Louis Theroux Expresses Regret Over Jimmy Savile Interview Following Alarming Response

 

Louis Theroux has expressed remorse over his inability to unmask Jimmy Savile during their infamous BBC interview, a figure who had successfully evaded scrutiny regarding his personal life for decades.

Reflecting on his show “When Louis Met… Savile,” which aired two decades ago, Louis has revealed he wishes he possessed a time machine, enabling him to approach the documentary armed with the knowledge he has now. Despite his regret, Louis emphasizes that the interview remains an incredibly significant piece of work.

While Savile managed to deceive the nation with his quirky TV persona and extensive charity work, a profoundly dark and sinister secret lurked behind closed doors. The disgraced DJ exploited his benevolent deeds to remain hidden in plain sight, evading justice for over half a century while subjecting hundreds to his abhorrent acts of sexual abuse.

It wasn’t until his passing in 2011 that his horrifying crimes came to light, finally exposing Savile as a reprehensible paedophile and rapist. Although it is alleged that several prominent figures were aware of his malevolent actions but chose not to question Savile, one person who defied this trend was documentary maker Louis. He directly confronted Savile, asking him outright about his involvement in paedophilia. Louis has since voiced his remorse for not exposing the disgraced figure sooner.

In 2020, Louis, aged 53, revisited some of his early works for an illuminating new series. He expressed that six chapters of his memoir were dedicated to examining his interaction with Savile, which he considers the greatest regret of his career.

“I feel as though it was a lot to live through,” he remarked. “I just had a front row seat at something that we all experienced in Britain. It was one of the reasons for writing the book, to discuss the impact of that story on me.”

However, in an interview with The Mirror, the documentary-maker stated that he doesn’t regret producing the programme and takes pride in its enduring value as a piece of journalism. “If you’re asking if I wish I’d made that programme and been able to expose him? I mean, it’s a bit like saying, do I wish I could turn cheese into chocolate? Do I wish I could fly? Do I wish I could go back in time and predict the outcome of the World Cup and make millions of pounds?

“Do I wish I could go back and expose Jimmy Savile as a sex offender? Yeah, of course. If I did that story with a time machine and went back again, I would be armed with so much more information. But I really think that, given what we knew then, it’s a piece of work that holds up.”

“I’m still proud of that programme. I think that’s a really solid piece of work, and I think of all the TV that was ever made about him while he was alive, that was easily the most revealing.”

Louis expressed being ‘glad’ that the conclusion of the 2000 programme, which he followed up in 2016 after Savile was finally exposed as one of Britain’s most prolific sex offenders, was that the track-suit wearing TV presenter was odd, creepy and secretive. “It wasn’t as though I went, ‘You know what? He’s a good bloke.’ Or, ‘He’s fine. Clean bill of health.’ At the end I was like, ‘He’s mystifying. He’s clearly incredibly tough in terms of his level of steely self-possession, and his sex life remains a complete enigma.'”

Famously, he shadowed the Jim’ll Fix It star for several months as part of his When Louis Met… series in 2000. He interviewed the presenter, whom he had previously described as his childhood hero, at his homes in Leeds, Scarborough, and Glencoe. While alive, the entertainer, who passed away at the age of 84, faced multiple allegations of sexual offences, though they were all dismissed. He even made disturbing jokes about the rumours in live interviews.

The chilling documentary even captured Louis directly asking Jimmy about the speculation regarding whether he was, in fact, a paedophile. In response, Savile gave a chilling reply, placing the blame on society. “[We] live in a very funny world,” he said.

“And, being a single man, it’s simpler for me to assert ‘I do not have an affinity for children.’ This tends to discourage prying tabloid individuals from their pursuit. But how can they be certain of whether I am [a paedophile] or not? How can anyone be certain? Nobody possesses that knowledge.” In a defiant denial, he further insisted, “I can confidently say that I am not.”

Following his passing, BBC’s Newsnight initiated an inquiry into allegations of his sexual misconduct. The comprehensive extent of his transgressions came to light in a report from 2013, documenting 214 criminal offences committed by the personality, some of which occurred within healthcare facilities, including London’s Great Ormond Street and Wheatfields Hospice in Leeds.

It is believed that Savile’s abusive behaviour commenced in the mid-1940s when he was in his late teens or early twenties, persisting until 2009, just two years prior to his demise. A report in 2016 into his wrongdoings revealed that BBC staff had overlooked numerous opportunities to intervene.

In 2020, when Louis Theroux revisited the subject with a second documentary in 2016, where he interviewed some of Savile’s victims, he expressed that he remained “still proud” of the initial documentary but wished he could have exposed Savile. He previously described the encounter as “the strangest and most upsetting event I’ve ever been involved in.”

“I’ve revisited it since the revelations came to light, and I’m struck by how much was there. It’s a far cry from lightweight journalism.” He went on to say, “We all had an inkling he was putting on an act. He would almost encourage people to believe he held secrets.”

In recent weeks, the nation has once again been captivated by the Savile scandal, thanks to the chilling new BBC One series, ‘The Reckoning’, featuring actor Steve Coogan portraying Savile. Viewers of the four-part series have expressed feeling ‘sickened to their core’ after witnessing Coogan’s uncannily accurate portrayal of Savile’s abhorrent sexual offences.