'People knew something was up, but didn’t know the extent of it...' Jimmy Savile would've been caught if BBC staff had known
Former Old Grey Whistle Test presenter Steve Blacknell worked at the BBC at the same time as disgraced DJ Jimmy Savile but despite rumours surrounding the Top of the Pops star, Steve is adamant if staff really knew that he was an abuser he'd have been brought to justice.
Jimmy Savile would have been uncovered as a sexual predator if BBC staff knew what the disgraced TV presenter was really doing, former host of The Old Grey Whistle Test Steve Blacknell has claimed.
Savile is thought to have sexually abused as many as 1,000 people - the youngest victim being five years old, and the eldest being 75 years old - during his time at the BBC.
It is claimed the monster DJ lured and abused many people, including numerous children, in his dressing room at Television Centre in White City, West London, when it was owned by the corporation. As well as committing abuse at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Leeds General Infirmary and Broadmoor Hospital where he worked as a volunteer.
A year after paedophile Savile's death aged 84 in October 2011, Dame Janet Smith, 84, launched an independent inquiry into the BBC’s connection with his sexual crimes.
She ruled a "macho culture" of sexism and sexual harassment, as well as an "atmosphere of fear" caused many BBC employees to keep tight-lipped about concerns.
Smith also found that BBC staff were "more worried about reputation than the safety of children".
But Steve - who worked at Television Centre when he hosted the BBC One music show, The Old Grey Whistle Test in 1984 - believes the corporation’s staff would have reported Savile’s sickening behaviour if they knew exactly what he was doing.
Steve, 72, exclusively told BANG Showbiz: "The point of it is everybody knew that something was up with Jimmy Savile.
"If we'd known the extent of what was going on with Savile, I've got a feeling that a lot of us would have piped up at the time.
"But no one really knew, I don't think. Well, I can remember us [workers] talking about it, but no one really knew what was going on, really.
"And in my opinion, if we’d known really what was happening, it wouldn’t have lasted.
"People knew that something was up, but they didn’t know the extent of it. But no one really knew, I don't think."
Steve - who was a BBC employee in the 1970s and the 1980s - spoke to Savile "on the phone" when the Top of the Pops host wrote the foreword to Steve's 1985 book The Story of Top of the Pops, but they never met in person.
The former BBC Breakfast Time host stated that Savile - who also presented the TV show Jim'll Fix It, in which children would write to Savile asking for him to make their dreams come true, from 1975 until 1994 - parked and slept in his mobile caravanin the forecourt of Television Centre.
Steve “often” saw it go "up and down" when Savile was inside it but people innocently thought Savile was "fixing" the vehcle.
He said: "To be honest - and this is the truth - Savile had a truck in the BBC forecourt at Television Centre.
"Now I'm pretty sure of this, and you'd often see it going up and down.
"And people would say, 'Oh, Jim's fixing it.’"
Steve's new book Tales from the Bedroom Wall: The Life and Times of a Serial Thrill Seeker is available to buy now on Amazon.co.uk.
