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Savile play: 'A story that needs to be told'

Playwright Jonathan Maitland tells Phil Williams his new play An Audience with Jimmy Savile is "for the victims" and that "we're telling a story that needs to be told".

As police from abuse investigation Operation Hydrant say that more than fourteen hundred people have been investigated by officers looking into historic allegations of abuse, the writer & broadcaster Jonathan Maitland has been speaking exclusively to Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio 5 live's Phil Williams about his stage play, "An Audience with Jimmy Savile" which opens soon in London.

Jonathan has told Phil: "We're doing it for the victims and telling a story that needs to be told" and of the play's star, Alistair McGowan, Jonathan says: "apparently his mum rang him up today and said "are you sure this is alright?"

"Theatre's at its best when it's tapping into something that's happening currently, and if we didn't do things onstage that were in the news then we wouldn't have had some of the best plays of the past 20 years that are about politics, war or child abuse [...] it's thought provoking and that's one of the key roles of theatre." he added:

This clip is originally from Phil Williams on Wednesday 21 May 2015

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