• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • Magazine
  • Our Story
  • Buzz Learning
  • Buzz TV
  • Contact Buzz
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
Buzz Magazine

Buzz Magazine

What's On in Wales - Your Ultimate Guide

  • Culture
    • Art
    • Books
    • Comedy
    • Dance
    • Film
    • Music
    • Sport
    • Theatre
    • TV
  • Life
    • Reviews
    • Interviews
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
    • Community
    • Environment
  • Regions
    • South Wales
    • Mid Wales
    • West Wales
    • North Wales
  • What’s On
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Books
    • Comedy
    • Dance
    • Film
    • Music
    • Sport
    • Theatre
    • TV
  • Life
    • Reviews
    • Interviews
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
    • Community
    • Environment
  • Regions
    • South Wales
    • Mid Wales
    • West Wales
    • North Wales
  • What’s On

  • Magazine
  • Our Story
  • Buzz Learning
  • Buzz TV

  • Contact Buzz
  • Write for Buzz
  • Advertising
  • Jobs
  • FAQs
  • Privacy Policy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
You are here: Home / Reviews / IAN WRIGHT: HOME TRUTHS | WE’VE BEEN WATCHING

IAN WRIGHT: HOME TRUTHS | WE’VE BEEN WATCHING

May 18, 2021 Category: Reviews, Sport, TV
Programme Name: Ian Wright Home Truths - TX: n/a - Episode: n/a (No. 1) - Picture Shows: Ian Wright - (C) Brook Lapping Productions - Photographer: Dan Dewsbury

IAN WRIGHT: HOME TRUTHS | WE’VE BEEN WATCHING

 

The path to becoming a professional footballer at the highest level is tough, but it’s tougher for some than for others. Ian Wright battled his way from living with his family in a single room in south London to become Arsenal’s record goalscorer and, in retirement, a successful TV and radio presenter – but he’s never been able to escape the memories of a childhood blighted by domestic abuse.

For years, Wright struggled with his past in private, but he’s gradually started to speak about his experiences – perhaps most notably to Lauren Laverne on Desert Island Discs last year. Home Truths finds him courageously tackling the issue head on. “I’m nervous about doing this,” he admits, “but it’s something that needs to be done.”

That’s true generally, as much as for his own sake. The statistics set out at the beginning of the programme are horrifying: 1.6 million women experienced domestic abuse in the UK last year, and children are present in 90 per cent of cases. Lockdown has only exacerbated an existing problem, increasing the tensions within already troubled households and trapping victims in dangerous environments.

Despite the best efforts of his older brother Maurice to shield him from harm, the young Wright witnessed his mother being violently assaulted by his stepfather and suffered direct physical, psychological and emotional abuse at the hands of them both himself. The damage sustained in such situations is understandably long term – but, the programme suggests, not necessarily irreparable. Home Truths charts Wright’s moving personal journey from acknowledging the appalling reality of what he lived through (which involves a traumatic visit to the family home), to understanding his anger management issues, to meeting and speaking to other survivors, to realising that his experiences and feelings aren’t unique and that – far from being a deserving victim – he is blameless. The wounds may leave a scar, but at least they appear to be healing.

Salvation for the schoolboy footballer came in the shape of Sydney Pigden, the teacher who helped Wright to develop a sense of self-worth, and the documentary highlights the key role that school staff can and should play in identifying children who are suffering from the consequences of abuse. Among social workers there is, thankfully, now universal understanding that abuse need not be physical to warrant intervention. Such measures can be preventative: Wright talks to a man who’s being taught what constitutes abusive behaviour and how to keep it in check, and to a family who’ve been benefitting from a programme designed to reduce friction and improve communication. These initiatives offer encouraging evidence that cycles of violence can be broken and that children (and their mothers) can be spared from suffering.

However, the success of such schemes is contingent not only on the participants’ willingness to accept the existence of the problem and thus the need for change, but also on the availability of adequate resources. The swingeing, ideologically motivated cuts made by the Tories to local council budgets in the name of austerity have without doubt hampered efforts to effectively address domestic abuse, as well as many other social ills that disproportionately affect women and children. This being the politically neutral BBC, though, that particular elephant is allowed to wander freely around the room – the one home truth this important documentary shies away from.

 

Available on BBC iPlayer now. Info: here

words BEN WOOLHEAD photos DAN DEWSBURY

  • Tweet

About Buzz

Buzz Magazine is one of the most established magazines in Wales with 30 years experience in creating unique content that promotes and supports Welsh culture and lifestyle.

Tag: BBC iPlayer, ben woolhead, buzz tv review, home truths, ian wright, We've Been Watching

You may also like:

Courtney Barnett

Indie rock icon COURTNEY BARNETT’s Cardiff stop-off is a mutual love-in

Moor Mother - credit: Samantha Isasian

Afrofuturism & jazzy hip-hop create free-flowing alchemy on MOOR MOTHER’s JAZZ CODES

The Perfect Golden Circle, Benjamin Myers

THE PERFECT GOLDEN CIRCLE gets sensuously political with English crop circles

Alium

Business is blooming at Barry’s ALIUM – and keeping THE HUMBLE ONION spirit alive

Evil Blizzard - Cardiff Psych & Noise Fest 2022

CARDIFF PSYCH & NOISE FEST 2022: a hidden gem for the city’s music weirdos

Municipal Waste

Thrash metal champs MUNICIPAL WASTE still top of their game over 20 years in


Sidebar

Looking for something to do?

The Ultimate Guide to What’s on in Wales!

See What’s On
BTP - Campaign

Buzz archives

Buzz Magazine

12 Gaspard Place
Barry
Vale Of Glamorgan
CF62 6SJ

[email protected]

Contact Us
  • Jobs
  • Advertising
  • Editorial
  • Submit an Event
  • Write for Buzz
About Us
  • Our Story
  • Magazine
  • Buzz Learning
  • Media Services
  • FAQs
  • Privacy Policy
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube


Copyright © 2022   |   All Rights Reserved   |   Buzz Magazine   


We are using cookie tracking to give you the best experience on our website.

You can find out more about which cookies we track and personalise your preferences in settings.

Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.