Steve Coogan admits he did not take the decision to portray Jimmy Savile 'lightly' - but insists the drama is needed 'to prevent it happening again'.
The 56-year-old actor and comedian, from Middleton, will play the repeat sex offender in BBC One drama The Reckoning . Due to be released this year, the mini-series tells story of Savile's rise from a working class background to television stardom, and the shocking impact his sexual abuse had on his victims.
Appearing on Channel 4's Sunday Brunch yesterday (April 3), Coogan admitted the role is 'fraught with pitfalls'. He told hosts Tim Lovejoy and Simon Rimmer there had been a 'great deal of antipathy toward me doing it when it was announced', but felt the drama would play an important role.
“I think that’s because Jimmy Savile played a trick on the entire nation so there’s a real feeling of antagonism about it," said Coogan. "But you need to look at someone like that to understand how they’re able to operate and to prevent it happening again.”
The makers of the programme worked 'closely with many people whose lives were impacted by Savile to ensure their stories are told with sensitivity and respect', the BBC said in a casting announcement last year. Coogan told Sunday Brunch he could 'understand people's antagonism about the whole idea', but insisted the 'very intelligent' script was written in consultation with 'many of the victims of Jimmy Savile'.
The Alan Partridge star said he also spoke to the actors who were portraying Savile’s victims before they filmed scenes. He added: “I’d go and talk to them as myself and go ‘Hi, I’m Steve, I’m not Jimmy Savile, that’s who I’m going to play today’.
“And you’re playing a role and we’re going to do it professionally, and it was so that they knew that I was someone else. So it was a tightrope, but I think we did it properly.”
The script has been written by Neil McKay, whose other credits include BBC drama Four Lives about serial killer Stephen Port, who drugged and raped four men before dumping their bodies near his home in Barking, east London. The project also sees McKay work with Jeff Pope, who is an executive producer on The Reckoning.
Savile died in 2011 aged 84, having never been brought to justice for his crimes.
Get more showbiz news by subscribing to our free email newsletter here
