User reviews

In the course of his life he became one of the most celebrated radio and television personalities in Britain, and used his extensive charity work to place himself at the very heart of the most important institutions in our society.

This drama examines how he was able to hide in plain sight, using his position to commit countless serious sexual offences, many against minors, and how the voices of so many were ignored and silenced.

Steve Coogan is excellent as Jimmy Saville and has his mannerisms and inflections down, which is both impressive but also very unsettling. The dramatisation too is excellent and isn't shy of showing real footage which just cements its historical accuracy and importantly, the survivors get to speak out as they deliver their stories in a talking head style.

Many people loved Jimmy Savile, millions would tune in to watch him, he raised millions of pounds for charity, however, the man was genuinely monstrous, the list of his sickening crimes is obscene.

When this broke on the news, it was just shocking, he was a British institution, close to Government, The Royal family, hospitals etc, it was hard to contemplate, this case really did change things.

This is surely going to be divisive, and for many good reasons, there's something a little uncomfortable about the fact that The Beeb made this, considering the history.

However, opinions of the real life situation out of the way, this is an excellent drama, very well made, superbly acted and thought provoking.

Harrowing and hard to watch at times, it's really sickening, mercifully it's not too graphic, but what's shown and implied is diabolical enough.

Steve Coogan delivers a first class, award winning performance, he's got everything spot on, the visuals, the body language, the very strange behaviour, spot on, he's definitely faced something of a backlash. Mark Stanley, Gemma Jones, Fenella Woolgar and others are excellent in support.

Well worth watching.

9/10.

It's hard to find the words to describe how brave the survivors of this monster are and also hard to describe how brave Steve Coogan was to take this on but take it on he did. I'm slightly uneasy about this drama coming from the very corporation who enabled him and seeing the depth of suspicion about him behind closed doors makes it even more unpalatable to think he was allowed to get away with it for so long but that aside, the dramatisation is a hard but necessary watch. The interspersed real footage keeps the chills going and I found it hard to breathe sometimes watching these horrors unfold. My heart goes out to all of his victims alive or dead and to victims the world over who have or are suffering from monsters like him. Great cast all round but Steve Coogan deserves huge acclaim for this.

I watched this to understand why Jimmy Savile did what he did and to understand how he got away with it for almost 6 decades

To be clear, I never really understood what he did and so it was an education. Personally for me, it gave a better understanding of what Savile was like and he is vile monster!!

After watching it made me hate him. The man was vile, disgusting, disrespectful and he should have been stopped immediately when he was first investigated in 1958

Due to no one doing anything, for years and subsequent decades afterwards he caused so much pain and suffering due to the abuse he inflicted on his victims. Savile thought he was doing no wrong and was a little man with big ego as well as a liar - shame on him!

Savile should have been sent to prison and served a whole life sentence with no parole.

Steve Coogan was absolutely outstanding in playing Savile and it was an incredible performance. The acting and performance throughout this mini series was exceptional and for that reason I scored it highly.

Coogan is amazing as Savile, and I often thought I was watching the show on Netflix. He steals the show from start to finish with his portrayal and offers no excuses for JS's predatory behaviour.

The supporting cast is brilliant, with Gemma Jones playing his mother. She clearly knows that her son is different and in one scene states that 'he's old enough to be their father.'. However, she is dragged into JS's web of deceit and lies.

Hiding in plain sight is an excuse. People knew, particularly at the BBC. In one scene we are shown a picture of JS with his hand on the bottom of a young lady who he later abuses. People knew what was going and did nothing to stop the abuse.

Why is it horrific? The abuse scenes are never shown, and this is implied. However, it is the eye witness accounts which are so painful to watch. These poor people were never heard and will never get the justice they deserve. It is sickening to think that this man has an OBE and was allowed to get away with the most heinous of crimes. In fact, organisations like the BBC allowed a steady stream of young ladies to be groomed, abused, and have their lives ruined by a sadistic, vile, and truly devil of a man.

