Louis Theroux: Savile

A woman who was repeatedly sexually molested as a child by TV personality Jimmy Savile - in a church - asks the interviewer of this doco, Louis Theroux, whether Theroux, too, thinks he was groomed by Savile. Theroux is reluctant to put himself in the victim camp but it's a fair point. In the doco Theroux made about Savile 15 years earlier, Savile portrayed himself as a lovable rogue, and befriended Theroux. Today, Theroux seems genuinely amazed that he failed to see that Savile was a creep and pedophile, but this doco does point out all the ways Savile managed to dazzle authorities with his humour and fundraising, and also how he was very crafty in choosing the most vulnerable victims, who wouldn't or couldn't report him.

One interviewee apologises for being explicit about what Savile did to her, but says that maybe it's better that we know exactly what Savile did.. A former assistant to Savile, however, is in complete denial. Incredibly, when she is presented with a report documenting hundreds of assaults, she says she doesn't believe any of them. Even though Savile ended up sacking her for no reason, it's bizarre that he still has this power over her.

This doco is Theroux at his best.