Because I am a child abuse lawyer, watching films about abuse is like a Busman’s Holiday, and I generally don’t do it. The release of Gary Glitter from custody started me thinking about Savile, so I watched the Netflix 2 part documentary the other night, and what a revelation it was.
If you have not seen it, the documentary is very light on complaints of abuse, and mainly recounts, for the most part, how Savile fooled the world into thinking he was the saviour of charities, friend to royalty, and celebrity, and a special uncle to all the children that came on Jim ‘ll Fix It. As we now know what he was really like, the programme has a great deal of irony to it. There is no sombre commentary, and death knoll music. There are various interviews with people in his life, whom we have not seen much on camera before such as the Leeds Journalist who wrote about him and says how shocked she was when she heard about the allegations, his Jim ‘ll Fix It producer who admits that one could never get behind the mask, but never had any reason to be suspicious, and the Stoke Mandeville fund raising ladies who simply could not believe that he was an abuser because they had never known of anyone who did so much good in their lives.
In the second hour we move onto the abuse and see all the interviews when he repeatedly said that he had been having a good time with some ladies last night, and that his “case comes up next Thursday”. Everyone then roars with laughter because they think it is a joke, when of course he is telling the truth and cloaking his abusive behaviour in jest and jollity. As has been said many times, he was hiding in plain sight.
Presenters watch themselves on TV
It is interesting to see pictures taken of various presenters watching archive footage of them interviewing Savile. The questions they ask touch upon him being remote, not having any roots, moving around the country all the time, never letting his guard down, and never talking about his feelings. They clearly cringe and look shocked at the old footage, which rings with irony in view of what we now know he was really like. His knack at fending off all attempts to get him to drop his guard are masterful whether he is talking to the police, or Andrew Neil, who kept plugging away at trying to find out whether there was any truth in the rumours that he liked young girls to which Savile simply laughed and avoided all questions.
What turned Savile into an Abuser?
The psychological effects of abuse are what I deal with on a day to day basis, but the Savile Documentary touches upon very interesting insights into Savile, and why he was so abusive to women, or rather young girls. I searched for some insight into why Savile became an abuser but there was perilously little on the Net.
The Psychiatrist’s Chair
Savile somehow managed to be persuaded to be a guest on a radio show called “The Psychiatrist’s Chair” with psychiatrist Dr. Anthony Clare. Despite all the expert’s careful probing, he continued to swerve all the questions and avoid talking about himself eg.
“So I am all terribly logical which is actually bad news for you guys, because common sense and logic don’t leave you with a lot to find out.”
Forensic Psychiatrist Dr Seena Fazel viewed the transcript and concluded that he believes Savile’s problems stem from unresolved issues from childhood and “emotional poverty”.
“There seemed to be very little emotional warmth of support in growing up.”
“He makes it very clear he always lived a solitary life and is not interested in friendship…Clare’s conclusion is that this is a man who has profound psychological problems.”
Dr Fazel believes that Savile’s offending does not appear to be motivated solely by sexual urges but rather a lack of boundaries, both internal and external.
He explained that Savile believed he was above the law and kept himself detached from other people who could provide balance to his character.
Dr Fazel also notes that Savile is obsessed with power, which is rooted in a “sense of powerlessness growing up”, this is highlighted as the root of his problems.”
To read more on this issue follow this link – https://www.channel4.com/news/how-jimmy-savile-revealed-all-in-the-psychiatrists-chair
What Clues are there in the documentary?
These are the parts that I picked up on:-
- He worshipped his mother, allegedly, and the relationship with her seemed unhealthy. When she died he spent 5 days with her body saying that it gave him a lot of comfort. There are, of course, stories about Savile being seen exiting from morgues, though this is not covered in the documentary.
- In a shot showing Savile with his mother he asks her why, if she loved him so much, she used to beat him so badly – not the sort of image we would imagine as portraying that complete devotion he had for her.
- It is said in the Channel 4 article that Savile’s problems stemmed from a lack of affection and love from his mother, who, it seems was brutal to him. When asked, she admits it, and says that she had to beat Savile, presumably because he was naughty, “spare the rod, spoil the child” she says.
- Savile’s father died very young and he never mentions him. The theory is that none of the girls he met ever matched his mother so they were only ever a fleeting source of sexual satisfaction for him
- One wonders if there are aspects of Savile’s relationship with his mother that we don’t know. She was very naive apparently, such that Savile felt he had to protect her from the evils of the world.
- One of the presenters interviewed says that you cannot understand Savile unless you realise how much of his life was driven by Catholicism. How so?
- Savile was a believer and brought up a Catholic. In common with the religion he feared dying without confessing his sins. The anxiety of going to Hell unless you were good played on his mind. This was the driving force behind his many charitable acts. He thought that if he did a lot of good things, then when it came to pearly gates. St. Peter might tot up the good things against the many bad things he did and let him into Heaven. He says in the radio interview that he doesn’t like charities but just has a knack of making them money.
- Savile describes himself as unintelligent which he clearly wasn’t, but “very tricky”. What he describes in plain sight during his interviews is the manipulative nature of the paedophile who manages to avoid detection for so many years, until he died in fact.
There were parts of the programme that I could barely watch eg the clip of Jim ‘ll Fix It when the guest of the day is Gary Glitter and Freddy Starr. Gary is joking with Savile about the good looking girls in the audience, and how he might be able to bag one of them after the show if he is lucky.
Savile clearly thinks he is untouchable and above the law. He boasts freely how he has a special group of policemen in Leeds whom he invites round to his flat every Friday to the “Friday Club” when he reads out letters from “nutters” who accuse him of abusing them. They then have a jolly good laugh about it. Again, hiding in plain sight.
If he could convince Margaret Thatcher that he was a saint then we need go no further. She admired him because he was able to raise money to fix the roof at Stoke Mandeville Hospital from public donation rather than expecting the government to foot the bill.
Savile sums himself up nicely in a quote from the radio programme “The Psychiatrist’s Chair”,
“I’ve got the freedom to do pretty well anything now including being bored, or being alone or being with people or getting things, I suppose if I didn’t have that I would only see that as a temporary setback because somewhere my inventiveness is such that if I had everything taken away from me now it wouldn’t be long before I got it back again.
The programme is a gripping watch, if only to remind us how everyone in the country, from royalty, to prime minister, tv presenters, and ordinary members of the public were completely taken in by this enigma of a man who was somewhere between the Child Catcher, and Willy Wonka, but with the evil intent of Hannibal Lecter.
