Steve Coogan is set to play Jimmy Savile in BBC One drama The Reckoning this year, with the project proving to be somewhat controversial when it was announced.
However, Steve Coogan has recently told BBC Radio 5 Live that while “people have a sort of revulsion about the idea of even making it” and the series is “walking a tightrope”, it will “vindicate itself” when people see it on screens.
Speaking with Nihal Arthanayake, Coogan said: “The script is very well written. And it’s something that needs to be talked about because to understand how predators operate, you have to look at the whole picture.
“Like any kind of figure who is repellent, you have to understand it. You have to look at the whole picture. You can’t just caricature them, because if he was a caricature, he wouldn’t have got away with it, because he had a certain amount of charisma.
“So you have to look at that and understand it, and then it’s less likely to happen in the future.”
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The Reckoning was first announced in September 2021 and is written by Four Lives’ Neil McKay.
It’s set to tell the story of Savile’s life from his childhood to after his death, when multiple accusations of sexual abuse emerged, with one NSPCC study claiming that he abused more than 500 children during his lifetime.
Coogan also appeared on The One Show yesterday (20th April) and explained that he felt “it’s better to talk about things than not talk about them”.
Coogan continued: “We need to recognise the environment in which [predators] thrive. Because he didn’t just trick individual people, he sort of tricked the nation through the media.”
The Reckoning comes after Netflix recently released Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story, a two-part documentary which explored early suspicions about the disgraced entertainer.
The Reckoning is expected to air later this year on BBC One. Read more news, interviews and features on our Drama hub, or find something to watch now with our TV Guide.
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