''Secrets and Lies'' is an American mystery

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...

television series that aired on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

from March 1, 2015 to December 4, 2016. The series is based on the Australian television series of the same name, and developed for American television by Barbie Kligman. The series follows Detective Andrea Cornell (

Juliette Lewis Juliette Lake Lewis (born June 21, 1973) is an American actress and alternative rock singer. She is known for her portrayals of offbeat characters, often in films with dark themes. Lewis became an "it girl" of American cinema in the early 1990s, ...

) of the fictional

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...

-Mecklenburg County Police Department as she investigates homicide cases. In the first season, Ben Crawford (

Ryan Phillippe Matthew Ryan Phillippe (; born September 10, 1974) is an American actor. After appearing as Billy Douglas on the soap opera ''One Life to Live'', he came to fame in the late 1990s with starring roles in films including ''I Know What You Did Las ...

) becomes the prime suspect in the death of a young boy who lived in his neighborhood. In the second season, Cornell investigates Eric Warner (

Michael Ealy Michael Brown (born August 3, 1973), professionally known as Michael Ealy, is an American actor. He is known for his roles in '' Barbershop'' (2002), '' 2 Fast 2 Furious'' (2003), ''Takers'' (2010), ''Think Like a Man'' (2012), ''About Last Ni ...

), a newly married heir to his family's private equity firm, when his wife Kate is murdered. The series was renewed for a second season on May 7, 2015, which premiered on September 25, 2016 and concluded on December 4, 2016. On May 11, 2017, ABC cancelled the series after two seasons.

Plot summary

Season one

Ben Crawford is a self-employed contractor, married to Christy with whom he has two daughters, Natalie, 16, and Abby, 12. His best friend, Dave, lives in their summer house. They have a neighbor, Jess, who is estranged from her husband Scott, who is in the military. Jess and Scott have a five-year-old son named Tom. While out for an early morning run, Ben discovers Tom's body; he was evidently taken from his bed into the woods and killed by six blows to the head from a flashlight. Detective Cornell is convinced Ben is the killer, Ben cannot prove his innocence because he suffered a blackout after going out drinking with Dave following a fight with Christy over her suspicion of an affair with Jess. The Crawfords suffer media intrusion and are shunned by the community; a misunderstanding leads to a falling-out with Dave. They learn that Tom was in fact Ben's son, the result of a one-night affair, only revealed to him after DNA tests by police. Ben conducts his own investigations, leading to false accusations against Scott and other neighbors. He is manipulated by a reporter, Arthur, who is looking to take down Cornell, and kidnapped by a neighbor, Kevin, a former CIA operative, who attempts to extract a confession through torture. The rift with Dave is repaired only after Dave confesses to spiking Ben's drink the night of the murder. Together they retrace Ben's steps. Cornell begins to consider other suspects. By this time Ben's marriage has fallen apart. After sleeping with Jess once more, Ben discovers she is bipolar; convinced she is the killer and wrongly assuming she has now kidnapped Abby, she counters that with a

false accusation of rape A false accusation of rape happens when a person states that they or another person have been raped when no rape has occurred. Although some studies attempt to characterize the prevalence of false accusation of rape, according to a 2013 book o ...

. Independently of each other, Cornell and Ben discover the awful truth that Tom was killed by Abby. She confesses to her family that it was an accident, a failed plan to hide Tom for a short while to make it appear he was missing, to induce Scott to come home and prevent her father leaving Christy for Jess. Ben decides to confess to the murder to protect Abby, despite the protestations of Cornell, who is convinced Abby will kill again and vows to put her away. Abby reveals her plan all along had been to drown Tom, in the hope it would make Jess move away. In Season two, Ben is revealed to have been killed in jail. However, his innocence came to light afterwards. These facts have apparently put a stain on Cornell's reputation as a detective. It is unknown as of yet whether or not Abby was revealed to be Tom's real killer or if she succeeded in evading justice.

Season two

Eric Warner (

), a newly married heir to his family's private equity firm, is under suspicion from Detective Cornell when his wife Kate (

Jordana Brewster Jordana Brewster (born April 26, 1980) is a Panamanian-American actress. Best known for her role as Mia Toretto in the ''Fast & Furious'' franchise, she made her acting debut in an episode of ''All My Children'' in 1995 and next took on the recu ...

) is murdered.

Cast and characters

Main

;Season 1 *

as Ben Crawford *

as Detective Andrea Cornell *

KaDee Strickland Katherine Dee Strickland (born December 14, 1975) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Charlotte King on the ABC drama '' Private Practice'' (2007–2013). Strickland began acting during high school. She studied acting in ...

as Christine "Christy" Crawford *

Natalie Martinez Natalie Martinez is an American actress and model. She appeared in the 2008 film '' Death Race'', several music videos between 2003 and 2011, and two short-lived telenovelas in 2006 and 2007. Martinez starred in the single season of the crime dra ...

as Jessica "Jess" Murphy *

Dan Fogler Daniel Kevin Fogler (born October 20, 1976) is an American actor, comedian and writer. He has appeared in films including '' Balls of Fury'', '' Good Luck Chuck'', ''Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'', '' Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Gr ...

as Dave Lindsey *

Indiana Evans Indiana Rose Evans (born 27 July 1990) is an Australian actress. She is known for her roles in ''Home and Away'' as Matilda Hunter, '' H2O: Just Add Water'' as Bella Hartley, and '' Blue Lagoon: The Awakening'' as Emmaline Robinson. Early lif ...

as Natalie Crawford * Belle Shouse as Abby Crawford ;Season 2 *

as Eric Warner *

as Detective Andrea Cornell *

as Kate Warner *

Mekia Cox Mekia Cox (born November 18, 1981) is an American actress and dancer, known for her recurring role as Sasha in the second and third seasons of The CW drama '' 90210'', Dr. Robyn Charles in the NBC medical drama ''Chicago Med'' and her role as a ...

