Savile Play Left Victim 'Physically Unwell'

A victim of Jimmy Savile has praised the accuracy of a controversial play about his life, saying it evoked feelings of anger about the abuse she was subjected to.

Karin Ward, who attended the opening night of An Audience with Jimmy Savile, was one of several victims who were consulted during the production.

The impressionist Alistair McGowan has taken on the role of the disgraced entertainer, and Ms Ward claimed watching his performance "actually made her feel quite unwell at one point".

She told Sky News: "With the smell of the cigar smoke, it was almost like stepping back 40 years. It was uncanny. It was impeccable, absolutely fantastic, he was so convincing."

Ms Ward had thought she wouldn't feel anything when she saw the play, but afterwards, she added: "I was thinking, I wish he was still alive - I wish I could confront him now. I wish I had confronted him.

"I feel physically unwell which isn't good, but it will pass. I've realised there's still a lot in here I have to deal with."

The man behind the production, Jonathan Maitland, has said he has no regrets about the project - which received a long applause from the audience on its opening night in London.

Describing the story as one of the most important in the past decade, the journalist added: "It affects the way we treat children, whether we believe our children, the way we bow down cravenly before celebrities and the limitations of our libel laws.

"It's a story that absolutely has to be told, but if you tell it in this way, you can shine a light that current affairs and factual programmes just can't reach - and that's the point."

It's believed that there could be hundreds of victims of the DJ and presenter , who died in 2009.

A posthumous police investigation into his crimes described "widespread sexual abuse by a predatory sex offender".