PREDATOR in plain sight

Steve Coogan portrays vile sex offender Jimmy Savile in an unflinching new drama

- HANNAH DAVIES, ALISON SLADE

NEW DRAMA
The Reckoning
Monday & Tuesday, 9pm, BBC1 (box set, BBC iPlayer)

The shocking story of how DJ and TV personality Jimmy Savile hid his vile crimes in plain sight for decades has been turned into a hard-hitting factual drama by producer Jeff Pope and writer Neil McKay, the team behind true-crime dramas The Moorside and Appropriate Adult.

Across four episodes, BBC1's The Reckoning traces Savile's story, from his working-class roots in the dance halls of northern England to presenting Top of the Pops and Jim'll Fix It at the BBC - with Steve Coogan taking on the challenge of portraying the reviled sex offender.

HORRIFIC CRIMES

Despite years of rumours about his crimes, Savile remained free to prey on hundreds of people mostly vulnerable young females - and the drama hones in on how he used his fame and connections to evade justice until his abuse was finally revealed following his death in 2011 at the age of 84.

'People have a sort of revulsion about the idea of even making the drama,' says Coogan. 'But it's something that needs to be talked about because to understand how predators operate, you have to look at the whole picture… you need to look at that to understand how it happens.’