The BBC came under fire again yesterday after a character appeared to dress up as vile sex beast Jimmy Savile – on a children’s show.
Max from smash-hit CBeebies programme Tweenies appeared in an episode aired yesterday morning dressed in a blonde wig with gold necklaces.
Hundreds of angry parents complained about the show, because the beloved children’s character appeared to be dressed as evil DJ Savile.
Dad Mark Roberts, 42, was watching the show with his six-year-old daughter.
He said: “I think it’s completely out of order.
“It’s not right for anyone to be dressed as that evil man, let alone a children’s TV character.
“Max was my daughter’s favourite character – I can’t believe they dressed him up as Jimmy Savile.
“It was obvious who he was meant to be – he had the blonde hair, gold and even the dodgy laugh.
“It’s a total disgrace.”
Service engineer Mark, from North Wales, made a complaint to OFCOM, but thinks the BBC should never have let the episode air.
He said: “I grew up with Savile, but it’s sick that they aired that episode.
“The way the BBC has been making mistakes lately, you would think they would have some sort of quality control.
“They just seem to be forever failing to do things right.”
The episode, which was a repeat shown at 8:30am yesterday , showed the beloved characters dressing up for a disco.
The episode of the Tweenies saw the beloved children’s characters dress up and present a parody episode of Top of the Pops.
The character dressed as Savile introduces a song called ‘One Finger, One Thumb’ – which concerned dad Mark Roberts dubbed the “icing on the cake of inappropriateness.”
He said: “It was absolutely sickening the complete lack of quality control the BBC have over their programming.
“It is so wrong.
“And the song he introduced – ‘One Finger, One Thumb’ – just makes everything worse.
“Somebody at the BBC should get fired for this.
“The song title was just the icing on the cake of inappropriateness.
“I don’t ever want my daughter to be exposed to that sort of sickness ever again.”
Parents reacted angrily to the bad taste parody, which they feel should not have been aired in the wake of the Jimmy Savile sex abuse scandal.
Judith Buckley wrote on Facebook: “It shouldn’t have been shown but it has clearly been missed by the person who should have stopped it.
“As these programmes are repeated I hope the person who saw it has alerted TV channel concerned.”
Rachael Mills, from Bournemouth, tweeted: “Can’t believe in tweenies on cbeebies today a character was impersonating saville in parody of totp!!! What is the bbc thinking?”
Tweenies was one of the most talked-about topics on Twitter yesterday, and it was trending nationwide, as hundreds of enraged parents posted messages about the bad taste stunt.
Jennifer Lees asked: “Are BBC trying to self destruct? Max from Tweenies dressed as Jimmy Savile just now nearly choked on my cornflakes”
In the episode, the beloved children’s characters put on a chart show, presented by Max, who is dressed in a Savile-style shellsuit, with gold chains and a mop of blonde hair.
Max even speaks in a Yorkshire accent, just like disgraced TOTP presenter Savile.
He said: “Hello all you guys and girls out there, ah ah ah.
“Welcome to the Tweenies chart count down.
“Today we are going to hear all the Tweenies’ favourite songs but first on stage is young Milo who has chosen this number as his favourite song because he likes to move and dance.
“So, at number four in the Tweenies chart with ‘One Finger, One Thumb’, it’s Milo.”
The BBC yesterday apologised for showing the offensive episode, which they acknowledged did contain an impersonator of sick sex beast Jimmy Savile.
BBC spokesman Andrew Neilson said: “CBeebies broadcast a repeat of an episode of the Tweenies, originally made in 2001, featuring a character dressed as a DJ impersonating Jimmy Savile.
“This programme will not be repeated and we are very sorry for any offence caused.”
