Steve Coogan felt tension during ‘disturbing and grotesque’ Jimmy Savile scenes
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The Reckoning star Steve Coogan recently opened up about having to recreate some of the sexual assaults Jimmy Savile carried out, including one scene in a morgue which left him “disturbed”.
After his death in 2011, many of Savile’s victims began to come forward to expose his crimes and reveal the truth behind his charming, “good guy” persona.
The BBC’s latest drama looks at some of the most horrific attacks Savile carried out, including an incident which highlighted his necrophilia and often visiting the hospital morgue.
Discussing how he felt recreating the scenes, Steve explained: “That was really disturbing, I mean what can you say… It is as disturbing as it looks.
“I think it speaks to the creators, it has been two years to do this and the reason it took so long isn’t that anyone got cold feet but diligent and forensic application about trying to make sure all the right decisions were made.
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“One of the creative tensions, there is no right or wrong answer it just comes down to your opinion on what is the right thing to do. There is a tension on showing too much of Savile’s offences and it being grotesque or sugarcoating them.
“But we want to make sure we don’t see the horror of what he did so you have to strike that balance. You don’t want to upset survivors but you don’t want to anaesthetise the full effect and the full horror of what happened.
“The other end of the spectrum is showing him and his charity work and running the risk of elevating him inadvertently but if you just show him as a pantomime villain you are also doing a disservice.”
Writer Neil McKay agreed and added: “We did have discussions about how to film it [morgue scene] and drawing the line.
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“But I had excellent sources and at that time, he spent a lot of time in that area and a lot of time in his way consoling the bereaved.
“He talked extensively about spending time with the dead and as we know he was sitting for days with his mother but in terms of that morgue scene you don’t want to cause distress or show something that is grim.
“But in the end if you think about Savile, it’s about power, it is the ultimate violation to do something like that so it is an important decision and I think we found the right balance.”
The Reckoning airs Sunday, October 9 from 9pm on BBC One.
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