The Reckoning - BBC1 - Steve Coogan

Agent Coulson

This could be a hard watch a 4 part factual drama airing over the next two weeks on the BBC.

Starts tonight on BBC 1 with first episode, episode 2 will air tomorrow and episodes 3/4 will air next Monday and Tuesday.

Steve Coogan plays Jimmy Savile and it has been made with the help of some of the survivors of Savile who wavied their anonymity and will feature in the series

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wud_ofC2rAI&ab_channel=BBCTrailers

The Black Oil

Is that voices of real people dotted through the promo?

Princess Calla

It will be a hard watch but I have it set to record.

Birneybau

It was a hard watch

mikep

I thought Coogan was brilliant. He really has Savilles mannerisms done well.

A very disturbing episode and only going to get worse!

Princess Calla

Honestly thought it was very slow.

JeffreyEpspeen

Coogan's excellent as Savile. No great surprise he's taken him off so well given the fantastic impression I've seen him do of a rural Irishman. This was very good. You knew they were going to have pull some punches given how gratuitous he was, but it was still suitably disturbing without being too lurid.

Birneybau

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121216226#Comment_121216226

What kind of show were you expecting?

Not a dig

Princess Calla

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121216337#Comment_121216337

I get they were setting the foundations.

However his career spanned over 50 years. Unless I missed a timestamp, which tbh is likely ( I watch everything with subtitles so there can be overlap, or just mind drifting) we're still in the sixties .

I just expected the pace to be faster. It's just not hitting me as hard as I thought it would (yet).

runningbuddy

Watched the first episode. Coogan is outstanding and has Saville’s malevolence to a tee. It’s a very tough watch though

Birneybau

This is not a complaint but Partridge and Savile share the traits of a monstrous ego

Birneybau

Second episode flies along and is more harrowing

Princess Calla

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121216658#Comment_121216658

Did you watch "the sixth commandment" another true story.

I knew nothing about it, but I was sobbing through that. Extremely hard watch, but excellent. (Don't want to build it up, but it definitely stayed with me)

Birneybau

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121217067#Comment_121217067

I haven't and I don't really want to after your description.

Birneybau

I watched three episodes last night (iPlayer/etc).

BBC doesn't let itself away with anything.

Ash.J.Williams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121216230#Comment_121216230

Haven't seen it yet but fair play to Coogan, I'd say many actors would view it a poisoned chalice

El Gato De Negocios

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121217406#Comment_121217406

Tbh from watching episode 1, my opinion is that the show is the BBCs own act of contrition and owning what it as an organisation allowed happen.

Princess Calla

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121217396#Comment_121217396

Ah no it is a good watch. There was a thread on here at the time.

Everyone involved were adults.

fabvinny

Coogan was fantastic I thought. Had all the mannerisms of him down to a tee. Hard watch.

runningbuddy

Started second episode last night but did not have the stomach for it but will watch as Coogan is simply fantastic. I like the fact that some of Savile's victims are involved in the series too. What a complete and utter sadist

jos28

Coogan was amazing as Savile. The mannerisms, the creepiness, the way his face changed just before he did something awful was tremendous. I know he has said that he was extremely proud of Philomena, he should be equally proud of this.

JeffreyEpspeen

I've read the book by Dan Davies, researched a lot of what happened, and I don't recall Savile having any victims from a minority background. Trust this show to sort that out good and proper and make sure he has a minority victim to tick that box. The McAlpine girl who killed herself after getting into a relationship and getting impregnated by Savile after meeting on Top of the Pops was white. Not sure what the point is of changing her race for the show. They wouldn't make Ray Teret black.

Anyways, second episode lost a bit of steam for me. Clunky in parts and momentum stalled. Hopefully episode 3 picks up again.

Princess Calla

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121221065#Comment_121221065

I'd say considering there was an inquest into her death it would be easy enough to prove it happened and her heritage.

I can't see them making a balls on something like that as it would ruin credibility.

Yeah scenes are added for dramatic purposes, but I doubt that was one of them.

Princess Calla

Yeah you can really see the predator coming out in this episode I thought.

How trusting parents were in those days, not just with him, but in general.

What was the story with the surgical spirits...what am I missing there?

NIMAN

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121216212#Comment_121216212

Just watched 1st episode.

Not sold on his mannerisms. Yes he's got it quite good, but it's very like his Stan Laurel mixed in with Savile.

Atlantic Dawn

Finished this last night, thought Coogan was brilliant.

Spoiler Warning

Was great seeing his ultimate demise and lack of relevance in the final episodes particularly around his heart surgery period with him being nothing but a spent cigar smelling, piss stinking dirty old man.

