I listed this as ‘mustn’t watch’. I’m so glad I changed my mind

Floodlights

BBC2, Tuesday HHHHH

Conversations With Friends

BBC3, Sunday & Monday ★★★☆☆

The drama of the week was not the Sally Rooney adaptation Conversations With Friends – a quick synopsis: a young woman who doesn’t yet know what she wants faffs about – but Floodlights. This was a one-off drama about endemic child abuse at the heart of British football and, more specifically, the case of the former professional player Andy Woodward, who was abused by youth coach Barry Bennell – and he wasn’t alone. Once Woodward came forward (in 2016), more than 100 other boys did so, too. Oh, God.

This was not something I wanted to watch. When I saw it listed, I even made a mental note to avoid it. There’s my ‘mustn’t watch’ of the week, right there, I thought. It would be difficult, harrowing, heartbreaking, grotesque, upsetting. I could just stick with Conversations With Friends? And all that faffing about.

But, in the end, avoidance seemed like cowardice. One must bear witness or there is silence and silence changes nothing. This drama was, it’s true, difficult, harrowing, heartbreaking, grotesque and upsetting but it was also an exceptional piece of television, and an important one, particularly for anyone who was abused as a child and still imagines it was their fault. (I welled up writing that.) Also, I should add, it was ultimately uplifting. Through finding his voice, you sensed that Andy had finally found himself.

This was written by Matt Greenhalgh and starred Max Fletcher as young Andy, Gerard Kearns as adult Andy, and Jonas Armstrong as Bennell. (Apparently, Armstrong was reluctant to accept the role, but he too decided avoidance would be cowardice.)

Andy is an 11-year-old kid in 1980s Stockport and already a talented defender with dreams of becoming a professional footballer when he is scouted by Bennell, the Crewe Alexandra youth coach and self-styled ‘starmaker’. (‘I’m the starmaker, son.’ Then it’s: ‘You’re special, lad.’ Then it’s: ‘Your mum works in a chippy. Trust in me and you can go from earning 20 quid a week to two grand.’)

Woody is thrilled, as are his parents. We watch them being seduced as Bennell drops by, stays for tea (egg and chips) and tells them Andy has what it takes. (‘He really rates you, baby,’ says his mother, who is as thrilled as any mother would be when her child’s dreams appear to be coming true.) Bennell, it quickly transpires, hosts ‘sleepovers’ for his young charges and soon Andy is separated from his team-mates and persuaded to share his bed – ‘You’re my favourite… you want to be my favourite, don’t you son?’ A game called Follow Me ensues that is plainly horrific but little else is shown, mercifully. Andy understands that if he protests, he’ll be dropped from the team and perhaps even framed for stealing, as happens to another boy. And he really, really wants to be a footballer.

The abuse continued for four years. The performances were exceptional. Fletcher showed us Andy’s innocence being slowly poisoned, while Armstrong’s Bennell was stunningly abhorrent yet with the sufficient charm to get away with it for so long. And Kearns was astonishing as adult Andy, a haunted, tortured soul. In one particularly difficult scene he meets Bennell again and is manipulated once more. (‘You enjoyed it, lad. Or you’d have said “no”.’)

But it was all beautifully handled, told with the utmost respect to Andy, and while his bravery in speaking out has had important consequences – Bennell is in prison and the FA was forced to draw up strict childprotection rules – just as importantly, it seems Andy can get on with his life now.

The adaptation of Sally Rooney’s novel Conversations With Friends follows on from the TV version of her other novel, Normal People, the BBC’s most watched drama of 2020 with 62million streams. This stars Alison Oliver as Frances, a 21-year-old English student in Dublin. Frances is introverted and struggles to express herself, unlike her best friend and ex-lover Bobbi (Sasha Lane), who is far more outgoing and confident.

The pair become involved with an older couple, writer Melissa (Jemima Kirke) and her C-list actor husband Nick (Joe Alwyn), and when Frances and Nick embark on an affair, this becomes a ménage à quatre. Or love square, if you prefer.

Made by much the same team as Normal People, it makes you admire the way it aims for the interior landscapes of the characters. But it also means it’s less conversations with friends than conversations with pained silences, long pauses, awkward exchanges and what seems like hours spent over sending a single text.

I’m all for slow burn. I’m a fan of slow burn. But it has to go somewhere and this ultimately never does. Plus, I found I cared more for Melissa and Nick’s amazing house – where’s that lamp from? – than I did for any of the characters.

On the other hand, it was strangely mesmerising and I did make it through all 12 half-hour episodes – it’s all on iPlayer – or thought I had, until I realised I’d inadvertently skipped one episode. But understand this: it made no difference whatsoever.

There is no getting away from it: Floodlights may have been the drama you didn’t want to watch, but that was the one that really had something to say.