Coogan nails his interpretation of this man, but it is certainly not an easy watch.

The Reckoning. BBC 2023 docu drama on the life of Jimmy Savile. Steve Coogan plays Saville over a 40+ years and he is frighteningly real. His recreation is stomach turning and he gets the mannerisms perfectly. The main point of the drama is to highlight how Savile was able to get away with years of sexual abuse under the noses of the establishment? Because he made friends with various establishment figures who covered for him and protected him. That element of the story will never be known. He had friends in very high places. Mrs Thatcher, Prince Charles/ Prince Philip. If they didn't know what he was getting up to I'd be very surprised. Guilt by association.

The bravery of all the survivors of his abuse can not be praised enough, credit to the writers and producers of the series, although he is utterly repulsive at the same time it is utterly compelling. 8/10 although I'd never want to watch it again Coogan is stunning.

Growing up in 70s every kids will have their own thoughts and stories of Saville. Mine is seeing Saville and Peter Jaconelli parade down the sea front at Scarborough as if they owned it. Jaconelli in his mayor's chain and Saville in a gold track suit.

Their bling glistening and rattling as they walked by. Not a very exciting story but even then in the mid 90s their celebrity status gave them a certain kudos even though they look outlandish and just weird. Ps nice mention of Green Tambourine by the Lemon Pipers pop fans.

One definition of "reckoning" reads "the avenging or punishing of past mistakes or misdeeds", which is putting it mildly where Jimmy Savile was concerned and yet still I think the title to this new four-part BBC dramatisation could have been more explicit. I could even perhaps stretch a point and go onto describe the choice of title and aspects of the programme itself as symptomatic of the BBC's either inexplicable ignorance or, more likely concealed knowledge and tacit acceptance of the coal-dark side of this perverted, evil man who'd yet consorted with royalty, the Pope and the Prime Minister of the day and who on his death, received what amounted to almost a state funeral in his home town.

Yes, each episode begins and ends with the heartbreaking recollections of past victims still carrying the scars of Savile's violations from years ago and thankfully there are no on-screen reproductions of his vile acts on his numerous victims and yet there's still little real explanation offered as to how he was tolerated as one of the corporation's prime stars for almost thirty years before his career tailed off with his entry into old age. Similar to his apparently untouchable positions at the places where he ostensibly volunteered his help, like Broadmoor Prison and the hospitals in Stoke and his hometown of Leeds, he seemed invulnerable to any imputations against his conduct, given his fame, public profile, friends in high places and his wealth in employing expensive solicitors to "make go away" any threat to his "national treasure" status. All those people who made all those TV and radio shows with him at the centre of them - and none of them knew...?

This series told his story from back to front, from the point of view of an aged Savile, obviously in denial, looking back on his life and times, (but not crimes) with a would-be biographer apparently determined to seek a confession and some contrition but who is beaten to this by Savile's timely dearh.

His history commences with his time as a ruthless and even then predatory ballroom-owner in the early 60's before he got the gig which would project him to national stardom, presenting the hit music TV programme "Top Of The Pops", his public profile increasing even further in the 70's as he became the face of a national car-safety campaign ("Clunk-Click, every trip") and especially when he fronted the popular prime-time BBC show aimed at young children "Jim'll Fix It".

Steve Coogan is brilliant in his portrayal of this creepy, depraved man, a mummy's boy to a mother who had no love for him, friends only with other perverts and according to what we see here, tortured by his Catholicism.

With brooding music following his almost every step, the programme includes in each episode direct references to his terrible acts. This is of course as it should be but I felt that as a true-life drama, I found many of the scenes the producers state are invented for dramatic purposes to be far too expository and presumptive, none more so than when we see Savile in the act of confession to his local priest, deflecting his own sinful attributions to a third party "mate". I was also curious to see several scenes between Savile and an actress playing Margaret Thatcher and yet none with anyone portraying the then Prince now King Charles. And why this continuing and unnecessary wokism, changing the representation of a real-life victim to a person of colour. I personally find this disrespectful to the memory of the actual person concerned.

