Does The Reckoning let BBC bosses off the hook?

Does The Reckoning let BBC bosses off the hook? Experts say hit Jimmy Savile drama’s fictitious scenes including moment DJ is grilled over suicide of girl, 15, ignore reality that execs ‘knew what was going on’

The Reckoning starring Steve Coogan makes the BBC look tough on Jimmy Savile when it was an open secret amongst bosses that he was abusing children, experts claimed today.

Mark Williams-Thomas, the former police detective-turned-TV journalist who exposed the paedophile broadcaster, told MailOnline the four-part drama series fails to always make clear that the ‘BBC management knew and did not take action’.

Former Newsnight journalist Meirion Jones, whose attempts to reveal Savile’s abuse in his lifetime was blocked by his own bosses, has also said BBC executives ‘knew damn well’ what he was doing – even though some scenes in The Reckoning suggested otherwise.

In episode two, Savile is confronted with evidence that he had groped a young girl who later killed herself. 

In an intense grilling by a BBC lawyer, the Top of the Pops host is asked if he had sex with children. Steve Coogan’s Savile replies: ‘You need to have a think about who it is you are talking to. I’m a bachelor, I don’t deny it, and I have got an eye for a pretty lady. But underage girls?’ He added: ‘That is not to say that I don’t think it’s quite right that the BBC has asked you to establish the truth’.

But experts told MailOnline today that it was inaccurate and claimed it was too generous to the BBC. It is also known that Savile was never grilled about the suicide case – and had refused to co-operate with any BBC inquiries.

Mark Williams-Thomas told MailOnline: ‘If the programme did it properly then it would have shown the point of view from the BBC, victims, establishments and we could have seen what was known. But of course they were never going to do that on a BBC commissioned show, because they would have shown BBC management knew and did not take action’.

Steve Coogan as Jimmy Savile being grilled by a BBC lawyer over claims he abused children. Experts have said the scene is inaccurate and falsely paints the corporation in a positive light

In The Reckoning Savile is confronted with evidence that he groped a girl on set – but he denied it

Experts say that in fact, in real life, Savile admitted having children at his home but BBC bosses ignored this because he was a ratings hit

Savile was spoken to in the early 1970s by a BBC lawyer working for Brian Neill QC. But this was not related to the death of Claire McAlpine.

An account from a BBC source familiar with the interview said Savile refused to cooperate and instead ‘ridiculed’ the solicitor James Crocker.

Mr Williams-Thomas said: ‘The inquiry by Brian Neill for the BBC was very much focused on Payola scandal – and not child sexual abuse or Claire’s death. Claire’s death has never had a review or been properly investigated by the BBC. The inquiry by Neill was poor and mainly because he was given very little access to information. The programme makes no mention of Payola and Savile likely did in the interview with Neill like he did with Surrey police and controlled the interview. BBC have never released the full Neill report’.

Former Newsnight journalist Meirion Jones has said:  ‘Very senior people in the BBC knew damn well what was going on with Savile. They didn’t think at all about the girls. What they did think about was the 20million ratings on a Saturday night’

In Plain Sight: The Life and Lies of Jimmy Savile By Dan Davies, who is portrayed in The Reckoning, said Savile had ‘mocked’ his interviewer, who complained but was dismissed by bosses.

Meirion Jones also spoke about the series to The News Agents podcast, presented by former colleagues Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel.

He said: ‘I think senior figures knew from 1973 to 2010/2011. In 1973, the head of radio, Sir Ian Trethowan, who then become director general, is notified of concerns about Savile.

They do two lines of investigation. They send the chief press officer to the tabloids to say: Are you going to run a story saying Savile has been abusing kids in his mobile home. They say they  are not.

‘The other allegation is more seriously sourced because they pull him in, that he is regularly having underage kids coming around his flat in London. Plainly whatever evidence they had was too strong for him to deny it, so he says yes that does happen but that the reason is to protect them from dirty old men on the streets of London if they were left out there. He says they sleep in a separate room – it’s a one room bedsit. They are again worried it is going to come out in the papers. He assures them it is not and nothing untoward is going on.

