Jimmy Savile’s nephew has said that the BBC is “glorifying” the disgraced presenter with its upcoming drama about his life.
The Reckoning stars Steve Coogan as Savile and will follow the TV personality through his early years as a DJ in the dance halls of north England through to his career with the BBC and right up to his twilight years. It will depict how he used his celebrity status and powerful connections to dispel growing rumours about his personal life.
“I was stunned when I heard about the BBC programme as none of his family were ever consulted about it as far as I know,” nephew Guy Marsden told The Sun.
He added: “I can’t believe the organisation, which turned a blind eye to his activities for all those years, is now profiting, ultimately from glorifying his story.
| NEW: Steve Coogan has been spotted dressed as Jimmy Saville for the first time ahead of the BBC drama on the peadophile
Via @DailyMirror pic.twitter.com/Nj7gr4TNYX
— News For All (@NewsForAllUK) October 11, 2021
“No doubt they’ll be selling the programme around the world for huge profits. They shouldn’t be making it…the BBC says it will be portraying Savile’s victims in an accurate and sympathetic light, but have they spoken to any of them to ask their opinion?
“I doubt the programme will point the finger at their own shocking failings.”
A first look of Coogan as Savile was released earlier this month.
The behind-the-scenes shot via News For All shows Coogan with Savile’s light blonde hair in a jester’s outfit on a Bolton hospital ward, signalling that this would be the phase of the presenter’s career where he volunteered at Leeds General Infirmary and Stoke Mandeville Hospital.
“To play Jimmy Savile was not a decision I took lightly. Neil McKay has written an intelligent script tackling sensitively an horrific story which – however harrowing – needs to be told,” Coogan said of his casting (via BBC News).
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