The latest in a long line of recent TV dramas dramatising infamous true-life crimes and their perpetrators, I must admit I found this one to be less convincing and cohesive, unlike others I've seen. That may in some way go back to Savile's ability to avoid prosecution while he lived requiring more than usual invention here by the writers but I still felt this series could and maybe should have been harder-hitting in its treatment of this admittedly difficult subject matter.

A great performance on a very tricky subject and let's face it a godawful man. Coogan takes you back to that era in a seamless performance, certainly worthy of a TV Bafta . Really enjoyed this drama on what is such a vile not just television but also that particular historical period for many a reason. The entire cast deserves much credit, and playing their part in backing the incredible performance of Steve Coogan, who once again showed his versatility when playing such characters, please also seek out his other excellent performances, Laurel and Hardy and Philomena. Finally, a very Well done to all the brave victims who Accounts, helped make this such compelling viewing.

Have just started watching the 1st episode and I feel so uneasy at the obvious predatory nature of the man that nobody called him on in his lifetime.

Must admit that I never liked him in "jim'll fix it" or on "top if the pops" so obviously am looking for a reason for my feelings.

That being said Steve Coogan does a good job with such a subject, people say its Alan Partridge with a blonde wig but missing the point that the Alan Partridge persona was based I believe on a number of DJ's that were around in 60's.

I also can't believe that BBC who ignored his behaviour is now prepared to profit off of the misery he cause.

Coogan truly shines. One of the greatest dramatic performances on British TV this decade so far. Maybe the finest, certainly the most unsettlingly authentic. As a lifelong fan of his comedy work, I must say - this is by far his finest dramatic turn. He's previously had a propensity for being a little hammy in non-funnies in the past, but he's absolutely nailing it here. A true revelation - I hope this is the beginning of, to paraphrase his Tony Wilson - 'his second act'.

The script, on the other hand - pee-yoo! Heavy handed is an understatement, and I don't mean with regards to the harrowing realities of what Saville was able to get away with. The dialogue from supporting players is frequently so clunky and jarringly inorganic, it's as if you've suddenly been sucked into a school play.

'Wow! You're Jimmy Saville! We saw you last night, you had the audience in the palm of hand! You're the talk of Leeds!'

Absolute rubbish. Who talks like that outside of Amateur dramatics? Just corny & borderline pathetically lazy writing for something trying to illustrate a seminal, historic and realistic point. Maybe try switching up your in-house writers? Because on this evidence, we are sorely lagging badly behind the states.

And finally - shame on the BBC. They are the last media organisation on earth who should've been allowed to make a drama which, by any rational perspective, ought to be shining a blinding light on their own inner-workings as much as Saville.

There's a major household name comic/actor, still living, of a similar generation and profile to Jimmy, who by many accounts has committed a similar level of appalling sexual crimes (who I can't name here) and is still revered & promoted actively by the Beeb - and I can guarantee they know, and that none of this will come out until after he's died. They haven't learned a thing. They haven't changed a thing. And on this evidence - they're never going to.

Coogan is so good, it pushes this to a 7. Definitely worth a watch for that alone - but don't watch it on iPlayer. I didn't.

An extraordinary performance by Coogan, proper sinister. Also, he is uncannily authentic as the public Savile, could almost have been the monster. It must have been a tough, tough part for Coogan to play but, as he said himself, the story needed telling.

It's quite extraordinary how Savile created and sustained such a career. I was a child in the 60's and a teenager in the 70's and always, always found the man to be creepy and disturbing. I just don't get how EVERYONE couldn't see it.

Huge credit must be given to the courageous victims who appeared in person. That cannot have been easy. Here's hoping their brave contributions helped them at least a little.

