The Reckoning provides a chilling portrayal of Jimmy Savile‘s years of sickening abuse at the height of his fame – and the actors are all playing real people.
The BBC One four-part drama is the latest TV dramatisation of a horrifying true crime that appalled the nation. The fact-based series aims to show how the Jim’ll Fix It star was able to carry on decades of abuse under the nose of the BBC.
And, unlike other dramatisations, the series also includes interviews with four of Jimmy’s victims. All the actors are playing real people, with a few exceptions who are based on a combination of victims or eyewitnesses.
Here’s a rundown of which actors play the real people in The Reckoning on BBC One.
Real people in The Reckoning: Actor Steve Coogan portrays Jimmy Savile
Comedian and actor Steve Coogan, 57, brings Jimmt Savile to life in chilling form in The Reckoning on BBC One. He admits it was not a role he undertook lightly.
Steve, perhaps best known for playing Alan Partridge, previously voiced a Savile puppet for Spitting Image in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He explained: “To play Jimmy Savile was not a decision I took lightly.
“Neil McKay has written an intelligent script tackling sensitively an horrific story which – however harrowing – needs to be told.”
The Oscar-nominated actor reveals it was a “professional challenge” to take on the part. He told ED!: “I’m doing this to give a platform to the survivors. I got to know the victims. I didn’t want to do him as a pantomime villain, which would have been a disservice to the victims.”
In fact, Steve’s performance as Savile is uncomfortably accurate. Viewers know that TV star Jimmy Savile used his fame to prey on his victims, who were often young and vulnerable. He is now known to be a rapist and paedophile who died at the age of 84, before he was bought to justice.
Actress Gemma Jones plays Jimmy Savile’s mum Agnes
Gentleman Jack actress Gemma Jones stars as Jimmy Savile’s mum Agnes. Jimmy’s well-documented relationship with his mother provides an insight into his personality.
Jimmy’s feelings towards his mum seemed to be borderline obsessive. He called her The Duchess, and was forever trying to please her. However, he was the youngest of seven, and he also joked that his mum “never trusted him”.
In The Reckoning, her distain for him is apparent, in contrast to his adoration for her. In eerie scenes, he tells his interviewer Dan Davies that he “gets all the love and affection he needs from his mum”, who he also calls his best pal and “the love of my life”.
On his mother’s grave, Jimmy promised to “never do that shit again”. Although he did. Agnes was a devout Catholic, and clearly struggled to love her son. When she died in 1972 at the age of 85, Jimmy sat with her dead body for five days. There is evidence to suggest Jimmy committed acts of necrophilia at Stoke Mandeville where he volunteered as a porter, and many believe he violated the body of his own mum, although there is no proof of this.
Real people in The Reckoning: Actor Mark Stanley is Dan Davies
Happy Valley actor Mark Stanley portrays Jimmy Savile’s biographer Dan Davies. Dan is the author of In Plain Sight: The Life and Lies of Jimmy Savile. The book is still available to buy, and the transcripts were used as part of the extensive research for The Reckoning.
Award-winning journalist and author Dan Davies spent more than a decade on a quest to find the ‘real’ Jimmy Savile. He interviewed him extensively over a period of seven years before his death, spending days and nights at a time quizzing Savile at his homes in Leeds and Scarborough. Dan lunched with him at venues ranging from humble transport cafes to the Athenaeum club in London and, most memorably, joined him for a short cruise aboard the QE2.
Dan is currently Deputy Editor of Esquire, and has previously written for The Guardian, The Independent, The Mail on Sunday and The Economist.
Of course, actor Mark Stanley is known for his roles in Trigger Point, White House Farm, The Bay, and The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe.
Michael Jibson stars as Bill Cotton
Actor Michael Jibson stars as Bill Cotton in the cast of The Reckoning. TV viewers will know him for playing DC Paul Slaymaker in the crime series Four Lives, Sheridan Smith’s onscreen husband Martin Powell in No Return, and Matthew Evansford in The Essex Serpent.
Bill Cotton was a British television producer and executive (and, yes, he is a relative of Fearne Cotton). In 1970, the Beeb promoted Bill to Head of Light Entertainment. In this prominent role, he was responsible for overseeing the production of a whole series of popular variety and light entertainment shows, including Top of the Pops.
Despite rumours that TOTP host Jimmy Savile was involved in the rape and subsequent suicide of a teenager, Bill Cotton continued to give Jimmy other high profile jobs. Bill Cotton died in 2008.
Real people in The Reckoning: Mark Lewis Jones portrays Charles Hulligan
Welsh actor Mark Lewis Jones stars as Charles Hulligan in The Reckoning on BBC One. TV viewers will know Mark from his roles in Outlander, Gangs of London, The Pact, and Keeping Faith.
Charles Hulligan was Jimmy’s friend. He was head hospital porter at Leeds hospital, where Jimmy volunteered. Jimmy’s relationship with the infirmary began in 1960, based on a childhood friendship with head porter Charles Hulligan, who also ran the hospital’s radio service.
Charles’ wife Beryl is played by Happy Valley legend Siobhan Finneran. Beryl was one of the many witnesses who spoke to the writer of The Reckoning during his research. Sadly, she died before the show aired.
Real people in The Reckoning: Neil Pearson stars as Eric Morley
Bridget Jones’ Diary actor Neil Pearson portrays Eric Morley in The Reckoning on BBC One. Neil is perhaps most famous for his roles in Drop the Dead Donkey, Monroe, All the Small Things, and Between the Lines.
Meanwhile, Eric Morley was a British TV host and the founder of the Miss World pageant and Come Dancing, the predecessor of Strictly.
