A junior school has been forced to scrap a children’s musical – after realising a character was based on paedophile JIMMY SAVILE.
‘Lights Camera Action!’ featured a “genial” caretaker “ready for any challenge” called Will Fixit – based on Savile’s BBC show Jim’ll Fix It.
It was first published in 2007 – before the monster was exposed as one of Britain’s worst-ever child sex fiends.
He is feared to have abused at least 500 victims – some as young as two – over six decades before his death in October 2011.
Final year children were sent home from the Scargill Junior School in Rainham, Essex with scripts of the musical so they could decide which part they wanted to audition for.
One mum said: “My son came home and said ‘Mummy, should I be singing about Jimmy Savile? – I said ‘what’.”
“I think it is completely disgusting – I do not want him to be a part of it.
“The school bought the script from a production company which adapts play for primary schools but not one of his teachers picked up on it.
“I am just glad he is leaving – if he was not leaving the school in July to go to secondary school I would be withdrawing him completely.”
Another irate parent added: “That character was quite clearly based on Jimmy Savile. Why didn’t any of the teachers bother to read the script before they sent it out with all the kids?
“It just goes to show how far standards are slipping at the school.”
The Will Fixit character – who wears a large S on his chest – was originally named Jim Fixit when the play was first published.
Red-faced bosses at the school where pupils are aged seven to 11, texted all parents on Friday: “URGENT MESSAGE. We would like to RECALL all of the year 6 play scripts as soon as possible.”
Headteacher Amanda Ireland is now choosing a different play to perform, and will destroy all scripts once they have been returned by parents.
The play was last performed four years ago before the mammoth investigation into Savile’s sex abuse scandal began in 2012.
It is written by Andrew Oxspring and still available for purchase for primary schools, starting from £37.
Lights? Camera? Action! is a sketch-show style play aimed at children aged seven to 11.
The Savile-style character speaks about young boys not being a “pretty sight”.
When one of the kids reads a letter asking Jim to fix it so there isn’t a mirror in the year 5 toilets anymore, the character replies: “I understand, Mr Dixon. I’ve seen the Yr5 boys – ooooh! Not a pretty sight!”
The script then gives a stage direction for Jim Fixit to “dramatically” remove his overcoat – revealing a superhero costume with tights and a cape.
Mr Fixit even has a song dedicated to him – similar to the Jim’ll Fix It theme song – and features the lyrics ‘you’re a real life superhero?everyone is depending on you’.
Edgy Productions, the company behind the play, wrote: “Join genial caretaker, Will Fixit, as he and his crew take on maintenance challenges in and around school, in ‘DIY Distress!'”
Mrs Ireland, who has been head of the school for 11 years, defended her initial decision to put on the play featuring the shocking character, because it was a hit.
She said: “Lights Camera Action is a really good play in terms of what the year 6 pupils enjoy doing.
“However, because it is an older play the matter of one of the characters, in light of what has happened recently, is inappropriate.
“The whole idea was children would go to the character and he would fix their problems.
“We have not had time yet to decide on a new play because it all blew up.”
She added: “This was a complete oversight on our behalf and I apologise to all parents and children who have seen the script.
“It was totally inappropriate and unacceptable. We will be using a completely new play and I have asked parents to return all current scripts so they can be destroyed.”
The school, which has around 290 pupils, was criticised in its last Ofsted report in May last year where they were marked down from ‘good’ to ‘requires improvement.’
