Louis Theroux discusses his time with Jimmy Savile on tonight’s The Graham Norton Show, admitting he liked the man who was later exposed as one of the UK’s most prolific sex offenders.
Back in 2000, Louis famously interviewed and spent time with the DJ for his show When Louis Met… Jimmy, with the documentary seeing Theroux raise allegations of paedophilia, which Savile denied.
However, after his death in 2011, more than 450 alleged victims of sexual abuse reported incidents to the Metropolitan Police, with police concluding the Jim’ll Fix It star was a prolific sex offender.
Speaking to Graham Norton, Theroux says: ‘I did quite like him, which is not easy to say now because we know what he was, but I’ve tried to stay true to my experience at the time.
‘Even having done those two programmes [When Louis Met… Jimmy and 2016’s Louis Theroux: Savile], I realise there was more I wanted to get off my chest and that was one of the main impulses behind writing the book.’
In When Louis Met… Jimmy, the journalist asked Savile why he told reporters he didn’t like children.
Savile, who died aged 84 in 2011, said: ‘[We] live in a very funny world. And it’s easier for me, as a single man, to say “I don’t like children” because that puts a lot of salacious tabloid people off the hunt.
‘How do they know whether I am [a paedophile] or not? How does anybody know whether I am? Nobody knows whether I am or not. I know I’m not.’
‘Does it work?’ Louis asked. ‘It works a treat,’ Savile replied.
Theroux, 49, recently said he was still ‘haunted’ by his time with Jimmy, saying: ‘The hallmark of his offending was he was weirdly brazen in his ability to address it and take the position that is completely bizarre.’
The documentary-maker is currently promoting his autobiography, the brilliantly named Gotta Get Theroux This, and admits that his wife Nancy wasn’t too impressed by the first draft.
He says on tonight’s show: ‘I imagined early on that I was writing an edgy sort of book. A professional memoir felt safe as I didn’t have to divulge much about my own psyche, my anxieties and my inner workings. Including my personal life was arrived at somewhat grudgingly.
‘Basically, what happened was that after I’d worked on it for a year I showed it to my wife. She said, “It’s fine, but it’s a bit boring!” so I had to sex it up a bit by going behind the scenes. It turned out to be more painful than you would think.’
Louis is joined on the sofa by Renee Zellwegger, Wham! star Andrew Ridgeley, Sir Lenny Henry and Elbow.
The Graham Norton Show is on tonight at 10.35pm on BBC One.
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