When Louis Met... Jimmy

As a millennial, I didn't know Jimmy Savile for his public persona. He only really came to prominence in my mind after his public outing as a controlling and deranged sexual predator.

Even with that bias in my head, I tried to watch this documentary objectively and it becomes immediately clear that Savile is a dark and depraved character merely from watching his actions in the documentary. His public personality was a mere front.

This inner darkness is obvious from the moment Theroux begins talking to him. He speaks in bizarre riddles, none of which are particularly amusing or witty, obfuscating any real details about his personal life behind his "humour". When asked if he has relationships, he immediately begins complaining that women specialise in "brain damage", repeating this misogynistic mantra as if it should be hilarious, to the clear discomfort of Theroux.

Things get worse as the documentary goes on. Theroux politely says that "reality isn't always positive" when Savile begins saying that TV programmes should show things in a good light.

Savile responds with a thinly veiled icy threat that Theroux seems to awkwardly mistake for a joke: "Make it as negative as you like. I'll take you to court, take your money. Money has no conscience."

The way he talks so casually about legal action and these threats, framing himself as "The Godfather", discussing "his boys", saying "I can get anything" and "I have everything under control." ...it frames a picture of a man nothing less than a psychopath.

If you have the stomach to observe such a wretched man behaving in such an unnerving and unpleasant manner, this is a reflective expose of a man who in only a short decade would become publicly reviled.

Louis spends time with charity-working celebrity Jimmy Savile. He sees his homes and joins him on public appointments. Over breakfast, lunches, late nights and early mornings they get to know each other.

Like most of Louis characters, Jimmy is a bit of a character and a bit of a social misfit. We all know who he is but know little about him, what makes him tick or how he lives. Louis gets close enough to actually see beyond the character and expose areas of his life that he doesn't usually show. His relationship with his dead mother is strange – he calls her the Duchess and keeps all her clothes perfectly in her room.

Louis clearly gets attached to Jimmy and they do get on all right. Jimmy's character doesn't seem to be a character – he doesn't seem to have a guard up at all and lets Louis do anything he wants.

Overall this is one of Louis best – an interesting subject, a good chemistry and plenty of interesting tit-bits.

I can say in all sincerity I never bought into the bullshit image peddled by Saville from day 1. After originally watching this documentary Saville knew it, Theroux knew it & I knew it - Saville was indeed an empty shell with more than enough skeletons to fill a cemetery in his closet. It was therefore absolutely no surprise to me when the huge-scale crimes from Saville's paedophilic past emerged following his death. An absolutely riveting, disturbing & revealing documentary. Louis Theroux's finest work? Maybe. (Read Doire of Sweden's review - very well-written of which I concur 100%). Highly recommended.