I thought it was odd that the Louis Theroux documentary When Louis Met Jimmy didn't feature as part of the flashbacks of his life to see what his reaction was to how that went for him. Looking at Wikipedia it went out on April 2000 so should have been relevant to what was going on at the time, investigations seemed to have got more serious within the BBC around then.

odyssey06

Powerful stuff, harrowing acting but a tough watch emotionally. I'm not sure if I'll get through to the end and I suspect won't be alone in that. Think I would have presented it as a film and an accompanying documentary rather than mixing the two together. But there is no denying the power of presenting it that way.

I wonder will we see more mainly drama focused series presented that way. Typically "drama documentaries" are heavier on the documentary than drama.

artvanderlay

https://youtu.be/5MQCMNz_aAs?si=2LaVawQ8B5fk5iSC

Interesting fact: Coogan used to do the voice of Saville on Spitting Image!

How's about that then?!

Lollipop95

Is there anyway to watch apart from on iPlayer? I don’t have a VPN

fritzelly

As a kid of the 70's and watching Jim'll Fix It this was a very worth while watch. Didn't know he was into boys and necrophilia as well

Coogan was good but wouldn't say he personified him, lots of things I didn't know about Savile brought to light

Harrowing but very worthy of a watch - a sex mad pervert that tried to get it where ever he could (jaysus even his own mother ughh, tho that is only implied it wouldn't surprise me). If anyone has seen Gen V and any hole...

LambshankRedemption

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121230371#Comment_121230371

I know its easy to say this with hindsight, but I remember watching Jim'll Fix it in the 80's and finding him seriously creepy. I probably didnt know the word creepy in those days but felt something very strange about him. I remember wanting to do something (can't remember what now), and my mum suggested I write to Jim'll Fix it, and me going "Erm, no thanks".

Have watched Episode 1 and found it excellent. I saw another drama a while ago called National Treasure, starring Robbie Coultrane. It's purely fiction, but is clearly based on Saville. I'd recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it.

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121230465#Comment_121230465

Yeah, there was always something "put on" about him that came across as weird \ off putting. I thought perhaps it was just his "thing" to stand out, like a stand up has a particular way of speaking, standing out from the crowd of other DJs, presenters. Never suspected what it actually masked.

squonk

Steve Coogan was fantastic in this. It goes without saying. The supporting cast were also very strong and as a drama it was fairly well done. I did think it was good linking in the real victims with the dramatisation of their stories incorporated into the narrative.

I couldn’t help feeling it was a bit of an overeggef pudding though. He came across as almost like a cartoon villain. I haven’t read any of the books on him or read too deeply into the facts but I certainly am old enough to remember him on the TV growing up in the 80s. He was always a bit weird and here in Ireland I guess there wasn’t that depth of exposure he’d have gotten in the UK. I wonder if I was in my 20s if I’d have been more repulsed by an old guy hanging around with kids as much as he did? Back when I was a primary school kid and RTE showed Jim’ll Fix It on a Saturday evening at teatime, it looked like the best show ever so some of that stayed with me in forming my image of Saville. TBH he just didn’t cross my mind after I became a teen and from then on until about 2000 when Louis Theroux did his documentary and it emerged Jimmy was weird but Louis missed an open goal at that time you’d think now.

I know now he was a monster and it’s awful to think of so many poor vulnerable kids having their lives upset by what he did, not to mention nurses and other women who received unwanted sexual advances. I don’t deny for a second he was an extremely bad person but all I felt that all that was missing from this portrayal was him twiddling a large moustache and cackling. I felt they were very selective in the narrative they wanted to bring across. Like I say, he was an awful person for sure and doesn’t deserve any kind of rehabilitation of his memory but something felt off and kind of one dimensional about the show. That doesn’t detract from the horrible things he did but I can’t hell feeling there has to be more to the character than they showed on screen

LambshankRedemption

but all I felt that all that was missing from this portrayal was him twiddling a large moustache and cackling.

To be fair, he was like that. The tracksuit and the cigar "now then, now then". He got away with it for far too long with the excuse of "That's just Jimmy being Jimmy". He was an over-the-top persona.

briany

Coogan is fantastic in this, if you'll excuse the use of a positive word for a terrifying portrayal, and the series paints a coherent picture of how Savile was able to get away with his crimes for so long.

It seems like his life will be a case that will be poured over for decades to come. Since the revelations came out, he's gone from being a generally liked public figure to being a real life Freddy Kruger, and not undeservedly.

DublinWriter

Growing up in Baldoyle in the 1970's, Saville hosted an attempt at the world's biggest game of musical chairs there in the old Christian Brother's field. Somewhere around 1979-1981 I think.

briany

After finishing the series, I'd be interested to know which scenes were based on real events and which ones were added for dramatic effect.

