In my opinion, Netflix have delivered some excellent documentary films and series over the last couple of years, and although their latest offering, Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story isn’t their strongest, it does deliver exactly what it says on the tin. Knighted by the Queen, publicly lauded for his fundraising and charity work – raising over £40 million for numerous charities – and fronting iconic BBC programmes such as Top of the Pops and Jim’ll Fix It for decades, Sir Jimmy Savile, with his cigars and shiny shell-suits, was considered a national treasure up until his death in 2011, just two days before his 85th birthday.

With a career spanning decades and influencing entire generations, tribute shows dominated the airwaves and TV listings following his death and it is not melodramatic to say that the country was in mourning at the loss but ten months after his death, the words etched on his gravestone – “It was good while it lasted” – took on a darker, more sinister meaning when a expose documentary was released accusing the much beloved eccentric of peodophilia, preying on the weak, ill and vulnerable that he spent his entire career claiming to help.

Despite sending shockwaves across the nation and rocking the BBC to its very core, Meirion Jones’ documentary turned out to be just a scratch beneath the surface, opening the floodgates for a tsunami that even Noah would have no hope to survive, as wave upon wave of new victims started to come forward – over 400 (!) in total – washing away the saintly public persona and fully revealing the extent of Savile’s predatory nature.

Told across two feature-length episodes in Netflix’s tried-and-tested blend of archival footage and talking head interviews from the victims, reporters and some of Jimmy Savile’s closest friends, A British Horror Story informs the audience of who Jimmy Savile was to the public without losing sight of what he was underneath the public façade. Every image and piece of footage we see is punctuated by a feeling of unease and disgust but it is easy to see the monster when you know he is there and hard to believe that no one around him knew.

The talking head interviews are sensitively handled which allows every one to contribute without apportioning blame outside of Savile himself, giving the ignorance of those worked alongside him for decades the benefit of the doubt. This is a documentary about Savile and his crimes, for everyone else Netflix have left it for the audience to make up their own minds and judgements.

The downfall of Jimmy Savile is known the world over, the allegations against him launched Operation Yewtree the police investigation that also took down Australian singer Rolf Harris, however the aftermath of the revelations against Savile aren’t really touched upon in A British Horror Story, instead the focus is on the way Savile masterfully manipulated his way into the upper echelons society – including great personal friendships with the prime minister and members of the Royal family – or being given free rein to roam the halls of some of the country’s most famous institutions for vulnerable people including Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Duncroft school and Broadmoor prison.

And although the documentary suffers a little with its pacing and its focus on Savile’s career, it is the revelation of the extent of Savile’s reach, made possible by the huge amount of charity work that he did under his guise of ‘good catholic boy’, that puts the horror into this horror story.

Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story is now available* to stream on Netflix.

The Rig is available to watch on Amazon Prime*

*At the time of publishing.