In Plain Sight: The Life and Lies of Jimmy Savile

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Many young people, and indeed international audiences, won’t have known Savile. Any drama that depicts, so clearly, a predator able to groom a nation for decades, and one who was never challenged by those in authority who suspected him, is a hugely valuable warning from history, and a story that should always be told. I had only progressed a short distance when he died, and publishers initially showed little interest. They told me there was no appetite for a book on a faded celebrity. In some cases, they recoiled at the light I was shining into the dark corners of a life that had only recently been celebrated in a three-day, quasi-state funeral; a life described by one minister at his requiem mass as “ an epic of giving”. I carried on regardless, compelled by what those that knew him, and those who I would have never been able to speak to while he was alive, were now prepared to tell me. The astonishing revelations in the book came as a rape claim made against the eccentric was referred to Scotland Yard. The allegation was reported to Surrey Police and is now being looked at by the Met to see if an investigation will be launched.

We talked about I'm a Celebrity and Jim'll Fix It. I tried to get enough detail to paint a picture of his later life, waiting for the phone to ring. It is likely they refused to speak to the film-makers, but the ease with which such potentially key witnesses can hide behind their PR teams and public pensions means that culpabilities in the case are likely to remain hidden. The documentary presents a devastating succession of victims or whistleblowers, who were disbelieved or discouraged. The freshest material involves Savile’s activities in Jersey and at London sex parties, bravely described by victims. Andrew Neil shows how Savile eluded his questions about sexual behaviour by turning the audience against Neil with some comic business involving a banana. It took until almost a year after his death for the facade that he had built, and protected so fiercely, to crumble to dust. It did so under an onslaught of testimonies from people he had abused. C23 and I are rapidly questioned (without warning) by the Metropolitan Police, to whom our names have apparently been given. We both speak to detectives and, after Smith is appointed on 11 October to investigate Jimmy Savile and the BBC, we each give evidence during the four years of her investigation. Westminster , 26 June 2014The final picture we readers get is one of a master manipulator, a money hungry psychopath, devoid of all emotions. A charmer, but one with an agenda. It is evident that he knew what he was doing and his charitable acts were a source of atonement. The author’s aim was to reveal the real side of Savile and he manages. There are some passages where he puts in some personal emotion and expresses disgust at his eating habits or his predatory habits. As an adult, I was sent to interview him for a magazine in 2004. The interview, which took place at his penthouse flat in Leeds, lasted well into the night. Pale golden hair she had," Savile described his mother, "perfectly natural, and was the envy of many ladies right the way until the time she pegged it." However, I also do believe that as a reader now and then it’s good to challenge oneself now and then and In Plain Sight is a Gordon Burn winner so I thought I’d go for it. My abiding memory was I was really glad I had a photographer with me. He was undoubtedly a showman and was all for posing in bed – but his conversation was peppered with innuendo and he made me feel distinctly uncomfortable.

Simon described the interview as an 'unsettling' encounter and among his 'oddest professional experiences' (Image: M.E.N./Chris Gleave)

Reading this book made me realise how many signs were there that something untoward was happening and yet none of the allegations made to the police and others in a position to act on them were ever properly investigated. Nurses told patients to ‘pretend to be asleep’ and to forget about it and not make a fuss because ‘no one will believe you.’ Many knew of the rumours throughout Jimmy Savile’s long career and yet they were just accepted as something which happened and because it was JS nothing could ever be done about it because he had friends in high places and did so much for charity.

People remain endlessly fascinating to me, and personality interviews are one of my favourite forms of journalism to produce. The piece was going to be a bit of colour - some journalistic whimsy to break up the more serious stuff. One of the girls rose from the human pile like Venus. Peering out of the curtain she became rigid with fright.Carr, Flora (13 October 2021). "BBC drama boss defends new Jimmy Savile series starring Steve Coogan". Radio Times . Retrieved 30 December 2021. In the years that followed, I began collecting books, newspaper and magazine articles, and interviews in old annuals. I claimed – only half in jest – that one day this “dossier” would reveal what a powerful, dangerous man Jimmy Savile really was. It sounded ludicrous at the time, but so too did the fact Savile was a trusted confidante of popes, princes and prime ministers. That was in 2004. "And that's when I first had the idea for the book. This interview that was meant to last an hour in his house lasted, I don't know, God, it was about seven hours, something like that. It just went on and on and on." He interviewed him again for another profile in 2006. And another profile again in 2008. Shortly after which he – bizarrely – ended up going on the QE2's farewell Mediterranean cruise with him and began researching his biography in earnest. "I saw myself going up the river of his life and hopefully finding out everything on the way and then having a climactic final confrontation with him. I was going to call it Apocalypse Now Then. The implicit awareness was that it was going to be dark, because even in that first meeting there was a real, dark, underlying subtle menace to him."

No, I don't think we have. I think it just feels like inquiry after inquiry. We need to get to the bottom of why it happened. Why it was allowed to happen. Why people didn't feel that they could speak up, why they weren't believed when they did speak up, why they weren't listened to. If something good is to come out of this then, hopefully, that will be what it is." But this has gone largely uninterrogated, though it's Savile's untouchability that comes across so strongly in the book. One of the most enraging, bleakest moments of all is the transcript of the interview two police officers conducted with him in 2007. Victims had come forward – former pupils from Duncroft approved school. Their allegations were taken seriously. But even getting an interview with Savile had been an obstacle-strewn course. Files vanished. The CPS delayed for months. When the interview did, finally, take place Savile ensured it was conducted on his home turf. He was famous. Who was going to believe me against him? There were no witnesses’ … Susan. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian I have a policy,' he told the officers. They were calling him Jimmy. 'Can I call you Jimmy?' they said. 'What do you mean by a policy?' 'Well, I have a policy that I will pass this to my people and my people are big important people and we will be able to put time in the Old Bailey and you will be in the Old Bailey and these people will be in the Old Bailey.'" It worked. The investigation was dropped. He occupied such a big part in successive generations' lives. From our parents' generation, he was someone who sat at the epicentre of the nascent British pop scene when it exploded and took over the world. He described it as being like the cork on the breaking wave. He was right there. He pioneered playing records in dance halls. He was hosting, arguably, the biggest show on radio for pop music. And then he got Top of the Pops.

Top of the Pops makes Savile a household name. His growing influence within the BBC and at a range of institutions enables him to act with apparent impunity. After his mother, who suspects a dark side to him, dies in 1972, his behaviour continues. He said: “A high-ranking lady police officer came in one night and showed me a picture of an attractive girl who had run away from a remand home. When I was growing up I was very much of the opinion th Waterson, Jim (28 February 2023). "BBC Jimmy Savile drama to air this year despite concerns". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077 . Retrieved 1 March 2023. He said: “Six girls were selected and all of them were given matching mini-skirts and white boots. They looked good enough to eat. The first thing was that the father of one of the girls arrived and hauled her off home. She protested loudly but dad would have none of this preposterous situation.”