BBC has expressed its apology after its children’s channel, CBeebies, broadcast a repeat of a 2001 episode of The Tweenies, which had consisted of a character adorned as Jimmy Savile. The Late BBC DJ and presenter, who passed away in October 2011, has been embroiled in a dishonourable sex abuse scandal since early October 2012, when an ITV Jimmy Savile documentary revealed his involvement in several sexual abuse cases since the 1960s.

The Tweenies’ Jimmy Savile episode, which was filmed and broadcast in 2001, was depicted by BBC’s CBeebies before 9 am on Sunday. In the Tweenies’ Jimmy Savile episode, a character named Max hosts a Top of the Pops-style program. The character Max sports an archetypal tracksuit of Jimmy Savile and is decorated with a blonde wig.

Subsequently, in The Tweenies’ Jimmy Savile episode, Max employs the dishonoured BBC presenter’s accent and voices his catchphrase: “Now then, guys and gals.”

The viewers of The Tweenies episode on Jimmy Savile have responded with extreme uneasiness and furiousness. The general sentiment of the tweets online, in response to The Tweenies episode on Jimmy Savile, was that the BBC could destroy its reputation fully by broadcasting such episodes on Jimmy Savile, which portray the ex-BBC presenter in a favorable light.

As per The Sun, numerous victims of Jimmy Savile’s sex abuse scandal have reacted with dismay to The Tweenies episode on Jimmy Savile. Their general reaction was that the CBeebies’ broadcast of The Tweenies episode on Jimmy Savile would send a confusing signal to the children viewing the show. The children wouldn’t know how to interpret the character of Jimmy Savile if CBeebies aired such episodes on Jimmy Savile. BBC has been accused by these victims and by their relatives of showing scanty regard for the suffering of Jimmy Savile’s sex abuse victims.

A recent Metropolitan Police report on the Jimmy Savile sex abuse scandal said he was a prolific and predatory sex criminal, who abused in excess of 200 people over 60 years.

A BBC spokesman has remarked that the BBC is apologetic for the broadcast of The Tweenies episode. The spokesman has assured that the programme wouldn’t be repeated.