The Reckoning (Jimmy Savile) - BBC iPlayer

glenimp617

glenimp617

glenimp617

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I know we already have a Jimmy Savile thread in GD, but I think this one should be ok as it's dedicated to the documentary itself.

Watched the first two episodes last night. Not sure the word 'enjoyed' is best suited for something like this.

Mods, delete if you feel this should be all contained within the other thread.
 
Littlenose said:
What did you think? Was it a good production, or just sensationalism?
I think it must be hard for an actor taking on a role like that.. brave man Steve Coogan
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I thought he did a great job, but was worried if it was a bit career suicide. Don't think it will be. You'll not be watching alan partridge thinking of jimmy savile.

Thought it was filmed well, but got the feeling right at the start that the BBC was making a point about him misleading the country rather than themselves in paticular. Even though I think it was ITV who made the production.

Obviously have lots of other thoughts, but might be best placed in the other thread.
 
We watched the first episode last night, and I'm already creeped out.

Coogan was excellent on the whole, but I have to admit that on one or two occasions in not so dark moments that I'd still see some Partridge in there.
I wonder if there was any influence/mannerisms that Coogan took from Saville to use in Partridge from way back when?
 
Coogans performance is exceptional, but I never doubted it would be. He's got the acting chops for pretty much anything these days.

With regards the tone of the series, I'm still not sure.

I get why some people seem to think the BBC had omitted many of the victim reports in the series and not that this makes it any better, but it was only a small amount of offences that actually took place at the beeb, so can understand why much of the focus was around Leeds general etc.
But I still thinks it's a little too on the nose for the BBC to have published. As tactful as I thought the show was I think it should have been published elsewhere.

Can't say I enjoyed it, but the performances and direction all round was phenomenal.
 
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He was good in Philomena too.

Most 'comic' actors can do drama. Not all dramatic actors can do comedy.

Can't really stomach anymore than one a night as it's a bit grim. The bit with the disabled girl in episode 2 was really awful even though you don't really see anything.

We tend to watch something light after, to cleanse the pallet.
 
Just finished it myself. Fascinating. Steve Coogan nails the accent. Growing up with Jimmy on the box, I still find it hard to believe he was such a monster. And the dead body stuff... chilling.
 
Watched it all on iplayer the other night and as sad and horrible as it was at what SaVILE did, Steve Coogab was brilliant. It is just sad it all has to get dragged up again for the families and victims involved.
 
Hadn't realised the whole series was available already, as I looked at the Wiki page and it said it was still airing.

Anyway, just caught the 1st episode on iPlayer. I think this is one of the heaviest programmes I've ever seen. Coogan does a fantastic job portraying Saville, and I'm sure there are dramatic liberties throughout, but the fact that it's based on reality is just sickening to a degree that I don't think I've ever felt watching something before. I agree with an earlier post that I don't think I can stomach more than an episode at a time.
 
I’ve watched this over the last week and I’m trying to work out what the point of it was.

It doesn’t show anything we didn’t already know. There’s no ‘reckoning’. It’s hardly an entertaining subject. It was well done but I still don’t really know why it was made.
 
It depends how well versed you were with all his crimes.

My wife had no idea about a lot of the details, like the mortuary stuff. I didn't realise it went on well in to his old age.
 
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Was the Indian girl committing suicide legit or made up for the series? The note saying a 'DJ' instead of naming him makes me think it was made up for the series, as it does say some scenes created for dramatic purposes.
 
Gerard said:
Was the Indian girl committing suicide legit or made up for the series? The note saying a 'DJ' instead of naming him makes me think it was made up for the series, as it does say some scenes created for dramatic purposes.
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Unconfirmed it was Jimmy and she wasn't asian

www.telegraph.co.uk

Jimmy Savile and The Reckoning: what really happened, and what the BBC made up

Did he meet Elvis? How much did his mother know? And did he die with his fingers crossed? Fact-checking the BBC drama’s most shocking scenes
www.telegraph.co.uk www.telegraph.co.uk

Did a 15 year old commit suicide after Savile molested her?​

In 1971, Claire McAlpine, who was then aged 15, killed herself through an overdose, leaving behind a diary suggesting that she had had sex with two DJs, and that whether or not it had been consensual at the time, it still remained statutory rape because of her age. Although the abuse is depicted in heartbreaking and horrifying detail in The Reckoning, which leaves no doubt of its depiction of the perpetrator, it remains unclear whether or not Savile was one of these men. He was certainly questioned by the police around the time of her death, but said “I studied a photograph of Claire very closely. I cannot recollect ever seeing the girl in my life. They say she came from Watford. I don’t know anyone who lives in Watford.”

It is possible that the abuser could have been any of several Radio 1 DJs, including none other than the sainted John Peel, a man whose notorious “schoolgirl of the year” contest is alluded to in the show; Peel did himself few favours in the 1980s when he said in an interview, of his teenaged fans: “All they wanted me to do was to abuse them sexually which, of course I was only too happy to do.”
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I watched the first episode just to see Steve Coogan's performance (which was excellent) and ended up watching all of it in one go. I came away slightly disappointed though without being sure why.

I think I was hoping for some type of insight into the man that we haven't seen before, but it wasn't there - he clearly hid his real character very effectively (and the programme says as much).

Those moments where he was with a victim though and we saw him turn were bone chilling.
 
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