The Other Side of Jimmy Savile

If thats the case (minus ITV player and other recordings and ITV+1) then thats a fantastic figure for 2310 and for ITV's Exposure. Why cant't Exposure be a 9pm programme instead of 22:39/23:10

Because ITV need some content after 10.30pm - indeed apart from Champions League highlights it's been the only original programme on ITV1 after the news all week.

According to Digital Spy, the BBC have removed all programmes featuring Sir Jimmy Savile from their schedules. This includes the next couple of weeks of Top of the Pops.

This is quite scary, once they have done this, how do they then start showing programmes featuring him again? He is not going to be found guilty or not guilty of any crime as he is dead. There will be no 'end' to any of this. Nothing will change, so are we to assume that we will never see any Top of the Pops featuring Jimmy Savile, any episodes of Jim'll Fix It or even any clips featuring him ever again? At least not on the BBC.

This is a really bad decision and is just another example of the BBC pandering to the tabloid press.

Indeed, the details given out were for NAPAC - the National Association for People Abused in Childhood

Some clarification regarding reports on the Top of the Pops repeat run situation.

There's no show on BBC Four next week anyway, as it's time of the month for "The Sky at Night" to knock the show out of the schedule; this has happened since the TOTP repeat runs began last year.

Listings for the next *expected* BBC Four transmission of TOTP, Thursday 18th October, are yet to be published.

Tonight's episode was originally transmitted on 1st September 1977. The 8th September 1977 episode is "wiped" - the last edition not to survive intact in the BBC's archive; so every show survives onwards.

The 15th September 1977 episode, which would have been shown next, is presented by Jimmy Savile. There are an additional three episodes originally broadcast that year he presented: 13th October 1977, 17th November 1977 and 22nd December 1977. There's then a four-month gap between episodes he hosted until 27th April 1978 - during which time he filmed and presented that year's series of "Jim'll Fix It"; it must be noted there was confirmation of BBC Four continuing the TOTP repeat run into 1978 episodes last week.

While the Corporation has not explicitly stated a broadcast ban is in effect in their statements so far - there is no reference to be found on their website as of the time of posting; it is only reports by the tabloid press and on particular websites that suggest a moratorium on content featuring Jimmy Savile is in place while they co-operate with ongoing police investigations into the allegations made against him.

The veracity of these media reports regarding the TOTP repeats will only truly become apparent when details of the BBC Four schedule become available which indicate the line-up for 18th October.

Thanks Col for that very informative post.

As I recall, the essence of the (Daily Mail led) outcry against the inclusion of Gary Glitter's performances on TOTP repeats was to do with the royalty payments that were reported to be heading Glitter's way. Now obviously that isn't an issue in Savile's case as he's dead, and I seem to recall that TOTP presenters don't get repeat fees anyway (I'm sure someone will confirm either way).

So this would appear to boil down to a matter of "taste and decency". As far as I'm aware we're into uncharted territory for a presenter to be investigated for alleged crimes after their death. It's a legal and moral puzzle, but there's never going to be a definitive conclusion besides the one drawn by the court of public opinion, which seems to be overwhelmingly against Savile right now (and doesn't look likely to change, given that Savile will never be able to refute these allegations).

Where now for the TOTP repeats then? I'm of the view that history shouldn't be meddled with. We know plenty of things in 2012 that we didn't know in 1977, but that shouldn't be a reason to prevent us viewing something that was a such a pivotal part of British culture at the time. Why should BBC Four credit its viewers with such little intelligence that they are unable to form their own retrospective opinions on a piece of history? We can look back on John Major's "back to basics" moral crusade with the hindsight that he was shagging Edwina Currie behind his wife's back. It's how history works.

This whole "airbrushing" of television history really infuriates me, a case in point being the butchering currently being carried out to repeats of classic comedies like Only Fools And Horses in the name of the BBC's "compliance policy". Can you imagine if such policies were applied to classic works of literature? Why should television be any different?

I suspect the BBC will arrive at some sort of compromise whereby the remaining Savile episodes of TOTP are "topped and tailed" to remove the presenter in question, similar to the editing style of TOTP 2.

Thats what they should do.

It aint as if they're a stranger to the art of editing TOTP on BBC FOUR anyway!

They are in a difficult position in that they will face complaints no matter what they do. True, the tabloids will probably launch a bigger attack if they weren't to suspend all programmes featuring him.

So it seems the Met are holding some sort of investigation - presumably if they come up with nothing then we can assume the allegations that have been made are false, and therefore we can go back to liking the man without the PC brigade getting excited. If not, then expect him to be the next Gary Glitter / Jonathan King.

Who knows if it's true or not, but accounts from people 35 years after the event aren't enough to posthumously "convict" someone.

The Orange TV guide, which is now the only free online guide I know of that goes two weeks ahead, has it down as the Dave Lee Travis episode 22/09/77 that's being shown on 18th October.

http://tvguide.orange.co.uk/dgx/wbl.dll?a=2&h=57&dt=507ff129&ch=88

If the Savile episodes continue to be omitted throughout next year then I'll expect The Sky at Night to continue to make its monthly appearance in order to cover for the six Savile episodes, the three that didn't get made (two due to strikes, one due to sport) and then three double bills of TOTP to take up the slack.

Just as an aside, I rarely use it these days, but RadioTimes also goes two weeks ahead, and the interface seems a bit sleeker than the Orange TV guide.

I do prefer the Radio Times guide, but the Orange TV guide does actually have listings for 18th October, whereas RT just has blank spaces at the moment.

I'm interested in why you would want them to edit Jimmy Savile out of Top of the Pops. Who would benefit from this?