Jimmy Savile was a severely mentally ill psychopathic megalomaniac. Which is why he fitted in so well with Prime Ministers, Popes, Royalty and in general the establishment. He didn't have to groom those in power. He was a sadistic lunatic, one of the gang. Let's be grateful that he wasn't educated in the public school system and given real power.

"The investigator who revealed Jimmy Savile's prolific paedophilia has said that he is working - and has been for some time - on exposing one other well-known living child sex offender.

Mark Williams-Thomas, the former police detective-turned-TV journalist who exposed Savile, claimed that the other individual has so far evaded justice because he is 'untouchable'.

To date the CPS won't prosecute. The police and I have tried really hard to get there. He will die in due course and then the floodgates will open in the same way they did with Savile. That's not right. But justice takes many different forms."

Reviewing the acting in The Reckoning is easy - Steve Coogan is excellent. But reviewing the presentation of the subject matter is not so straightforward.

As someone born in the 60's, I grew up in what might be called, "The Savile Era" and have always been slightly irritated by the notion that Savile was somehow hiding in plain sight and that what happened was another manifestation of 'The Emperor's New Clothes' when, in actual fact, pretty much everyone that I grew up with considered him a weirdo many, many years before anything appeared in the newspapers. There were, in fact, kids up and down the land who were pointing and making fun of him on a daily basis right from the get-go. If anyone was starstruck by Savile, and is mainly to blame, it is the adults and not the children.

I have not read the book by Dan Davies, but assume that it must cover a lot more than was shown in this docudrama. To be honest, I was expecting more disclosures in this series than I already knew, but there didn't seem to be anything else to add.

There is no mention at all on his relationship with his father, and you'd be forgiven for thinking that Savile was an only child as his six older siblings are suspicious by their absence and barely get a mention - did they really all abandon their mother?

The BBC's/ITV's completely unnecessary decision to change the real suicide of (Samantha) Claire McAlpine into the story of an entirely fictional British Asian girl called Sara is not only disrespectful, but utterly unforgiveable. As a viewer, you know that the bar has been set pretty low when the writers have to resort to inventing conversations that took place in a church confessional.

Savile himself reveals nothing, despite the claims made in the final episode that he was going to - and then he died (see review by DC1977 for the veracity of this claim).

Savile comes across not as some mastermind groomer but as a chancer: a pathetic, hapless groper with a sense of misguided entitlement. There were lots like him around in the 70's & 80's and, I'm sure, there still are today.

A strange, creepy, evil man who exploited his celebrity status on vulnerable young people, but though he may have pulled the wool over the eyes of The Establishment, there were plenty of us (like Beryl Hullighan) who made up our minds about him very early on.

We thought he was a weirdo, and we were right.

Another excellent series from the BBC, surprising as they were complicit in the coverup.

Jimmy Savile was a vile predator, who successfully hid behind a perfectly crafted façade of television personality and fund raiser, it is unbelievable that he fooled so many people, including the BBC, politicians, police and royalty, which shows so many of these people were unbelievably naive.

It should also be remembered that his sidekick in the beginning was Ray Teret, a convicted abuser, probably easily led by Savile, who eventually was imprisoned and died there.

Steve Coogan played such a brilliant and convincing part, the voice detail was really amazing.

Overall, a harrowing series, but one that needs to be watched, why Savile was not stripped of his honors, shows how much he was integrated with the establishment.

When I was 11 I sent Jimmy Saville a letter asking him to fix it for me to go to Disneyland. Thank God he never "fixed it for me". The monstrosity of this man is almost too unsettling to put on film. This drama series does not gloss it over or paint Saville as nothing more than an evil predator. Most scenes are very darkly framed, there is very little colors, everything is muted as if the devil himself could aquatint many of the seedy back rooms Saville used to pray on innocents.

