The executive producer of BBC Two\u2019s Floodlights \u2013 a real-life drama about footballer Andy Woodward<\/a>\u2018s experience of sexual abuse \u2013 has revealed that the former Crewe Alexandra player found the show \u201cpretty overwhelming\u201d.<\/p>\n The feature-length single drama stars Shameless actor Gerard Kearns as Andy Woodward, who was sexually abused by his youth coach Barry Bennell in the 1980s and spoke about his experience in 2016, with Bennell being sentenced to more than 30 years in prison for multiple child sexual offences.<\/p>\n Speaking to RadioTimes.com<\/a> and other press about Woodward\u2019s reaction to the drama, Floodlights boss Colin Barr said that the footballer visited the set and has seen the film \u201cseveral times\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe made sure he saw it at various stages and I think it was pretty overwhelming for him. I think you can imagine the sorts of things that we\u2019re recreating are the source of a huge amount of trauma and damage for Andy.<\/p>\n \u201cSo asking him to sit down and watch a film that effectively recreates those moments and actually recreate some moments for the family.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that Woodward was \u201calways most sensitive\u201d about how his family came across in the drama, with Happy Valley\u2019s Steve Edge playing his father Terry and The Bay\u2019s Morven Christie playing his mother Jean.<\/p> \u201cI think that he was massively reassured when he saw what Steve and Morven had done with their performances,\u201d Barr said.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he was always really worried that an audience might judge his family for what happened and we always wanted to make sure that the film could show an audience how these things would happen without judgement because Bennell was who Bennell was.\u201d<\/p>\n He continued: \u201cSo it was overwhelming for him. I think his overriding feeling is one of great pride, which from my point of view was everything. Absolutely everything.\u201d<\/p>\n Read more: Floodlights star reveals he initially refused to play Barry Bennell<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The SurvivorsUK National Online Helpline for Male Survivors can be reached from 12pm \u2013 8pm every day via the website (http:\/\/survivorsuk.org<\/a>), by text (020 3322 1860) and by email (help@survivorsuk.org<\/a>).<\/em><\/p>\n Floodlights airs on BBC Two on Tuesday 17th May at 9pm. Check out more of our\u00a0Drama<\/a>\u00a0coverage or visit our\u00a0TV Guide<\/a> to see what\u2019s on tonight.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/body><\/html>\n By Lauren Morris Published: Tuesday, 17 May 2022 at 12:00 am This article contains discussion of subjects including sexual abuse that some readers may find upsetting.\u00a0 The executive producer of BBC Two\u2019s Floodlights \u2013 a real-life drama about footballer Andy Woodward\u2018s experience of sexual abuse \u2013 has revealed that the former Crewe Alexandra player found […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":15587,"template":"","categories":[1,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/05\/floodlights-boss-reveals-how-andy-woodward-responded-to-drama-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/05\/floodlights-boss-reveals-how-andy-woodward-responded-to-drama-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/05\/floodlights-boss-reveals-how-andy-woodward-responded-to-drama-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/05\/floodlights-boss-reveals-how-andy-woodward-responded-to-drama-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/05\/floodlights-boss-reveals-how-andy-woodward-responded-to-drama-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/05\/floodlights-boss-reveals-how-andy-woodward-responded-to-drama-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/05\/floodlights-boss-reveals-how-andy-woodward-responded-to-drama-2048x1365.jpg",2048,1365,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Lauren Morris Published: Tuesday, 17 May 2022 at 12:00 am This article contains discussion of subjects including sexual abuse that some readers may find upsetting.\u00a0 The executive producer of BBC Two\u2019s Floodlights \u2013 a real-life drama about footballer Andy Woodward\u2018s experience of sexual abuse \u2013 has revealed that the former Crewe Alexandra player found…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/15586"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/05\/Andy-Woodward-1b7f772.jpg?quality=90&crop=17px%2C0px%2C4157px%2C2769px&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
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