Floodlights

Floodlights (2022)

The powerful and inspiring story of Andy Woodward, one of the first footballers to come forward with allegations of sexual abuse in the national game. After being abused by football scout paedophile Barry Bennell.

Date of release
2022-05-17
TMDB
5.8 / 10 (5)
Runtime
1h 20m
Genres
Drama
Director
Nick Rowland

Casting

Interesting facts

Floodlights is a British television film first broadcast on BBC Two on 17 May 2022. The film is about Andy Woodward, a former professional footballer who in 2016 revealed that he was a victim of child sexual abuse by the predatory coach Barry Bennell. Woodward is played by Gerard Kearns and his younger self by screen debutant Max Fletcher, and Bennell by Jonas Armstrong. The film was praised for the acting by its three leads, and how it conveyed the emotional pain of abuse without showing it on screen.

Production

Woodward said that he admired the film Spotlight about the Catholic Church sexual abuse cases but found it to be focused too much on journalists and not on victims. He worked with the screenwriter Matt Greenhalgh to make a film focusing on the emotional journey of victims of child sexual abuse.

Jonas Armstrong was going to audition for the part of Woodward but was eventually convinced by his agent to take the role of Bennell. Armstrong said that he had to portray Bennell's charisma that charmed the parents and children, but also the "demon within him". Woodward said that Armstrong's acting was so similar to Bennell that his sister, who in real life married the coach, was sickened by it.

While the film portrays Woodward having to touch Bennell's genitalia, no abuse is shown in graphic detail. Greenhalgh said that viewers would know what was happening, and said that he had switched off the BBC series Three Girls about the Rochdale child sex abuse ring because of graphic content.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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