''Liar'' is a British thriller television series created by Harry and Jack Williams, and co-produced by

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

and

SundanceTV Sundance TV (formerly known as Sundance Channel) is an American pay television channel owned by AMC Networks that launched on February 1, 1996. The channel is named after Robert Redford's character in ''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'' and, w ...

. The series stars

Joanne Froggatt Joanne Froggatt (born 23 August 1980) is a British actress. From 2010 to 2015, she portrayed Anna Bates in the ITV period drama series ''Downton Abbey''. For this role, she received three Emmy nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a ...

and

Ioan Gruffudd Ioan Gruffudd (; (born 6 October 1973) is a Welsh actor. He first came to public attention as Fifth Officer Harold Lowe in ''Titanic'' (1997), and then for his portrayal of Horatio Hornblower in the '' Hornblower'' series of television films ...

as two people whose initial attraction leads to far-reaching consequences for them and their friends and families. The series premiered on ITV on 11 September 2017, with the first series concluding on 16 October 2017. Upon its debut, it received positive reviews, with many critics praising the performances of Froggatt and Gruffudd. The programme was renewed for a second and final series, which premiered on 2 March 2020, concluding on 6 April 2020.

Plot

Laura Nielson, a smart and capable teacher in the middle of a breakup, is set up on a date with widowed surgeon Andrew Earlham. However, the morning after, Neilson realises she has been raped. When reporting the rape to the police proves fruitless, Nielson investigates the incident herself, ultimately discovering video evidence of her own and several other rapes. Before Earlham can be arrested, however, he is found dead, and the second series focuses on the hunt for his killer.

Cast and characters

Main

as Laura Nielson, a smart and dedicated teacher who is newly single *

as Andrew Earlham, a renowned surgeon whose son, Luke, is a pupil in Laura's class *

Zoë Tapper Zoë Tapper (born 26 October 1981) is an English actress who first came to prominence playing Nell Gwynne in Richard Eyre's award-winning film ''Stage Beauty'' in 2004. She is known for portraying Anya Raczynski in '' Survivors'' and Mina Har ...

as Katy Sutcliffe, Laura's older sister, a doctor who works with Andrew at the local hospital * Richie Campbell as Liam Sutcliffe, Katy's unsuspecting husband and father of her two children * Jamie Flatters as Luke Earlham, Andrew's son who is a pupil in Laura's class *

Shelley Conn Shelley Deborah Conn (born 21 September 1976) is an English actress. She is perhaps best known for her roles as Lady Mary Sharma in the hugely successful Netflix series ''Bridgerton'', as Isabella in the film ''Love Sarah'', as Dr Elizabeth Shan ...

as DI Vanessa Harmon, a detective with the fictional Thanet and Dover Police who investigates Laura's allegation of rape * Danny Webb as DS Rory Maxwell, a Thanet & Dover Police detective and second in command to Vanessa Harmon *

Kieran Bew Kieran Bew (born 18 August 1980) is an English actor, known for portraying Alfonso, Duke of Calabria in '' Da Vinci's Demons'' for Starz, '' Hans Christian Andersen: My Life as a Fairytale'' for Hallmark Entertainment and Gary Parr in Jimmy ...

as Ian Davis, Laura's new love interest

Recurring

* Warren Brown as PC Tom Bailey (Series 1), Laura's ex-boyfriend who is having an affair with her sister, Katy *

Eileen Davies Eileen Davies (born 23 September 1948) is an English actress, nominated for ''best supporting actress'' at the British Independent Film Awards 2012 for her performance in the film Sightseers, her roles have included “Flora McArdle” in t ...

as Andrew Earlham's elderly friend Sylvia (Series 1) *

Jill Halfpenny Jill Halfpenny (born 15 July 1975) is an English actress. Her notable roles include Rebecca Hopkins in ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'' (1999–2000), Kate Mitchell in BBC One soap opera ''EastEnders'' (2002–2005), Izzie Redpath in '' W ...

