The Reckoning viewers slam BBC for refusing to apologise in series finale
Angry The Reckoning viewers have hit out at the BBC for failing to apologise for its part in the Jimmy Savile abuse scandal.
In a stomach-churning finale, the beast - portrayed by Steve Coogan - finally died and fittingly, the final word came from his victims. Details about his final resting place and the removal of his headstone flashed up on screen before the credits rolled and for some that wasn't enough.
The lack of an apology from the corporation was seen as a wasted opportunity with many saying they should have said sorry for missing many opportunities to stop the abuse. Bosses offered a "profound and heartfelt apology" months after Savile's death in 2012 as more and more victims came forward.
Viewers finally saw Jimmy Savile's life come to an end tonight (BBC)Viewers say they should have done it again more than ten years on as the monster's horrific crimes were brought back to life. They were also slammed after abandoning a Newsnight investigation into the DJ and broadcaster, something that was covered in the four-parter.
Fans flocked to twitter to have their say on the final show of the troubling series. One wrote: "Of course the BBC don't apologise for their part #TheReckoning" while another put: "The @BBC blaming everyone but the @BBC on #TheReckoning."
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The BBC didn't get much credit, but the cast and the victims did. One viewer wrote: "Compelling TV #TheReckoning particularly chilling were the words of the last lady ‘please never let this happen again’." A second made a similar point, saying: "Fitting that the final word went to the victims."
The monster died with his fingers crossed (BBC)But not everyone was satisfied. One person tweeted: "Steve Coogan's performance was phenomenal but I didn't feel I learned anything from #TheReckoning. I wanted to know more about the stalled police investigations, the failed prosecutions and the shelved #BBC Newsnight exposé. I was all just a bit gratuitous, I thought."
The BBC defended their decision to create the series and said it was an important story to tell to 'ensure such crimes never happen again'. Executive producer Jeff Pope said: "Its purpose is to explore how Savile’s offending went unchecked for so long and, in shining a light on this, to ensure such crimes never happen again.
"Steve has a unique ability to inhabit complex characters and will approach this role with the greatest care and integrity," he added. “What the survivors have said to us is that he just got to the grave before they had any justice."
"But what they've said is they feel it is a posthumous trial - the trial of Jimmy Savile when he's gone. Some people might feel like it's useless, but to them it isn't. To them, it mattered that we have told the story through to that last moment.
"There's no greater story which serves as a warning to people about sexual offending and groomers. Savile conned his way through our society to the very top. To me Savile is the ultimate warning from history. This series is a cautionary tale.”
Actor Coogan, who plays the disgraced star - exposed as a paedophile, rapist and serial abuser only after his death - admitted he had to put his 'overwhelming sense of revulsion' to one side to play him convincingly.
The drama pulls no punches when it comes to showing Savile, who died in 2011 aged 84, as a prolific abuser who preyed primarily on teenage girls and young women but also on younger girls, boys, those who were ill and disabled and even the dead.
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