Jimmy Savile makes comment about 'hiding in plain sight' in resurfaced HIGNFY clip

A new Netflix documentary that examines how Jimmy Savile managed to get away with committing terrible sexual offences in the public eye over the period of decades has led to the resurfacing of an old clip where he seemingly hints at his crimes.

Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story was released on Netflix this week, and looks at how the British TV presenter who is now thought to be one of Britain's most prolific sex offenders, was never tried and managed to evade justice after he passed away in 2011 aged 84.

Given the in-depth look at his life, a number of resurfaced clips were uncovered in the documentary of Savile's TV appearances which show how he was able to "hide in plain sight."

In particular, there is one clip from 1999 where he appeared on the BBC panel show Have I Got News For You? where host Angus Deayton asked Savile: “You used to be a wrestler didn’t you?”

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This is when Savile provides a chilling response and told him: “I still am. I’m feared in every girls’ school in the country," as the audience then laughed at his answer.

But with what we know about him now, the comments provide an even eerier context.

Jimmy Savile made the comment during an appearance in 1999 on "Have I Got News For You?"BBC

At the time, rumours had circulated about Savile being a paedophile which he denied and it appears this innuendo is an example of him taking control of these rumours by joking about it himself, therefore "hiding in plain sight."

Rowan Deacon, the director of the documentary believes this to be the case and that Savile's modified his technique throughout the years to keep his crimes hidden.

"I think in the 1960s and 1970s what's most shocking is that his what we now describe as lascivious, creepy, assaulting behaviour on women, which is happening in front of the camera on broadcast footage, what's shocking about that is not that he's doing it, because we now know what we know, it's that nobody blinks an eye, it's completely normal.

"So I think that the social conditions at the time normalised that kind of behaviour," she told The Times 2 supplement.

Though the 1990s - when this particular clip aired - Deacon notes how Savile was seen as a “creepy and strange figure” and so to counteract this he became the "source of the rumours," as demonstrated by his response.

"He's the one saying the creepy things and suggesting that he's up to no good, and I think he does a kind of double bluff with the audience," she said.

"So it's quite confusing and people end up thinking, 'Well, he's sort of saying it so it can't be true.'

"And I think that kind of psychological game that goes on, it's quite complex, that we can now look back at in the archive and we also asked our interviewees who were in the archives to look back at it themselves, which was kind of an interesting experience," Deacon explained.

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

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