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The Reckoning

The Reckoning

Steve Coogan’s chilling performance as Jimmy Savile in the BBC’s forthcoming drama about the paedophile’s years of impunity arrives in the middle of true crime’s own reckoning. Since the fury around 2022’s Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story – the Netflix true crime drama made without consulting victims’ families that seemed to exalt the brutal serial killer – a wave of new shows have put the victim’s voice first. The Reckoning features four of Savile’s victims, one per episode, recounting their ordeal at his hands and trying to understand how he convinced a nation he was saint not devil. Over on Netflix, opioid epidemic drama Painkiller opens each episode with a bereaved parent describing the death of their child while ITV’s Delia Balmer (date tbc) sees Anna Maxwell Martin play the eponymous survivor of a relationship with serial killer John Sweeney. As Savile, Coogan is masterful, but it’s a harrowing watch.


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