Eric, who died in 2000, had an early part to play in Jimmy Savile’s career. Eric was a general manager of dancing at Mecca Leisure Group, where Jimmy Savile performed from 1960.
Real people in The Reckoning: Actor Robert Emms stars as Ray Teret
Actor Robert Emms portrays Ray Teret in The Reckoning on BBC One. Jimmy Savile referred to Ray as his “adopted son” and made the younger man call him “Father”.
In fact, Ray was more like Jimmy’s protégé. They lived together, and Jimmy often made Ray do his dirty work. He worked as Jimmy’s personal chauffeur, and general dogsbody, as well as DJing alongside him.
Tragically, Ray also raped and assaulted several girls. Like Jimmy, Ray used his celebrity status in the Manchester club scene in the 1960s and 1970s to prey on many of his victims.
In 2014, he was found guilty of seven rapes and 11 indecent assaults on girls as young as 13. At the time, Ray Teret told the jury he had no interest in underage girls, despite a previous conviction for sexual intercourse with a 15-year-old girl in 1999.
Ray Teret died in prison on May 5 2021, following a battle with cancer.
Robert is known for his roles in Four Lives, Chernobyl, Andor and Happy Valley.
Fenella Woolgar stars as Margaret Thatcher
Actress Fenella Woolgar stars as Margaret Thatcher in The Reckoning on BBC One. And it’s uncanny! Fenella is best known for playing Sister Hilda in Call the Midwife, a role she played from 2018 to 2022. TV viewers will also recognise her from Dalgliesh, Harlots, and Quacks.
Of course, Margaret Thatcher was UK PM from 1979 to 1990. She had an unsettling friendship with Jimmy Savile, and even invited him over to Chequers on Christmas Day.
The former prime minister, who died in 2013, made at least five attempts to award Jimmy Savile a knighthood. Savile used to lunch with the Prime Minister to seek government – and personal – donations from Mrs Thatcher towards the rebuilding of Stoke Mandeville’s world-renowned spinal injuries unit. He also issued an invitation for her to appear on his Jim’ll Fix It show.
Peter Wight plays ex-Scarborough mayor Peter Jaconelli
Actor Peter Wight stars as ex-Scarborough mayor Peter Jaconelli. The jobbing actor is known for roles in Out of the Blue, Our Mutual Friend, Silent Witness, Early Doors, and Party Animals.
Peter Jaconelli was a big personality in Scarborough, and its Mayor. He was on very good terms with Jimmy Savile.
An investigation by North Yorkshire Police into Jaconelli, who died aged 73 in 1999, revealed that he would have faced a string of charges relating to abuse in Scarborough between 1958 and 1998 if he was still alive.
Jaconelli and disgraced Leeds-born DJ Jimmy Savile were suspected of being involved in the abuse of 35 young victims as part of a paedophile ring operating in the resort but cheated justice.
Dozens of victims came forward to report historic sexual abuse after the broadcast of the TV documentary Inside Out.
Real people in The Reckoning: Madeleine Edmondson portrays Jimmy Savile victim Sam
Young actress Madeleine Edmondson portrays Jimmy Savile victim Sam, who appears as an interviewee at the beginning and the end of each episode of The Reckoning.
Jimmy Savile first abused Sam as she was convalescing in a psychiatric ward. She had already suffered abuse at the hands of her grandfather. Jimmy continued to abuse her during chapel service. Sam, a young girl at the time, used to put tampons in so as to discourage him from abusing her.
Speaking to the camera, Sam now says: “In his own sick mind, he believed if he did enough good, it would weigh out the bad. He groomed the nation.”
Sam has now devoted her life to serve as a warning to others.
Actress Madeleine appeared in Coronation Street in September and November 2021 as Mia, a fellow inmate of Kelly Neelan’s in the Millbank Secure Training Centre. She had a regular role in Cold Feet, and has also appeared in The Worst Witch and The Dumping Ground.
Philippa Carson portrays victim Susan
Actress Philippa Carson portrays victim Susan, who also appears as an interviewee during the series. Jimmy Savile abused Susan, who doesn’t give her surname, when she visited his house.
In 1972, Susan was a trainee optician in Leeds. Savile was one of the practice’s customers and she first met him when he came in for an eye test. He then asked for a home visit to fit his glasses, and asked them to send Susan. She was sent off in a taxi to Savile’s terrace house. When he closed the front door behind her, he locked it, and sexually assaulted her.
She now says: “He was a dirty old man mixing with young people. I was pleased he’d died. He got away with it.” She admits that no one believed her when she told the truth about the abuse.
Philippa has previously had roles in Marriage, Trying, and even played a Green Alien on Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway.
Who else plays the real people in The Reckoning?
In the four-part series The Reckoning, one episode focuses on a rape victim called Sara, who subsequently took her own life. Although Sara isn’t a real person, the character is based on numerous accounts. There was a teenager who claimed she had been raped by a prominent DJ on Top of the Pops. She tragically died by suicide.
Meanwhile, victims Kevin and Darien are also bought to life in the BBC One series. Better star Julie Edwards portrays older Darien, while The Bay‘s Eloise Thomas plays the young victim who Jimmy Savile sexually assaults at a bus stop.
Terry Bird plays the Older Kevin, who breaks down after seeing his abused appear on Celebrity Big Brother.
Green Wing actor Julian Rhind-Tutt portrays Johnnie Stewart in the series. Lorn Alastair ‘Johnnie’ Stewart was a British television producer who worked for the BBC, and helped created TOTP. He helped Jimmy Savile’s career progress to the top. He died in East Dereham, Norfolk, aged 87.
Also, Hollyoaks actor Alan Bentley plays Dennis Thatcher.
The Reckoning starts on Monday, October 09, 2023 at 9pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. Episode 2 follows on Tuesday.
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