Jimmy Saville

Jimmy Saville

Jimmy Saville may be a man remembered by many as the man who granted so many childhood dreams or wore way too much bling for a man of his age, but tonight’s documentary Exposure looks like it might change some of that.

Jimmy Saville’s passing last year was treated with tribute and eulogies from all around the entertainment world as a whole, with radio presenter Nicky Campbell saying “A man so unique, a character so extraordinary, a personality so fascinating yet impenetrable. You could not have made him up” and Carol Voderman taking to Twitter to tell the world “Leeds has lost a much loved son ... and we have lost a ray of sunshine ....”

For good reason the man had praise heaped upon him for his incredible amounts of charity work, for which he was award a knighthood in 1990, as well as his long standing TV and radio career.

Tonight’s ITV1 documentary looks like its set to uncover a much darker side to Saville, with the show set to contain multiple testimonials about him sexually assaulting several under-age girls during the 1970s.

With the show also reportedly featuring the Jim’ll Fix It host defending the actions of Gary Glitter, it doesn’t look like it will be a glowing tribute to the man.

Understandably Saville’s family has blasted the documentary, with his nephew Roger Foster saying “I just get so disgusted and disappointed by it. The guy hasn't been dead for a year yet and they're bringing these stories out. It could affect his legacy, his charity work, everything. I just don't understand the motives behind this. It's very, very sad you can say these things after someone's died and the law says you can't defend yourself when you're dead.”

Both Esther Rantzen and Louis Theroux have also already come out with emotional responses to the news, with Theroux claiming that “it’s shocking and upsetting to have one’s worst fears confirmed” in reference to the show’s allegations.

The show’s presenter and researcher Mark Williams-Thomas has become somewhat of a TV regular when it comes to child protection issues and has not become known for generating massive hyperbole through his time on Newsnight and The One Show.

While yes, it’s true that the documentary is able to get away with so much more due to Saville’s death, here’s hoping that ITV’s promises that the documentary will be fair and takes all the factors into account is upheld when the show airs tonight.

 

Exposure airs tonight on ITV1 at 11:10pm.

FemaleFirst Cameron Smith

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