A disturbing old TV clip has resurfaced following the release of Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story, a new Netflix documentary that delves into how one of Britain’s most prolific sex offenders operated for decades without being brought to justice.
The two-part series explores how Savile, a beloved television personality during his lifetime, was able to mask his horrific crimes while in full view of the public. He died in 2011 at age 84, never having faced trial, though hundreds of allegations later confirmed a long history of sexual abuse.
As the documentary unpacks how Savile “hid in plain sight,” it features unearthed footage from his many public appearances that, in hindsight, take on a far more sinister tone. One particularly unsettling moment comes from a 1999 episode of the BBC panel show Have I Got News for You.
When host Angus Deayton asked Savile: “You used to be a wrestler, didn’t you?” Savile replied: “I still am. I’m feared in every girls’ school in the country.” The audience laughed at the remark at the time, but viewed today, the comment feels chilling, especially given what we now know.
It’s now widely believed that Savile used humor and innuendo as a deliberate strategy to deflect and disarm, acknowledging rumors just enough to take control of the narrative, all while continuing to offend in secret.
Documentary director Rowan Deacon suggests this was a tactic Savile honed over the years. In an interview with The Times, she explained that Savile’s behavior evolved with changing public attitudes. In earlier decades, she noted, behavior that would now be seen as predatory or inappropriate was often dismissed or normalized.
“I think in the 1960s and 1970s, what’s most shocking is not that he was acting this way, because we now know what we know, it’s that nobody blinked an eye. It was seen as completely normal,” Deacon said.
By the 1990s, however, Savile’s reputation had started to shift. He was often viewed as odd or unsettling. To manage that perception, Deacon believes he began to “control the rumors” by making offhand remarks himself, like in the Have I Got News For You clip.
“He became the one making the creepy comments. It was a kind of double bluff,” she explained. “If he was the one saying these things publicly, people thought, ‘Well, he wouldn’t actually admit it if it were true.’”
The documentary not only exposes Savile’s calculated manipulation of the media and the public, but also raises troubling questions about how institutions and society at large failed to see (or chose to ignore) the red flags for so long.