The BBC produced this series, but also covered up what a brute Saville was for the sake of money. So this is basically the BBCs penance for the grave injustice they turned a blind eye to.

Steve Coogan gives one of the most incredible performances I've ever seen, from the first frame with Coogan the viewer is left with no doubt about what a total scumbag he was. This must have been a very difficult role for Coogan to play, I commend him for painting the canvas as things where. This is a long way from Alan Partridge and Coogan does not indstill any humourous into his performance at all.

Finally my prayers go out to all his victims who never saw this moster brought to justice. May he rot in hell.

The Reckoning is as serious as drama gets. It examines the culture that allowed Jimmy Saville to get away with so much depravity - depressing, but relevant.

An un-sceptical public believed the guy they saw on television was great. Ambitious careerists turned a blind eye, if they had eyes - as ratings rocketed, so did their careers. Countless vulnerable victims knew nobody would want to believe them.

Saville wasn't a one off. Other powerful predators have been exposed since. Same story, different predator. The Reckoning is universal.

Saville dodged justice the hard way in 2011 and ITV broadcast an expose the following year. Why the BBC waited until a decade had passed to make this drama is anyone's guess.

Steve Coogan really does a polished job of portraying a tedious character. His Saville is irksome. You want to punch him in the face.

If The Reckoning was fiction, nobody would believe it or want to watch it. A fictional Jimmy Saville would have been an implausible predator - getting away with so much witnessed by so many. Maybe that implausibility is partly what gave him opportunities? Truth is stranger and nastier than fiction.

The take away from all of this is don't believe what's on TV. Don't believe anyone's charisma.

4 part docu/drama on the life and crimes of one Jimmy Savile - the notorious British DJ, TV 'n radio presenter, showbiz personality, charity fund raiser supremo and serial paedophile with hundreds of victims spanning over half a century.

Steve Coogan plays the title role of Savile and is utterly brilliant - if that's the right word - in capturing the normality juxtaposed with the utter horror of a man who, for a long time, fooled a nation and manipulated those in positions of authority into turning a blind eye to his crimes. Within a few minutes of viewing this you are watching Savile and not Coogan playing Savile.

It's a tough watch I have to say and one wonders what quite was the purpose in bringing this back to screen? That said it makes for compelling viewing but not something I'd ever want to watch again. The various interviews with a handful of Savile's victims in each episode are heartbreaking...

This is the dramatization of a true story about an evil UK DJ turned "tv star" who used his fame to get away with hideous crimes.

As he became famous, he was able to use that fame as a cover to commit crimes against mainly children.

The film is in 4 parts and has snippets of interviews with brave actual victims as well as showing real-life excerpts from the various activities this criminal did during his life.

The lead actor gives a show stopping performance revealing what a repulsive person is like behind the camouflage.

Not only during his later years the DJ was treated as a VIP by the media and the public; royalty gave him top honors and after he died his funeral was as if he was a Monarch.

Fooling most of the people all of the time

Dear oh dear!

To me what this movie reveals is that not only in the UK but around the world we are guilty of allowing celebrity status to mask and excuse some awful individuals:

7/10.

This drama, prior to its release, had received a fair amount of negative feeling, many commenting it should never have been made, and let the past stay in the past. Many said they found it hypocritical of the BBC to be producing this when, some say, they "enabled" Saville . This was.in fact a BBC partnership with ITV Studios.

We all know the horrific story. This is told very much through the eyes of some of his victims. It's a story that needs to be told again and again, so that such crimes will never happen again.

Steve Coogan.is chillingly brilliant as Saville. Sometimes I thought i was watching the real thing, which is testimony to the powerful performance Coogan gives.

This is a bleak 4 hours of viewing . It is very upsetting. But it has been tastefully done. It's not a drama to be "enjoyed" but to learn lessons from.

