Jimmy Savile's life and death explained: The Reckoning true story

Before the allegations surrounding Savile became widely known after his death, Savile was considered to be a major, eccentric figure in the entertainment world and something of a national treasure, known for his charity work.

He has since been exposed as one of the UK's most prolific sexual offenders, with the new BBC drama grappling with the details of how he operated and managed to remain undetected for so many years.

But what is the true story behind The Reckoning? Read on for everything you need to know about the life, death and crimes of Jimmy Savile.

Jimmy Savile's life

Savile was born in Leeds in 1926 to parents Vincent and Agnes, and was the youngest of seven siblings. At the age of 14 he left school and worked in an office, before being conscripted during the Second World War to work in coal mines, where he suffered severe spinal injuries.

Following the war he became a dance hall DJ and manager after World War Two, and while working at the Palais in Ilford he was discovered by a music executive.

He started his radio career at Radio Luxembourg, before joining Radio 1 in 1968. He presented Savile's Travels, a Sunday programme in which he travelled the UK in a caravan talking to members of the public.

Meanwhile, Savile also began a career on TV, hosting music charts show Top of the Pops from 1964 to 1984, with additional one-off appearances on the programme until 2006.

He started hosting his own variety show called Clunk, Click from 1973, but this was replaced in 1975 with Jim'll Fix It, which he presented until 1994.

Throughout his career he was said to have raised £40m for charities, using this as a way of gaining unrestricted access to institutions such as hospitals and schools.

For instance, he had a bedroom at Stoke Mandeville hospital and an office and living quarters at Broadmoor psychiatric hospital, which in 1988 he was appointed to oversee by the Department of Health.

He was considered by many to be a national treasure and was knighted in 1990. However, he was also considered to be deeply eccentric, with some thinking him "strange" or creepy.

He was profiled by Louis Theroux in 2000 documentary When Louis Met... Jimmy, with the documentarian later making a follow-up documentary in 2016, assessing his own inability to detect the truth.

Jimmy Savile's crimes

There were two police investigations into Savile during his lifetime, but neither led to charges. The earliest incident of his abuse was recorded in 1955.

In 2009, the Crown Prosecution Service looked at four allegations dating back to 1970 and Savile was interviewed under caution, threatening to take legal action against the police. A case was not pursued due to insufficient evidence.

More widely, references were made to allegations surrounding his conduct, with John Lydon saying that he knew "some rumours" about Savile in an interview in 1978, and Savile himself admitting that "salacious tabloid people" thought he might be a paedophile.

He said: "How do they know whether I am or not? How does anybody know whether I am? Nobody knows whether I am or not. I know I'm not, and I can tell you from experience that the easy way of doing it, when they say, all them children on Jim'll Fix It, is to say, yeah, I hate them. That's my policy. That's the way it goes. And it's worked a dream. A dream."

Despite these rumours, most of the allegations surrounding Savile's abuses only became widely known after his death in 2011.

Immediately after his death, Newsnight began an investigation into reports of his sexual abuse, with the programme intended to air on 7th December 2011, but it was pulled from broadcast.

In October 2012, ITV broadcast an Exposure documentary called The Other Side of Jimmy Savile, which revealed allegations of molestation and sexual abuse by Savile in the '60s and '70s from up to 10 women. More claims of abuse were subsequently made and the Metropolitan Police started to assess the allegations. Inquiries at the BBC and the NHS followed.

In November 2012, the Met Police said the scale of sexual allegations against Savile was "unprecedented" in Britain, with 450 alleged victims having contacted the police.

A nurse who worked at Broadmoor Hospital claimed that Savile had engaged in necrophilia with corpses at Leeds General Infirmary's mortuary.

In 2013, a joint report by the NSPCC and Metropolitan Police stated that the ages of these 450 people who had made complaints against Savile were between 8 and 47. This included 28 children aged under 10, with nearly three-quarters of the alleged victims being under 18.

Jimmy Savile's death

After a short stay in hospital, Savile died of pneumonia on 29th October 2011 at his home in Leeds, two days before his 85th birthday.

He was buried at Woodlands Cemetery in Scarborough, but his headstone, which read "it was good while it lasted", was removed by his family after the claims about him came to light.

In 2012 the allegations surrounding Savile and the details and scale of his abuse became widely known, leading to his honours being rescinded, investigations taking hold and many organisations named after or connected with Savile removing his name.

If you've been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, visit the NHS website or Victim Support for information and support.

The Reckoning premieres on BBC One and iPlayer on Monday 9th October 2023. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on.

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