How Many Suspected Victims Did Jimmy Savile Have?

The following article includes allegations of child sex abuse, sexual assault, and necrophilia.

Born in Leeds, England in 1926, Jimmy Savile went on to become a household name as a media personality, hosting shows like Britain's "Top of the Pops" and "Jim'll Fix It." However, as The Guardian reported three years after his death in 2011, Savile would go on to become one of the most abhorrent alleged pedophiles and sex criminals of the 20th century after his scores of victims reported claims of abusive behavior. And while Savile's death precluded any formal charges by British authorities, a 30-page report released by the Metropolitan Police Service and the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) in 2013 concluded that Savile's guilt was more or less a foregone conclusion, a 2013 piece by The Guardian noted.

Per The Guardian, one of Savile's very first purported victims was abused while Savile was managing a dance club in 1955. In 1958, Savile became a DJ for the broadcaster Radio Luxemburg. Around 1960, Savile began to take advantage of his stardom. Another one of the earliest reported claims against Savile was later made by a person who, at the time the crime took place in 1960, was a 10-year-old child. After asking Savile for his autograph, Savile took the child to his hotel room and sexually assault him. But since the public remained unaware of his crimes for decades, Savile's career continued to thrive, taking off when he became the presenter for the BBC's "​​Top of the Pops" in 1964.

In 1975, "Jim'll Fix It" aired on television for the first time, and with Jimmy Savile as the host, it ultimately transformed his already-successful career; but as The Guardian noted in 2016, it also gave Savile access to even more victims. In this long-running reality show, which aired for 19 years, Jim would read letters from children who asked for Savile to grant their wishes. Then Savile would make one child's wish come true — by bringing a child onto the show to meet a celebrity guest, for instance, or do a fun activity that they requested. 

The children's show aired once per week and ran for twenty seasons, giving Savile a regular victim pool. According to a 2016 BBC report, Savile's actions weren't carefully concealed by the presenter, and that was enough to warrant the producer of "Jim'll Fix It," Roger Ordish, to warn staff that "he [Savile] should not be left alone with children." At the same time Savile gained greater prominence with the U.K. public as the program's host, Savile remained a mainstay at children's homes and residential schools. Among those Savile frequented was Northways Residential School located near the city of Leeds — which, like Duncroft Approved School for Girls, catered to "troubled" minors. As a 2014 report released by the Leeds City Council revealed, Savile invited children to visit him at his home, with some staying overnight. 

As the 1990s rolled around Jimmy Savile remained beloved by fans of "Top of the Pops" and "Jim'll Fix It," both of which touted large viewerships, per The Guardian. It was also the decade that Savile was granted a papal knighthood, specifically in 1990. As The New York Times reported shortly after Savile's 2011 death, the media presenter held fundraisers that garnered tens of millions of dollars for hospitals and bolstered his reputation as a respected figure. It also meant he rubbed elbows with former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and the British royal family — although Savile's own past claims of how close he actually was with Thatcher or the Windsors aren't fully reliable, per The New York Times.

Savile's TV show "Jim'll Fix It" finally ended in 1994 — and so, too, did his primary cover of plausible deniability for being around children. Four years later, Savile was asked by documentarian Louis Theroux during the filming of his 2000 Savile-centric documentary "When Louis Met ... Jimmy" about Savile's possible pedophilia, which Savile denied (via NME).