I always say if only we could see behind people's eyes, what is going on. Yes was the Devil who was the Demon F Maggie Thatcher at least she died 4 months after the truth come out about him. She went to her death knowing she made that Monster a Sir. So why have the BBC made this? To cleanse their own dirt? Or maybe because they want to keep the licence fee and feel if we show ourselves now to be decent hardworking honest people then the public will be less against us keeping the licence?

This is a hard watch a very hard watch, and what's makes it worse how he used religion as a defence against his actions. And that must hurt people of faith a lot more then people who have no faith?

Why did him upstairs the Boss as Jimmy called him, let this monster survive?

Want to watch a really well done drama with a compelling lead villain? I thoroughly recommend this. Coogan's portrayal is excellent.

Want to see Savile's reckoning, as promised by the title? Sorry, product is unavailable. In this life, at least.

Want to see the BBC cherry-picking it's culpability so it can't be accused of avoiding responsibility? Step right in, sir!

Want to try and understand Savile? Watch a documentary on him, by a neutral party.

I'm not sure what the point of this series is, but the BBC freely chose to make it so you can be sure it's self serving. Very entertaining, offers nothing else.

Steve Coogan is exceptional in his portrayal , a wonderful talented actor, one of the best this country has seen ,The production was delicately done and I applaud that . A difficult issue to deal with was dealt with extremely well with the support from some of the victims, the story was not given any Hollywood gloss thank goodness , and was shown as near to real life as possible,As a nation we were all groomed by this despicable human being , some more than others and if we can learn something from this production maybe we will not have the same situation again , Steve Coogan , I take my hat off to you , you deserve a knighthood.

Claire McAlpine was a fifteen year old girl who committed suicide. It was later discovered that she had recorded in her diaries that she had experienced sexual encounters with two DJs (Though neither were specifically named).

Surely it goes without saying that this girl deserves to have her story told, and told truthfully.

Not content with their part in enabling the abuse that Savile was regularly dishing out, they add insult to injury by appropriating this girl's tragic story and using her to further push their own ideology - While of course forcing the licence payer to fund it.

The fact is, Claire McAlpine was a white girl with blonde hair. She was not Asian and she did not have dark skin.

The BBC apparently deem the telling of HER story and representing who SHE really was, to be less important than their own obsession with pushing diversity.

This is no reflection on Tia Dutt who performed admirably and bravely, and the acting overall is superb, particularly that of Coogan. Fenella Woolgar as Margaret Thatcher too is excellent.

But Claire McAlpine was a real person. She was not a fictional Disney character. It is inexcusable that she should be portrayed as something she was not.

If indeed Savile did abuse Asian children, they too deserve to have their stories told, and portrayed accurately.

Unfortunately the BBC is less interested in telling us how things really were, and more concerned with their arrogant and sanctimonious need to tell us how they think things should have been - Hypocritical, considering that they were part of the reason they were how they really were.

Firstly, immense respect to Saville's victims who were so brave in facing the camera.

Steve Coogan was good, I've always said he looks and sounds like Saville so the casting was a no brainer I would imagine. It was well acted and directed throughout and that's why I give it a high rating.

I was bought up with Saville on our TV's and even wrote to Jim'll Fix It once, thank goodness I didn't get "chosen".

I knew that this would be challenging to watch but as the episodes progressed I became more uncomfortable and uneasy with the content.

The scene with the little boy Kevin, although it wasn't explicit in any way, I found really stuck in my mind and I can't "un-see" it unfortunately. Absolutely abhorrent on a scale not even high enough to rate.

How Saville was allowed to persist in his evil ways with all the warning signs and red flags is totally unbelievable.

As with wars, sadly the human race appears to learn nothing from history as they still go on, and I've no doubt that this is going on even now with people turning blind eyes and enabling.

After watching it I just felt depressed, I didn't feel enlightened, that justice has been or will be served on people like Saville.

It's simply his story, end of.

I wouldn't recommend watching it, we all know the evil he committed, it's rather pointless reminding us.