FLOODLIGHTS
BBC Two, 9pm
Adrama that certainly needs a trigger warning, this 80-minute piece tells the bones of footballer Andy Woodward’s story. In 2016 Woodward went public with the horrific sexual abuse that he suffered at the hands of coach Barry Bennell when he was a youth player at Crewe Alexandra, a secret he’d kept for 30-odd years at great personal cost. Woodward’s revelation opened the floodgates and hundreds of ex-players came
forward with similar tales that would rock the football establishment. Last year’s documentary series Football’s Darkest Secret, featuring Woodward, covered the difficult subject sensitively, but tonight’s dramatisation packs some additional emotional punch.
The acting is consistently stellar by Shameless star Gerard Kearns as the grown-up Woodward, Max Fletcher as the football-mad boy and Jonas Armstrong as
the bullying Bennell. The film leap-frogs time and leaves out the most bizarre aspect of the story – that Bennell ended up marrying Woodward’s sister. Instead, it focuses on the grooming of a young boy, which is ghastly to observe, and the emotional tsunami that engulfed Woodward, ending his career and pushing him to suicidal despair. Laying bare the shame victims feel, it’s important, if not easy viewing.