as Jennifer Robertson, Vanessa's wife, a soldier *

Dawn Steele Dawn Steele (born 11 December 1975) is a Scottish actress best known for her portrayals of the characters Alexandra “Lexie” MacDonald from the BBC drama '' Monarch of the Glen'', Alice Trevanion in the ITV drama series '' Wild at Heart'' a ...

as Catherine McAulay (Series 1), an Edinburgh barmaid and friend of Andrew Earlham * Katherine Kelly as DI Karen Renton (Series 2), an officer from the

Metropolitan Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

Sam Spruell Sam Spruell (born 1 January 1977) is a British actor. He is best known for playing villainous roles in film and television including Oleg Malankov in ''Taken 3'', Finn in ''Snow White and the Huntsman'' and Swarm in '' Doctor Who: Flux''. He als ...

as Oliver Graham (Series 2), an old acquaintance of Andrew Earlham *

Amy Nuttall Amy Abigail Nuttall (born 7 June 1982) is an English actress and singer known for playing Chloe Atkinson in the ITV soap opera ''Emmerdale'' from 2000 until 2005, and housemaid Ethel Parks in ITV period drama ''Downton Abbey''. Early life Nut ...

as Winnie Peterson (Series 2), a nurse *

Howard Charles Howard Charles is an English actor who is best known for his portrayal of Porthos in the BBC series '' The Musketeers''. Education He studied at Kingston College in England between 2000 and 2005, earning a BTEC Level 3 Diploma in Performing Ar ...

as Carl Peterson (Series 2), Winnie's husband who owns a boatyard, an ex-soldier and Afghanistan veteran *

Dermot Crowley Dermot Crowley (born 19 March 1947) is an Irish stage, film and television actor. Life and career Theatre Crowley's stage work has included a leading role in an Olivier Award winning production of Conor McPherson's ''The Weir'', which played ...

as Henry Neilson (Series 2), the father of Laura Neilson and Katy Sutcliffe *Jack Colgrave Hirst, as Greg Maxwell (Series 2), son of DS Rory Maxwell, a

National Crime Agency The National Crime Agency (NCA) is a national law enforcement agency in the United Kingdom. It is the UK's lead agency against organised crime; human, weapon and drug trafficking; cybercrime; and economic crime that goes across regional and in ...

officer *

Lucy Speed Lucy Renee Speed (born 31 August 1976) is an English actress best known for her television roles as Natalie Evans in the BBC One soap opera ''EastEnders'' from 1994 to 1995 and again from 1999 until 2004, and as DS Stevie Moss in the ITV police ...

as a Counsellor (Series 2) *

Michael Wildman Michael Wildman is a British actor. He appeared in the film '' Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix''. He played the role of aggressive, feisty centaur Magorian. Prior to accepting this role, Wildman was in the West End playing Lance Corpo ...

as DI Michael McCoy (Series 2) *

Jenny Galloway Jenny Galloway is a British actress, and singer best known for her stage career which includes Madame Thénardier in Les Misérables. She has received numerous awards and nominations, winning the 1999 Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress ...

as the Marina Inn hotel receptionist (Series 2)

Production

''Liar'' was announced on 15 April 2016 as the first full production from Two Brothers Pictures. On 30 September 2016, the miniseries was commissioned by American

cable network Networking cables are networking hardware used to connect one network device to other network devices or to connect two or more computers to share devices such as printers or scanners. Different types of network cables, such as coaxial cable, op ...

and British commercial broadcaster

. Commercial broadcasters TF1 and

Seven 7 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 7 or seven may also refer to: * AD 7, the seventh year of the AD era * 7 BC, the seventh year before the AD era * The month of July Music Artists * Seven (Swiss singer) (born 1978), a Swiss recording artist ...

have also ordered the series. Filming for the series began in London and

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

in November 2016. The marshes were filmed in Tollesbury, Essex. The seaside hometown for main character Laura was filmed at

Deal, Kent Deal is a coastal town in Kent, England, which lies where the North Sea and the English Channel meet, north-east of Dover and south of Ramsgate. It is a former fishing, mining and garrison town whose history is closely linked to the anchora ...

and Kingsdown. Some inner town sequences in

Brockley Brockley is a district and an electoral ward of south London, England, in the London Borough of Lewisham south-east of Charing Cross. History The name Brockley is derived from "Broca's woodland clearing", a wood where badgers are seen (' ...

