BBC Savile review by November

The review into the shelved Newsnight report into Jimmy Savile's abuse is to take about a month longer than expected.

The need to conduct further interviews, examine documents and prepare the report will mean it is not expected to be delivered until mid-December.

Former Sky News boss Nick Pollard, who is chairing the review, said it was making "good progress".

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The BBC could face a full public inquiry into the Jimmy Savile sex abuse scandal if the corporation's investigations do not "get to the bottom" of the accusations, the Culture Secretary said.

The national broadcaster has launched an inquiry into the culture and practices at the corporation in the era of the late television star and it is also looking at the decision-making process which saw a Newsnight investigation into the Jim'll Fix it star's activities shelved.

Speaking about the probe, Maria Miller told The Sunday Telegraph: "The real challenge for the BBC is to make sure that the outcome of these reviews really gets to the bottom of these accusations.

"If the investigations are considered not to suffice because of issues around transparency, process or other such things, then a public inquiry remains an option."

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Women claiming they were abused by Jimmy Savile at a girls' school were "delinquents" who were "looking for money" with the allegations, their former headteacher has said.

"They had an opportunity to tell anybody. But it suited them - some of them, not all of them - to wait 30 years," Margaret Jones, head of Duncroft Approved School in the 1970s, told the Daily Mail.

"They're all looking for money... they come out of the woodwork for money. I object to my school being targeted."

She labelled the claims "wild allegations by well-known delinquents".

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I think it's disgraceful and horribly out of proportion to hound everyone at the BBC in a way that is unwarranted and lacks perspective when the real focus should be on what Savile did wrong.

Paedophilia is a huge national problem that no one thought about 50 years ago and is now something that concerns everyone, but this has become a witchhunt against the BBC.

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Jonathan Dimbleby said the BBC has been unfairly attacked over the Jimmy Savile scandal by politicians and newspapers who "want revenge" on the corporation.

"Organisations that have come under flack recently such as newspapers and MPs want to get their revenge. They think the BBC is too smug and holier-than-thou," Dimbleby told the Times.

"But there is a disturbing relish in the way the critics have laid into the BBC, holding today's office-holders to account for what happened 30 years ago."

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There has been a "disturbing relish" in the way critics have laid into the BBC over the Jimmy Savile sex scandal, according to veteran presenter Jonathan Dimbleby.

In an interview with The Times, the Radio 4 presenter said there had been a "witchhunt" against the corporation since allegations emerged that Savile abused hundreds of young girls and women - some on BBC premises,

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The Pollard review into the decision to drop a BBC Newsnight investigation into alleged sexual abuse by Jimmy Savile, is asking BBC staff for documents and is electronically searching archived documents from certain people.

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The BBC have revealed more details about the Pollard review into issues relating to Newsnight's investigation into Jimmy Savile sexual abuse allegations.

The independent review which is being carried out by Nick Pollard is expected to report to the BBC Executive Board by mid-November.

Mr Pollard will consider:

• Were there any failings in the BBC’s management of the Newsnight investigation
• The editorial decision in respect of the Newsnight investigation
• A blog dated 2 October 2012 posted by the Editor of Newsnight (which was changed by the BBC on 22 October 2012)

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Details of the Pollard review procedures revealed:

The Review is a private review. It has no statutory basis and no powers of compulsion.

It relies upon the voluntary provision of evidence to it and the voluntary adherence by persons involved in it to its procedures.

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Further details have emerged about the BBC's Nick Pollard review into the Jimmy Savile scandal.

It aims to report by mid-November and will look into Newsnight's decision to drop their Savile story, management of the investigation and a blog written by the editor of the programme, Peter Rippon, explaining his decision.

A statement said:

The Chair estimates that, if all the documentation required is provided promptly and in full, he will be able to produce a report during the second half of November 2012.

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