Spoiler Warning

Certain scenes in the confessional I can imagine were added for effect, as such places are strictly confidential, but the conversation at the end with the hospital porter as well as his biographer seem like they should have attestation.

JeffreyEpspeen

The actress playing the mother of the young lad who went on Jim'll Fix It. The size of her Wotsits. Almost went through the screen and poked my eyes out.

JeffreyEpspeen

This show's insistence on unnecessarily retconning real-life events to make half of his victims minorities is really bizarre. They wouldn't make black actors portray Ray Teret or Peter Jaconelli so I don't know why they're changing some of his victims races when Savile is never on record as pursuing black or Asian women or children.

I notice this practice has even been criticised by the real-life best friend of the girl who committed suicide.

LambshankRedemption

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121252093#Comment_121252093

So after watching the programme the main thing you were outraged by was the sklin colour of the portrayed victims?

Yes I will definitely allow you to come babysit my kids.

JeffreyEpspeen

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121252113#Comment_121252113

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12627569/amp/Friend-Pops-victim-Jimmy-Savile-killed-questions-BBC-changed-appearance-suicide-Reckoning-broadcaster-DENIES-supposed-her.html

How's about that then?

LambshankRedemption

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121252205#Comment_121252205

Ah, The Daily Mail. That Bastion of truth and honour.

JeffreyEpspeen

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121252527#Comment_121252527

Stock response whenever you use it as a source for something. They didn't make up the quotes from Claire McAlpine's friend though. The victim who was groomed at TOTP tapings was white. And it's absolutely baffling why they'd use an Asian actress as a surrogate for her. As I said, they wouldn't get a black actor to play a character with a negative portrayal like Teret, Jaconelli or Savile's press mole. It's completely transparent that the casting is bowing down to all this woke nonsense that is permeating through all culture.

JP Liz V1

A really tough harrowing watch, vile scum predator in plain sight

Coogan is phenomenal

briany

The series seems to heavily imply that Savile knew on some level that his behaviour was deeply wrong and that part of the reason he did so much charity work was to 'even the score', so to speak. That's not to detract from the other apparent reason for doing that work was to improve his prestige in order to protect himself and have a greater access to victims.

The writers of the show weren't pulling this out of their arses - Savile did an interview one time, I think you can hear the excerpt on A British Horror Story, where he says something like when he dies, St. Peter is going to point out all the bad stuff he did, but Savile could turn around and say, 'but what about this, this and this?' in terms of the charity work and so on.

It reads to me like Savile had a very transactional view of morality, essentially boiling it down to a ledger, and overlooking the ideas of mortal sin or true atonement. I suppose those concepts would have gotten too much in the way of what he wanted to do.

Clearly, he was quite evil indeed, but he's going to remain a topic of fascination for years to come due to his sheer oddness and scheming. His life and personality will be dissected and poured over in much the same way that many infamous serial killers are, again and again. Would he have enjoyed the infamy?

Hyperbollix

Is all BBC's on demand content restricted to Iplayer? Have Sky and can usually watch any series from Ep1 but cannot find The Reckoning to watch from first episode.....

Rowley Birkin QC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121261042#Comment_121261042

His Catholicism also enabled this behaviour.

Strazdas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121261042#Comment_121261042

Psychologists who have examined his life believe he was a full blown psychopath. Never married or had a long term relationship of any description with a woman, even though he appeared to be sexually attracted to adult women, not just younger people.

It's quite bizarre that he presented a children's TV show for decades. Many BBC colleagues said they found him seriously creepy and weird and he nor did he seem to have any actual friends within the channel itself. If ordinary staff and fellow broadcasters knew he was extremely odd and creepy, senior management must surely have been aware of this as well and yet they let him front a kids TV show for many years.

LambshankRedemption

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121263389#Comment_121263389

Many of the modern stereotypes we identify for paedo's or creepy old men, we get from Jimmy Saville. They didn't fully exist before him. If you wanted to put together a charicature of a creep, a tracksuit and a cigar would be a good start.

Even as a kid I found him creepy. So Im not surprised some people in the BBC found him creepy, but there's a difference between finding someone creepy and all out reporting someone. At one stage Jim'll Fix It was the highest rated show on BBC. It's very difficult to pull a presenter off a high rated show, and even more difficult based only on feelings. "Sorry Jimmy, we are pulling you off the Telly because Mary in Marketing finds you creepy".

JeffreyEpspeen

He was literally groping people on camera. The evidence was right there in black and white if they wanted an excuse to get rid.

LambshankRedemption

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121264270#Comment_121264270

The evidence was there but you had to go looking for it. The problem is no-one went looking.