‘They don’t even say to him: “Stop having underage girls at your apartment overnight” They just say: ‘What can you do’

‘Very senior people in the BBC knew damn well what was going on with Savile. The worry was it would come out in the papers. They didn’t think at all about the girls. What they did think about was the 20million ratings on a Saturday night’.

Investigator Mark Williams-Thomas exposed Savile’s crimes in an ITV documentary on the DJ. He says The Reckoning was not done properly

The four episodes of The Reckoning portray events up until Savile’s death in 2011.

But it does not dramatise the massive fall-out at the BBC over the way bosses buried an earlier investigation into the star.

Executive producer Jeff Pope said the programme examined how the Jim’ll Fix It star had died ‘without what he’d done being brought to light’, adding ‘that was the story we wanted to tell’.

He claimed the series had ‘dealt with what happened after his death’ and did not ‘ignore the fact that the BBC dropped Newsnight and put out a glowing tribute instead’.

Steve Coogan said suggestions the series was a ‘face-saving exercise by the BBC’ were ‘not true’.

A friend of a schoolgirl who killed herself after Jimmy Savile’s abuse says the BBC’s The Reckoning changed her skin colour and suicide for their drama.

Businesswoman Kelly Gold, 67, saw the tragic story of Claire McAlpine in episode two of the harrowing series, which stars Steve Coogan.

Claire had been a regular in the Top of the Pops audience, when she took an overdose and died in March 1971. She was just 15. 

She had been seen going to Savile’s BBC dressing room at least twice and had written a diary entry about having sex with a presenter in a hotel. Savile was questioned after her mother discovered what had happened. He denied everything.

On The Reckoning a character named Sara, played by actress Tia Dutt, is among girls waiting for Savile at his dressing room but is later left on her own. She goes with him to a hotel where she is sexually abused.

The programme then shows her mother crying, holding her daughter’s suicide note before she rings up the BBC to complain. A flashback shows Sara died of an overdose, Savile is quizzed and denies ever ‘laying eyes on her’.

Ms Gold told MailOnline she ‘didn’t know why they changed Claire’s character’, having no doubt it was her story being told on screen.

She said: ‘I watched the series and thought it was good and that they’d done a good job and handled it well.

Claire McAlpine circled in red on Top of the Pops alongside BBC predatory paedophile Savile

The BBC say Sara, played by Tia Dutt, on The Reckoning is not Claire McAlpine but reflects elements of her story

‘But I don’t know why they changed Claire’s character to be Asian. Also they said she left a suicide note but Claire actually left a diary, naming more than just Savile.

Businesswoman Kelly Gold, 67, saw the tragic story of Claire McAlpine in episode 2 of the harrowing series

‘They mentioned that under 16s were not allowed in the bar but I was in there and I was 14.

‘If they had a proper investigation at the time and took what Claire said seriously, he would’ve been caught a lot earlier.’

After being contacted for comment by MailOnline, the BBC denied the character on the show was the real-life victim but did incorporate some of her ordeal.

A spokesman insisted: ‘Sara is not Claire McAlpine. We know many of Savile’s victims were driven to thoughts of suicide and the drama has a duty to reflect the impact of his abuse in full.

‘This fictional character has been portrayed sensitively and responsibly, and with the knowledge of Claire’s family we have reflected elements of Claire’s story in order to represent many more victims.

‘The depiction of the BBC’s response to the death of a vulnerable girl is rooted in fact – informed by the 1972 report by QC Brian Neill, as referenced in the Dame Janet Smith report – which was a significant missed opportunity by the BBC for effective safeguarding reform.’

Claire McAlpine called herself Samantha Claire when she was on the show and often appeared

The story in the series was something picked up first earlier this week by the investigator who exposed Savile for his appalling crimes.

Mark Williams-Thomas remarked on the character and her death after he watched episode 2.

He said: ‘It has made me very annoyed and has really undermined the integrity of the series.

‘The Claire McAlpine story, which 100% needed telling portrayed her as Asian – why? 

‘This massive deviation from a very important fact shows no sensitivity to Claire as a victim of abuse.’ 

He later added: ‘Would people have been happy if Savile or Ray Teret had been Asian actors ? It’s a real story – with real victims and survivors so cast correctly in all the roles.’

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