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5.8/10 • 5

2022-05-171h 20m

Drama

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.

Directors
Nick Rowland
Writters
Matt Greenhalgh
Editors
Matt Greenhalgh, Andonis Trattos

Top Billed Cast

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  1. Gerard Kearns

    Gerard Kearns

    Andrew Woodward

  2. Jonas Armstrong

    Jonas Armstrong

    Barry Bennell

  3. Morven Christie

    Morven Christie

    Jean Woodward

  4. Steve Edge

    Steve Edge

    Terry Woodward

  5. Max Fletcher

    Max Fletcher

    Andrew Woodward (Young)

  6. Neil Bell

    Neil Bell

    DS Haleford

  7. Antony Byrne

    Antony Byrne

    Neil Warnock

  8. Avin Shah

    Avin Shah

    Ash Stephenson

  9. Mohammad Sakhi

    Mohammad Sakhi

    Ash Stephenson (Young)

Reviews1

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CinemaSerf Avatar

CinemaSerf

May 29, 2022

7/10

This is quite an harrowing story about how a real-life football coach - portrayed well here by Jonas Armstrong - managed to dupe just about everyone for years that he was a reputable and upstanding individual whilst at the same time, was routinely abusing the trust of those around him to prey on the younger boys who thought he offered them a path to escape the drudgery of their day-to-day lives. On the face of it, it is quite astonishing that he got away with it for so long; but this man was clever. Bennell played upon the aspirations of parents and children alike. Not just their desires for fame and success, but for more ordinary things like inclusion, affection, being part of a team. This story focusses on the young Andy Woodward, whom Bennell cleverly manoeuvred into his bed with promises that a successful career could stop his mum from having to work in the local chip shop. There is nothing graphic here - and that makes the efforts more potent. His manipulation was psychological and he even comes out with the immortal line "you didn't say no!" which though possibly true, is anything but the point. No amount of rules and regulation can ever prevent clever people like this from prevailing simply because it is the honest trust and integrity that exists in most of us that allows people that perpetrate this predatory behaviour to thrive. If we can't see any flaws, then we don't know to look for them - and these young lads were the unwilling victims not of indifference, but of cleverness and shame! The drama is measured, the dialogue poignant and the performances convincing - especially towards the end. This is well worth a watch.

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Status
Released
Original Language
English
Budget
--
Revenue
--
Keywords
child abusesexual abusefootball (soccer)whistleblower