29 October 2011
Jimmy Savile dies aged 84. He is buried the following month in Scarborough. BBC2's Newsnight subsequently launches an investigation into allegations of child sex abuse against the presenter
11 November 2011
BBC2 screens a Savile tribute programme, Jimmy Savile: as it happened
25 November 2011
Newsnight editor Peter Rippon appears happy with the progress of a Newsnight investigation into the late presenter. On being told that Surrey police questioned Savile over a sex abuse claim in 2007, he emails journalists: "Excellent, we can then pull together the tx [transmission] plan."
30 November 2011
Rippon has an "abrupt" change of heart over the planned programme, according to Newsnight reporter Liz McKean. Rippon says the issue of whether the Crown Prosecution Service dropped the case because the presenter was too old and frail is "key"
1 December 2011
Rippon emails Newsnight producer Meirion Jones to say he should stop working on the programme: "I'll pull editing now."
2 December 2011
BBC director of news Helen Boaden is said to have told George Entwistle, then director of BBC Vision, that he may have to change the Christmas schedules including two planned tributes to Savile because of the Newsnight investigation. The conversation was said to have lasted "about 10 seconds" at a Women in Film & Television awards lunch
7 December 2011
Jones emails Rippon to warn him that dropping the Savile report could cause "substantial damage" to the BBC's reputation
9 December 2011
Rippon decides not to continue with the investigation after the CPS says the reason it decided not to prosecute was lack of evidence
28 December 2011
Tribute programme Jimmy Savile at the BBC: How's About That Then?, airs on BBC2, two days after a BBC1 revival of Jim'll Fix It, fronted by Shane Richie
28 September 2012
Advance publicity for ITV investigative documentary Exposure says the programme will accuse Savile of being a sexual predator who abused girls as young as 13
2 October 2012
Rippon writes a blogpost about his decision to drop the Savile investigation. He says it is "totally untrue" that he was ordered to do it as part of a coverup, or that the BBC deliberately withheld information from police.
3 October 2012
ITV airs investigation, Exposure: The Other Side of Jimmy Savile, in which several woman, including Karin Ward, allege they were sexually abused by the presenter when they were teenagers
5 October 2012
Recently appointed BBC director general George Entwistle writes to all staff: "The BBC Newsnight programme investigated Surrey police's enquiry into Jimmy Savile towards the end of 2011." Meirion Jones responds to Entwistle: "George – one note – the investigation was into whether Jimmy Savile was a paedophile – I know because it was my investigation."
9 October 2012
The Metropolitan police reveals that it is investigating 120 leads in its Savile inquiry. Commander Peter Spindler, head of its specialist crime investigations unit, says: "It is quite clear from what women are telling us that Savile was a predatory sex offender."
12 October 2012
Entwistle announces two inquiries into the Savile scandal. Former head of Sky News Nick Pollard heads the investigation into the handling of the abandoned Newsnight story in late 2011 and its aftermath; former high court judge Dame Janet Smith oversees an independent review of the BBC's culture and practices during the Savile era
19 October 2012
The Met launches a formal criminal investigation into alleged sexual abuse by Savile
22 October 2012
On the eve of a Panorama programme about the affair, Rippon "steps aside" from Newsnight as the BBC admits the editor's blogpost, published on 2 October, contained errors. The corporation admits the programme was aware of allegations that Savile had abused teenagers on BBC premises, and had unearthed information not previously known to the police
23 October 2012
Entwistle makes a much-criticised appearance before MPs on the culture select committee. He says the Newsnight report on Savile should not have been dropped
25 October 2012
Adrian Van Klaveren, controller of BBC Radio 5 Live, is asked to lead the corporation's editorial coverage of the Savile scandal, with Boaden and her deputy Steve Mitchell "recused" from oversight of reporting of the affair. Police investigating the Savile allegations say they are now following 400 lines of inquiry and have found 300 potential victims
29 October 2012
A former BBC governor and chairman of Children in Need, Sir Roger Jones, says he had suspicions about Savile and felt so strongly about it that he would not let him near the charity
2 November 2012
Newsnight broadcasts claims by former care home resident Steve Messham that he was sexually abused by a prominent 1980s Conservative politician. He is named on the internet as Lord McAlpine
8 November 2012
The Guardian obtains evidence that suggests McAlpine is the victim of mistaken identity after investigating testimonies given to an inquiry into alleged abuse at a north Wales care home in 1997
9 November 2012
McAlpine issues a statement denying the allegations, indicating he will sue for libel. Messham apologises to McAlpine over mistaken identity and Newsnight withdraws its allegation
10 November 2012
George Entwistle resigns as director general after 54 days – 12 hours after a disastrous interview with John Humphrys on BBC Radio 4's Today programme in which he admitted he was totally unaware of the Newsnight McAlpine report until the day after it was broadcast. Tim Davie is appointed acting director general
The BBC apologises for broadcasting the Newsnight report and announces it is suspending all investigations by the programme. Jeremy Paxman criticises BBC management, saying Entwistle had been "brought low by cowards and incompetents"
12 November 2012
Boaden and her deputy, Stephen Mitchell, "step aside" from their day to day management of BBC News as the fallout from the scandal continues
A report by BBC Scotland director Ken McQuarrie blames "unacceptable" management failings for the broadcast of Newsnight's erroneous McAlpine report. Former Newsnight deputy editor Karen O'Connor returns to the programme as acting editor. Criticism of Entwistle's £450,000 payoff grows
18 December
The BBC (and ITV) apologise to Lord McAlpine in the high court over sex abuse allegations. The corporation pays him £185,000 in damages plus legal costs, ITV £125,000 plus costs
19 December 2012
Publication of Pollard report into the BBC's handling of Newsnight's abandoned 2011 Savile story and a separate BBC Trust editorial standards committee ruling relating to the BBC2 programme's inaccurate 2 November McApline story, based on the MacQuarrie report
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