope and Charlotte Moore, chief content officer of the BBC, appeared on a panel alongside actor Steve Coogan, who plays Savile in the four-part BBC One series, on Thursday (5 October).
Savile was exposed as a paedophile in 2012, roughly one year after his death, with his decades-long history of child sexual abuse coming to light.
In The Reckoning, BBC executives are shown acknowledging the rumours about Savile’s crimes and continuing to further his career, but several reporters at the press screening claimed that the drama did not properly interrogate how those working behind-the-scenes at the BBC failed to act despite knowing about Savile’s behaviour.
Another criticism stemmed from the fact that the show does not thoroughly tackle the BBC’s much-derided decision to drop Newsnight’s report into Savile’s history of sexual abuse in favour of a positive documentary about the disgraced TV star’s life, titled How’s About That Then? in December 2021, less than two months after his death. Instead of covering the controversy, The Reckoning briefly mentions it in intertitles at the end.
In defence, McKay said that he believes this strand of the story “would be a separate drama” in its own right as “it wouldn’t have belonged in the piece that we’ve done, important though it is”.
Moore agreed with McKay, stating: “That’s another story to be told. It’s well documented what happened.”
She also defended the corporation’s depiction in the show, telling reporters: “I don’t think we shy away from the BBC’s part in this. I think it’s very clear that people who worked closely with him supported his promotion from one show to another [and] had warnings of rumours and people saying, ’I don’t think this is the right thing to do.’ We’re very clear about that.”
She continued: “And it’s very clear throughout, I think, that there were people saying we’re not sure this man should be given these roles, and yet we show that, despite that, he continues to be at the BBC going from Top of the Pops to Jim'll Fix It to a religious programme.”
Pope disagreed with the criticism, stating his belief that “we did deal” with the Newsnight debacle in “the right way”.
He said: “The whole purpose of the piece was, how did he do what he did? Why did we let him do it? We did deal with what happened after his death. But the whole point of the story is he dies without what he’d done being brought to light. That was the story we wanted to tell and how during those decades he’d done it and progressed and progressed and become knighted and friends with the prime minister and royalty.
Steve Coogan as Jimmy Savile in ‘The Reckoning’— (BBC/ITV Studios/Matt Squire)
“I felt we dealt with what happened after his death and we didn’t spare or ignore the fact that the BBC dropped Newsnight, and, put out a glowing tribute instead. We felt the way we dealt with it was the right way. I don’t think that anyone watching this would think, ‘Oh, the BBC come out of this smelling of roses.’ I do think that we hold the BBC to account.”
Pope added that, as the writers and producer’s “reputations were on the line” due to the sensitive nature of the drama,” very early it became clear to us that we weren’t gonna have anyone on our shoulder and that we were going to be free to make the film that we wanted to make”.
He continued: “All I can do is sit here and say, honestly, that there wasn’t any part of the process where we felt censored or put under pressure to make changes to go lighter on the BBC. We made exactly the story that we wanted to make and what the process was, what the BBC did, quite rightly, as any broadcaster would, is to challenge us and say, ‘OK, if you’re going to show that, why? Where’s the evidence for that?’ But that’s a normal part of the rigour of making these kinds of pieces.”
The Reckoning airs on the BBC One from Monday 9 October.
