Sorry if I killed the thread with Private Eye jokes... but things are getting even more serious. (And for the attention of the UKIP deputy chairman who was on Question Time last night and wanted Jimmy stripped of his knighthood... yeah... that tends to happen automatically when he died!)

Child and sex abuse claims against a dozen TV stars were yesterday described as a “landmark” inquiry by police probing Jimmy Savile.

As detectives were set to start making arrests, Commander Peter Spindler revealed 300 victims have contacted his team since an ITV show exposed Savile as a sex predator three weeks ago.

Around 130 of these have been spoken to so far and 114 assault claims made.

Mr Spindler said: “I have no doubt that we are in watershed moment for child abuse investigation and this will be a landmark investigation.

“I want to praise the courage of the 300 or so who have come forward.”

The celebrities named by victims – some huge household names – are set to be quizzed over serious sex assault allegations within days.

Other suspects who have been named are believed to include former BBC staff.

While the majority of calls fielded by police are about Savile, some relate to individuals who are believed to have been complicit in the TV star’s abuse, or carried out abuse themselves.

But Mr Spindler declined to say where these people worked or if they had links to the NHS, BBC or other institutions with which Savile was involved.

Revealing an “arrest strategy” had been drawn up by his 30-strong team of officers, he said: “There is Savile but there are also others and if those others are living we can now look at them.

"We are dealing with a major crime investigation here.

Twisted: Savile escaped justice while he was alive
PA

“There’s Savile on his own, and that’s the vast majority of what we’re being told about, there’s Savile and others.

"And it’s the others, if they’re living, we can look at them. Then there is a third category which is ‘others’.”

A source added: “It is now to be determined how seriously these claims should be taken.”

It yesterday emerged Savile was once investigated for a sex attack on BBC premises as far back as the 80s.

A retired police officer has come forward to reveal that he carried out an inquiry after an assault in the star’s caravan in the car park at TV Centre in West London – but there was not enough evidence to prosecute.

The woman reported the attack at Hammersmith police station. It is not clear if the BBC was made aware of it.

It is also not known if Savile was ever questioned over the allegation.

Mr Spindler said that officers were trying to find the file on the case but had so far been unsuccessful.

Questions were being asked last night about the extent that authorities failed to link a series of complaints which could have stopped Savile carrying out further assaults on young girls.

At least seven women reported attacks by the presenter before his death last year.

Mr Spindler said another woman came forward to the Met in 2003 to report that Savile had touched her *inappropriately in the 70s.

She did not want to press charges but wanted police to know in case it fitted in with any other pattern, he said.

It is not clear why these allegations were not flagged up to Surrey police when they informed all forces they were investigating Savile in 2007 over four new sex allegations.

Detectives from over five forces were aware of claims before 2011 – including two attacks on girls at a school and one at Stoke Mandeville hospital – but they did not result in an arrest.

Sally Freeman, a spokeswoman for Women Against Rape, said: “It’s appalling that he was never even arrested despite all these separate allegations.”

Scotland Yard is following more than 400 lines of inquiry linked to the victims, of whom all except two are women.

Mr Spindler said he was aware of a “key individuals” who have not yet spoken to the police, adding: “If there’s anybody out there who is still sitting waiting, wondering whether to speak out we want to assure them they are no longer a part of what one of the victims’ groups called the ‘unbelievables’.”

Officers are trying to contact victims as quickly as possible – but for some it is the first time they have come forward.

The NSPCC has had 439 calls about sexual abuse in the past three weeks, a 60% rise on what they would normally receive. Two out of five have been referred to social services and police.

Mr Spindler said Savile was “undoubtedly” one of the most prolific sex offenders of recent history and believes the weight of evidence against the late DJ was overwhelming.

He said: “We have to believe what they are saying because they are all saying the same thing independently.”

He added Savile had been protected because “children or young people had not felt empowered to speak out”.

Earlier Lord Patten, the chairman of the BBC Trust, said the “tsunami of filth” that has emerged over Savile’s child abuse had caused terrible damage to the BBC.

He said the governing body’s priority was to “get to the bottom of what’s happened” for the sake of victims.

He said: “Our main concern has to be for the victims of abuse and worse who have been marooned for years, trying to tell their stories and not being believed, including, it seems, by the BBC, and to deal with the terrible damage to the BBC.”
And Paul Gambaccini, you are toad. If you knew of the rumours but didn't really act on them or report them, that means you're just as bad! Esther Rantzen as well. But I'm not on Rupert Murdoch's side going "Yeah! Shame on the BBC! We should only trust Sky from now on!" because I don't think it just happened at the BBC. And if the police ever raided Rupert's office and seized his encrypted box of secrets, they'd find similar stuff about his own employees.
Obviously, Savile was the highest on the list of abuse. But even if one person only abused one child, that child would have had their life changed for the rest of their lives. So there would be as much damage in that one child as Jimmy's "total".
I'm 100% certain nobody from Doctor Who will be questioned. (I don't even know why I've left that sentence in) But I'm surprised this thread hasn't had more replies.