Nunhead Nunhead is a suburb in the London Borough of Southwark in London, England.Southwark Council Nunhead and Peckham Rye Community Council It is an inner-city suburb located southeast of Charing Cross. It is the location of the Nunhead Cemetery.BBC ...

Shortlands Shortlands is a suburb of South East London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It has been part of Greater London since 1965, and was previously part of the historic county of Kent. It is located between Beckenham and Bromley, to t ...

(Episode 3), South Ealing, and

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

(Episode 4). After the first series concluded on 16 October 2017, it was announced that the programme would be returning for a second series. The second series, which premiered on 2 March 2020, focuses on a

whodunnit A ''whodunit'' or ''whodunnit'' (a colloquial elision of "Who asdone it?") is a complex plot-driven variety of detective fiction in which the puzzle regarding who committed the crime is the main focus. The reader or viewer is provided with th ...

storyline involving the cliffhanger of the first series' finale. Froggatt and Gruffudd both returned.

Episodes

Series 1 (2017)

Series 2 (2020)

Broadcast

The series premiered on

on 11 September 2017 at 9pm, in exactly the same slot that the Two Brothers Pictures series '' Rellik'' premiered on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

. It premiered on

on 27 September 2017. The series was acquired in Australia by the

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...

and in New Zealand by

TVNZ , type = Crown entity , industry = Broadcast television , num_locations = New Zealand , location = Auckland, New Zealand , area_served = Nationally (New Zealand) and some Pacific Island nations such as the Cook Islands, Fiji, and the So ...

Adaptations

Up to five

remakes A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the sam ...

of ''Liar'' have been produced by networks in other countries, including Italy, Spain. Germany, France and Turkey. The Italian remake, ''Non mentire'', premiered on

Canale 5 Canale 5 () is an Italian free-to-air television channel of Mediaset, owned by MFE - MediaForEurope. It was the first private television network to have a national coverage in Italy in 1980. On 4 December 2012, Mediaset launched Canale 5 HD, a s ...

on February 17, 2019. The Spanish remake, ''Mentiras'', was first released on

Atresplayer Premium Atresplayer Premium (often stylized as ATRESplayer Premium) is a Spanish paid subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service of Atresmedia. History and description It was launched in Spain on 8 September 2019. The first origina ...

on April 19, 2020, before eventually premiering on Antena 3 on January 12, 2022. The German remake, ''Du sollst nicht lügen'', was first released on Joyn Plus+ on February 2, 2021, before debuting on pay television on

Sat.1 Emotions Sat.1 emotions is a ProSiebenSat.1 Media pay-TV channel. It started broadcasting on May 3, 2012 at 8:15 pm. It replaced Sat.1 Comedy. ProSiebenSat.1 Media also operates the two pay-TV channels kabel eins classics and ProSieben Fun. Sat.1 emotion ...

on February 7 and premiering free-to-air on Sat.1 on February 9. The French remake, ''Mensonges'', was first released on Salto on July 30, 2021, before premiering on TF1 on September 2, 2021. The Turkish remake, ''Yalanci'', premiered on

Show TV Show TV is a nationwide television channel in Turkey owned by Albayrak Holding since 2018, acquired from Sadık Albayrak which in turn seized from Ciner Media Group after Turgay Ciner was forced to sell due to tax debts. The channel replaces Cine ...

on September 17, 2021.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Liar (Tv Series) 2017 British television series debuts 2020 British television series endings 2010s British drama television series 2010s British mystery television series 2020s British drama television series 2020s British mystery television series British thriller television series English-language television shows ITV television dramas Rape in television Television series by All3Media Television shows shot in Kent