The documentary will go as far as to question statements from BBC bosses which explained why the original broadcast was scrapped.
In November 2011 the Newsnight team had a show scripted and ready to go to edit. However, there were concerns that the report would clash with upcoming Christmas tributes programmes dedicated to the recently deceased BBC star.
Peter Rippon, the show’s editor as had concerns over the Crown Prosecution Service’s alleged decision not to charge Savile over child abuse claims in 2007 due to his advanced age. The team were unable to get confirmation of this, and so Rippon is said to have told BBC Newsnight employees on December 1 2011 “we don’t really have a strong enough story without it. I’ll pull editing now”. Rippon is also said to have said he would need to pull the programme “if the bosses aren’t happy”, according to The Daily Telegraph.
“This is the worst crisis that I can remember in my nearly 50 years at the BBC. I don’t think the BBC has handled it terribly well.” veteran BBC news correspondent John Simpson says during an interview on tonight’s Panaorama, according to The Guardian.
“I mean I think it’s better to just come out right at the start and say we’re going to open everything up and then we’re going to show everybody everything.”
“All we have as an organisation is the trust of the people the people that watch us and listen to us and if we don’t have that, if we start to lose that, that’s very dangerous I think for the BBC.” he concludes.
Producer Meirion Jones tells Panorama in tonight’s show that he emailed Peter Rippon warning that failing to run the show risked ‘substantial damage to BBC reputation’.
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