I knew nothing says Savile producer (From Burnham and Highbridge Weekly News)

I knew nothing says Savile producer

3:05pm Tuesday 16th October 2012 in National Entertainment News © Press Association 2013

Jimmy Savile's long-time producer on children's TV show Jim'll Fix It has said he was completely unaware of the presenter's activities and said the star managed to "hoodwink" him.

But Roger Ordish said he did know that Savile had a "predilection for younger females".

In his first interview since the disclosures about Savile's alleged abuse of possibly dozens of underage victims over a period of many years, he described the presenter as a "manipulative" man.

But he told ITV1's This Morning he saw no abuse during the two decades in which he worked with the late TV and radio host.

"I didn't see anything and nothing was reported to me," he said. During their years working together, Ordish said Savile, whom he described as a private man who "compartmentalised" different areas of his life, even stayed at his home.

"He slept in a bedroom next to my 14-year-old daughter and I hope that is some indication that we had no suspicions of anything of this nature at all," he said.

The disclosures about Savile's private life were made in an ITV documentary a fortnight ago which had dismayed Ordish. "I was absolutely shocked and shattered and I was surprised that I had not been approached by the programme," he said of the Exposure documentary.

He maintained he knew nothing about Savile's activities, although he told This Morning hosts Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby there had been rumours. "We were aware that Jim had a predilection for younger females," he added, saying it was obvious from the way he chatted to girls.

The BBC has announced two inquiries as a result of the furore. Police believe the DJ and television presenter's alleged catalogue of sex abuse could have spanned six decades and included about 60 victims.

Ordish said of the allegations: "There's such overwhelming evidence that these things happened, that they can not all have been fabricated. But Jimmy Savile was a very clever man and he seems to have succeeded in hoodwinking a prime minister, the Vatican, the civil police forces, the NHS hospitals up and down the country and some members of the BBC staff, including me. I'd say he was a manipulative man."