The Reckoning

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.