Sorry - can't remember how to insert links. You'll have to copy and paste the above into your browser.
I've seen suggestion elsewhere that this might be the work of arch-satirist Chris Morris. Whatever, neither Hislop or Merton are on record as having denied it actually took place.
Wonderfully compulsive. Though, I thought a little out of character for Paul Merton.
Several people were linking to this on Twitter and saying it was a fake today. As Aaron notes, it has who's on which team mixed up compared to the real episode.
It's a fake. Someone on the now defunct comedy fanforum 'Some of the Corpses are Amusing' claimed authorship. Their target was apparently a particular journalist, though I don't think it was clear what the sting was intended to be- perhaps to let them run the story and then get sued? Then it went viral as an email. That's the story anyhow.
Unless that page has been re-written in the 15 hours or so since I read it, on what basis do you say that? The post merely describes the 'transcript', it doesn't offer any particular 'proof' one way or the other, nor did it reach any sort of conclusion that I could see.
Whilst reading the news story today about Savile's forthcoming funeral I thought it would be funny to see the footage of that HIGNFY episode again, I assumed it would be on YouTube or other video-sharing sites as I thought it was a commonly-seen piece of footage. After searching for it I now realise that that is not the case and I have ended up here only to read that for years most people believed it to be a hoax.
I was sent this footage a few years ago in an email from a work colleague. I don't know where he got it from, nor did I think to ask as I presumed it would be something easily found on the net. Merton clearly had a bee in his bonnet about Savile because he was relentless and quite nasty. It was pretty much straight-up bullying of an old man over rumours I had never heard about before, funny at first but then just bizarre. You could hear the audience reaction turn from laughter to shock. Jimmy was actually sitting next to Paul on his team, and was not on Ian's team as the programme info link posted above states. I didn't think too much more about it until today because I presumed many people had seen it and that it was relatively common-knowledge. I know some people won't believe me and that's fair enough as I have no proof, all I can say is that I clearly remember seeing the footage, and it was very real.
I joined this site today so that I could tell you this(!), if I hadn't I certainly wouldn't be wasting my time making this all up!
Interesting. If that's true then it suggests they re-recorded the show. I double-checked, and Savile is most definitely on Ian's team, with Diane Abbott on Paul's.
I only read the first few lines on the transcript and can't believe that is true in any way. If it were I'm sure it would be viral - the footage and not some word document any one can knock up. The transcript is not funny at all and made me cringe
Interesting. If that's true then it suggests they re-recorded the show. I double-checked, and Savile is most definitely on Ian's team, with Diane Abbott on Paul's.
Can someone please send me a link to hignfy s17 e7 ????
or
Louis Theroux meets Jimmy Savile????
They seem to be missing from this world wide web thingy!
I wonder why?
Seems very strange indeed to me as I have seen the full glory of hignfy s17 e7.. it was definitely no hoax