The billing
Endurance: Race for the pole
Steve Coogan is not a man who takes a compliment lightly. At a question and answer session for journalists after a marathon screening of The Reckoning (BBC1), he bristled at being described as a “brilliant impressionist”.
“I made his [Jimmy Savile’s] “Voice,” he corrected the Beeb interviewer, “well over 30 years ago when I got into the business doing impersonations. “But a lot has happened since then.”
Pointing out that he now does both drama and comedy, he added: “I felt like there were probably a handful of people in the country who could play this role and I actually considered myself one of them .”
And with an air of false modesty worthy of his character Alan Partridge, he said: “I mean, for me, I’ve got a pretty good ear.”
For four hours, Steve Coogan plays the predatory DJ Saville from his violent early 30s in the dance halls of Leeds to his drunken, lonely 80s
Coogan remained closed – and taciturn. He didn’t have that stare, the open grin that made Savile look like a Mr. Punch puppet
Amid the furore surrounding The Reckoning and the way it shifts blame for Savile’s sex crimes away from the BBC, Coogan’s actual performance has not received the scrutiny it deserves.
His ambition cannot be denied. For four hours he plays the predatory DJ from his violent early 30s in the dance halls of Leeds to his drunken, lonely 80s.
Seven different looks were created using make-up, costumes and wigs. But in all of them, Coogan appeared to be around his age, which became downright confusing as the story jumped back and forth from the 1960s to the 2000s.
Even if there were only “a handful of people” capable of playing Savile, it would have made more sense to use two actors, just as “The Crown” used more than one actress to portray the Queen and Princess Diana different ages to play.
Coogan certainly captured the voice. Close your eyes and it is indistinguishable from the original.
The diet killer of the evening
Jamie Oliver challenged us to cook pasta with potatoes in his 5-ingredient meals (Chapter 4).
“People say you shouldn’t do double carbs,” he said, “but think about a chip butty. ‘One of the best things in the world, right?’
Watch your waistline, Chef!
But the physical resemblance and especially the grinning facial impressions fall far short. My enduring image of Savile is his unzipped track jacket, revealing a hideous bare chest and medallions.
Coogan remained closed – and taciturn. He didn’t have that stare, the open grin that made Savile look like a Mr. Punch puppet.
The actor insisted he didn’t want to make him some kind of pantomime villain. But that’s exactly what allowed Savile to get away with openly monstrous behavior: he magnified every movement as if he were on stage, playing to the back row.
When he flung his arms about, screamed his whimpering catchphrases, and bulged his eyes, he was engaged in deliberate mime. That was his defense, his cover. By exaggerating everything, he made the groping and horniness seem part of his act.
Coogan’s performance does the opposite. His Savile is constantly on guard, checking people’s reactions and calculating.
On the polar plateau of Antarctica, in temperatures of minus 40°C, Ben Fogle and his explorer friend Dwayne Fields (pictured) tried to show us something almost as inexplicable – how Captain Robert Scott and his heroic team marched to the South Pole despite frostbite, terrible weather and the wrong equipment
Endurance: Race To The Pole (Chapter 5) is a great piece of boys’ television that celebrates the wild recklessness of Britain’s golden age of adventure
If you watch The Reckoning and ask yourself, “How did Savile get away with this for so long?” This version doesn’t show you the real answer.
On the polar plateau of Antarctica, Ben Fogle and his explorer friend Dwayne Fields tried to show us something almost as inexplicable in temperatures as low as minus 40°C – how Captain Robert Scott and his heroic team marched to the South Pole despite frostbite and horrendous weather, all with the wrong equipment .
Endurance: Race To The Pole (Chapter 5) is a great piece of boys’ television that celebrates the wild recklessness of Britain’s golden age of adventure.
Ben and Dwayne, who spent a month in the frozen deserts recreating Edwardian polar expeditions, benefited from modern equipment and transportation, at least off-screen.
But it was clear that they would give everything to go back in time and really tackle these tasks.