Viewers watching The Reckoning last night noticed a significant error in the show that seems to have caught a few people off guard.
Have a look for yourself:
To be quite honest, this small video editing error shouldn’t be the thing that takes people the most by surprise about the show, given that it portrays Steve Coogan as one of history’s greatest monsters, but it is still definitely noticeable.
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In the show, Coogan plays the predatory former TV presenter Jimmy Savile, who abused hundreds of adults and children over the course of his lengthy show business career in some absolutely horrific ways.
The docu-series tells the story of Savile’s life and crimes from the start of his career as a DJ right up until his death in 2011, after which his abhorrent crimes came to light through the brave testimony of his victims.
In one particular scene, which was broadcast last night (10 October), Savile can be seen sitting cross-legged in front of the TV, watching a programme that he’d appeared on earlier.
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Based on real events, Savile - played admirably by Coogan - could be seen seething at the line of questioning taken against him, which alluded to his unseen double life off the camera.
As he flashes insults at the questioning audience, the camera cuts away to show that the production team on the show had made a slight error.
Clearly they’d intended to impose the footage onto the TV screen, but instead the viewing public could just see a blank screen with a few green motion capture dots on it for reference, while the footage had been left very small in the middle of the picture.
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Of course, in the modern day, such mistakes can be rectified, and on the BBC iPlayer, where you can watch all four episodes of the harrowing docu-drama, they’ve now fixed the issue.
However, not before a bunch of eagle-eyed viewers noticed what had happened.
One person wrote on X: “There's a big production error in episode 3 of The Reckoning... Caught me off guard with how sinister the scene was.”
Another said: “Absolutely mad technical error on episode 3 of The Reckoning.
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“Cuts from Jimmy watching an interview of himself to a blank TV marked with motion tracking dots (and a tiny image of the finished shot in the centre of grame [sic]).”
“Weird editing error during episode 3 of The Reckoning series - blank tv screen,” said a third.
Still, the viewers have been gripped by the new show, made with the help and testimony of a number of Savile’s victims, and - despite some reservations - many seem genuinely glad it was made.
“Whatever your thoughts are on The Reckoning, Steve Coogan’s performance is outstanding,” said one viewer.
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Another wrote: “Steve Coogan is absolutely excellent in #TheReckoning.
“The mannerisms, voice and acting is all just as skin-crawling and vile as it needs to be.
“Excellently written and acted, in exactly the right tone.
“I’d advise anyone to watch it.”
The show is available to watch on BBC iPlayer now, and episodes are being broadcast each night at 9:00pm on BBC One.
Topics: UK News, Celebrity, TV and Film, Jimmy Savile
Tom Wood