Jimmy Savile Scandal: BBC Could Drop 'Top Of The Pops' Repeats | HuffPost

BBC To Drop 'Top Of The Pops' Repeats

PA

The BBC could drop its archive repeats of 'Top Of The Pops' in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal.

The programmes have been screened since early last year but editions have had to be examined closely since Savile's reign of abuse was uncovered, with some shows dropped.

And last week an edition fronted by Dave Lee Travis was dropped following his arrest last week over claims he groped two women.

Jimmy Savile on Top Of The Pops

BBC4 controller Richard Klein said he had not come to a decision about whether to continue the programmes next year.

The channel has been showing programmes from 1976 onwards, in sequence, and next year it would have been due to screen editions from 1978.

Klein said: "At the moment we haven't actually scheduled 1978. We've only done it the last two years so if we didn't do it again it wouldn't be the end of the world, and audience figures have declined."

The BBC had defended showing archive editions of the programme featuring sex offender Gary Glitter - which had prompted viewer complaints - because they said they did not want to rewrite history. But following a further arrest this month, he will not be featuring in the programmes because Klein said "showing him would be wrong - that's a decision that has been made".

He said it had become a complex process: "These are judgment decisions that we're making about what we think is right, and it's largely case-by-case and I think it requires us to be cautious and careful without overreacting, to take into account public sensibilities to take into account legalities.

"These are all judgments we have to make, and hopefully we're going to get it right."

Klein went on: "Whether I choose to continue it I don't yet know."

Jimmy Savile Abuse Timeline

(01 of24)

Jimmy Savile in 1961 around the time he was working for Radio Luxembourg. He is at London Airport with Pan American stewardess Birgit Johansson with two gold discs; one is for American singer Elvis Presley for having sold one million copies of "It's Now or Never" in the UK, and the other is for Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker (credit:PA)

(02 of24)

Cilla Black and Jimmy Savile before a Variety Club Luncheon at the Savoy Hotel. Taken in 1964, the year Savile became the first presenter of Top of the Pops (credit:PA)

(03 of24)

Two women have come forward with allegations from the 1960s, one who was 14 and another who was a teenager when she claims Savile sexually abused her in Scarborough (credit:PA)

(04 of24)

Savile in 1969 with Physically Handicapped and Able-Bodied (PHAB) member Erika Mentz from Germany and other PHAB members at a dance at Devonshire House (credit:PA)

(05 of24)

1969 also saw Savile begin volunteering at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital for specialist spinal injuries. He would later be given a room there (credit:PA)

(06 of24)

Jimmy Savile presenting a cheque to children on behalf of the NSPCC in 1969 (credit:PA)

(07 of24)

The 1970s saw Savile start volunteering at Leeds General Infirmary and... (credit:PA)

(08 of24)

... Broadmoor secure high-security psychiatric hospital. Allegations by former patients have been made against Savile although ex-workers have disputed the idea that he could have been left alone with anyone whilst working there (credit:PA)

(09 of24)

The 70s also saw the start of Jim'll Fix It. Allegations from this period include Caroline Moore, a 13-year-old patient at Stoke Mandeville hospital in 1971, who says Savile "rammed his tongue" down her throat and another allegation accuses Savile of molesting a brain-damaged teenage patient at Leeds General Infirmary in 1972 (credit:PA)

(10 of24)

The 1980s saw the continuation of Top of the Pops and Jim'll Fix It as Savile became a much loved household name. Two allegations relating to this time include one from a then-15-year-old girl (not pictured) who made a complaint of abuse by Savile in Lancashire. Pictured is 12-year-old Rebecca Heap (credit:PA)

(11 of24)

Savile at the Stoke Mandeville hospital with injured children from Beirut in 1987 (credit:PA)

(12 of24)

Savile was knighted in 1990 and continued his charity work throughout the decade (credit:PA)

(13 of24)

Savile was questioned in 2007 by police about allegations of sexual abuse but the Crown Prosecution service says there is not enough evidence to warrant a prosecution (credit:PA)

(14 of24)

A 2008 police report into abuse at the Haut de Garenne children's home in Jersey names Savile, although this is never made public (credit:PA)

(15 of24)

Savile re-united with his Jim'll Fix It chair in 2009. The previous year Sussex police received a complaint of sexual assault but went on to say the victim was "unwilling to co-operate in any investigation" (credit:PA)

(16 of24)

Jimmy Savile is found dead at the age of 84 in October 2011. He is buried in Scarborough (credit:PA)

(17 of24)

In December 2011 the BBC drop an investigation by Newsnight into the allegations of sexual abuse by Jimmy Savile. Three tribute programmes are aired instead (credit:PA)

(18 of24)

ITV airs a documentary, 'Exposure, the Other Side of Jimmy Savile', in which a number of women claim they were abused by Savile as youngsters, including Karin Ward (pictured) (credit:ITV)

(19 of24)

Within days of the documentary, many more allegations surface. By the 9 October Peter Spindler of the Metropolitan Police tells the BBC: "It is quite clear from what women are telling us that Savile was a predatory sex offender" (credit:PA)

(20 of24)

11 October 2012 and George Entwistle, Director General of the BBC, asks journalists why the Newsnight programme was dropped as police from Tayside, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and North Yorkshire police say they are investigating allegations going back to 1959 (credit:PA)

(21 of24)

12 October and police reveal they have 340 potential lines of inquiry (credit:PA)

(22 of24)

15 October sees a man come forward alleging that Savile abused him when he was a nine-year-old boyscout (credit:PA)

(23 of24)

Savile's family removed his headstone from his grave and broke it up in the wake of the furore (credit:PA)

Jimmy Savile sexually abuses transgender man(24 of24)

A transgender man comes forward alleging that Jimmy Savile 'stuck his hand up his nightdress' while he was a 17-year-old teenage girl at Broadmoor in the 1970's. More here http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/10/15/jimmy-savile-timeline-abuse-allegations_n_1966426.html?1350304573#slide=1641388 (credit:PA)

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