Jimmy Savile: Outrage As Play About Predatory Pedophile Opens
Jimmy Savile was a rich and famous television personality and radio presenter. Savile was also a relentless charity fundraiser and worked as a porter in a variety of British hospitals and even had access to a top security mental hospital. Savile counted politicians and royalty among his friends and was decorated by Queen Elizabeth. According to the Daily Mail Savile could even have been a godfather to Prince Harry. As most people now know Savile’s cloak of respectability and powerful connections made him almost untouchable. After Savile died it emerged that his charity work was a front that allowed him to become one of the most prolific predatory pedophiles in British history.
The posthumous police investigation into Savile’s history of sexual abuse of young people has not yet concluded but evidence has already emerged that Savile abused hundreds if not thousands of children and young people.
Despite the fact that the police investigation into Savile’s offending is ongoing, a play that purports to explore the scandal behind Savile’s cloak of respectability opened last night in London to a storm of criticism. An Audience With Jimmy Savile stars Alistair McGowan, a famous impressionist, in the title role. It was written by BBC Journalist Jonathan Maitland.
The show, which opened at the Park Theatre in north London, depicts Savile just after he received a knighthood from the Queen in 1991. The show has faced a barrage of criticism from people who think it is just too early to dramatize Savile’s life and by some who think that Savile’s story should not be told at all.
Playwright Maitland has robustly defended the play, and he has some very powerful allies: some of Savile’s victims. Maitland defended the play to ITV News, explaining that he had support from some of the survivors of Savile’s abuse.
Maitland said, “it’s an incredibly important story… it’s one of the most important stories of the last 30 years. I’ve spoken to about half a dozen victims of Savile. The victims are incredibly supportive. Everyone’s presuming to speak for them, saying it’s exploitative and they haven’t seen it yet. The victims are saying… ‘we want to be heard’.”
The Independent report that Karin Ward, one of Savile’s victims, was consulted about the making of the play and attended the preview performance last night.
Ward said, “With the smell of the cigar smoke, it was almost like stepping back 40 years. It was uncanny. It was impeccable, absolutely fantastic, [McGowan] was so convincing.”
On social media one twitter user summed up the feelings of many by saying simply “Wrong, wrong, wrong.”
@JonnyMaitland @FayeBarker @Telegraph @RosaSilverman Wrong, wrong, wrong! How on earth is this happening, honestly…
— Terry W (@WoodcockTerry) June 10, 2015
Maitland said the play was not meant to be seen as entertainment but as a way of exploring Savile’s untold and horrific story. He added that any profit made by the play would go to the National Association for People Abused in Childhood.
[Photo by Matthew Lewis/Getty Images]