as Amanda Warner * Charlie Barnett as Patrick Warner *

Kenny Johnson Kenneth Allen Johnson (born July 13, 1963) is an American actor, producer, and model. He is known for his roles as Detective Curtis Lemansky in ''The Shield'', Butch "Burner" Barnes in '' Pensacola: Wings of Gold'', Detective Ham Dewey in '' Sa ...

as Danny *

Terry O'Quinn Terrance Quinn (born July 15, 1952), known professionally as Terry O'Quinn, is an American actor. He played John Locke on the TV series ''Lost'', the title role in '' The Stepfather'' and ''Stepfather II'', and Peter Watts in ''Millennium'', w ...

as John Warner

Recurring

;Season 1 *

Michael Beach Michael Anthony Beach (born October 30, 1963) is an American actor. He has appeared in films '' Lean on Me'' (1989), ''One False Move'' (1992), ''Short Cuts'' (1993), ''Waiting to Exhale'' (1995), ''A Family Thing'' (1996), ''Soul Food'' (1997), ...

as Arthur Fenton *

Steven Brand Steven Brand (born 26 June 1969) is a Scottish actor. His feature debut was ''The Scorpion King'' (2002), where he portrayed Memnon. He has had many guest appearances on television series, and in 2015, Brand was nominated Best Guest Starring R ...

as Joseph Richardson *

Kate Ashfield Kate Ashfield (born 28 May 1972) is an English actress, who has appeared in stage, TV and film roles, most famously in her role as Liz in the 2004 zombie comedy ''Shaun of the Dead''. She is the co-writer of the 2017 TV series ''Born to Kill''. ...

as Vanessa Richardson * Benny Ciaramello as Scott Murphy * Greg Alan Williams as Kevin Haynes *

Denise Dowse Denise Yvonne Dowse (February 21, 1958 – August 13, 2022) was an American actress and director. She was best known for her roles as Mrs. Yvonne Teasley in the television series ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' (1991–2000), Judge Rebecca Damsen in ' ...

as Elaine Williams *

Meaghan Rath Meaghan Rath (born June 18, 1986) is a Canadian film and television actress. She is known for her television roles on '' Being Human'', ''15/Love'', '' The Assistants'', and '' Hawaii Five-0''. Personal life Rath was born in Montreal, Quebec, ...

as Nicole Mullen *

Melissa Gilbert Melissa Ellen Gilbert (born May 8, 1963) is an American actress, television director, producer, politician, and former president of the Screen Actors Guild. Gilbert began her career as a child actress in the late 1960s, appearing in numerous co ...

as Lisa Daly ;Season 2 *

AnnaLynne McCord AnnaLynne McCord (born July 16, 1987) is an American actress, activist, and model. Known for playing vixen-type roles, McCord first gained prominence in 2007 as the scheming Eden Lord on the FX television series ''Nip/Tuck'', and as the pampe ...

as Melanie Warner *

Eric Winter Eric Barrett Winter (born July 17, 1976) is an American actor and former fashion model. He has appeared in the television roles of Rex Brady on the NBC soap opera ''Days of our Lives'', FBI Special Agent Craig O'Laughlin on the CBS drama seri ...

as Neil Oliver * McNally Sagal as May Stone *

David James Elliott David James Elliott (born September 21, 1960) is a Canadian actor who was the star of the series ''JAG (TV series), JAG'', playing lead character Harmon Rabb, Harmon Rabb Jr. from 1995 to 2005. Early life Elliott was born David William Smith on S ...

as Mayor Bryant *

Brendan Hines Brendan Patrick Hines (born December 28, 1976) is an American actor and singer/songwriter. He has had a number of television roles, including as part of the main cast of ''Lie to Me'' as well as recurring roles in ''Scandal'', ''Betrayal'', '' ...

as Detective Ralston *

Edwin Hodge Edwin Martel Basil Hodge (born January 26, 1985) is an American actor. He is recognized for portraying Dante Bishop in ''The Purge'' film series, and is the only actor to appear in all of the first three films. Early life Hodge was born on Jan ...

as Dr. Greg Young

Production

''Secrets and Lies'' was given its initial 10-episode series commitment in October 2013. Barbie Kligman was brought in as executive producer and showrunner while the producers from the original series, Tracey Robertson and Nathan Mayfield, serve as executive producers. On May 9, 2014, ''Secrets and Lies'' was picked up by

to air as a mid-season entry during the 2014–15 season. An additional scene from the season 1 finale was made available online, set 14 months after the rest of the episode, with Natalie clearing Ben's name.

Series overview

Episodes

''Cornell: Confidential'' is a web series by ABC Studios and Disney/ABC Digital Media Studios which accompanies the television series. Each webisode was released online after the television episode aired and gives additional clues told from the perspective of Detective Cornell.

Season 1 (2015)

Season 2 (2016)

Reception

Ratings

Season 1 (2015)

Season 2 (2016)

Critical reception

''Secrets and Lies'' has received mixed criticism when season one came out. On Rotten Tomatoes, it received a 36% approval rating, with a rating average of 4.7/10, based on 30 reviews. Its critical consensus reads: "While some may find its limited intrigue compelling, ''Secrets and Lies'' is ultimately undone by wooden performances, excessive red herrings, and bad scripts." On Metacritic, it scored 48 out of 100, based on 22 "mixed or average" reviews.

Controversy

On March 16, 2015, ABC and the show's producers came under fire from the bleeding disorder community for portraying

hemophilia Haemophilia, or hemophilia (), is a mostly inherited genetic disorder that impairs the body's ability to make blood clots, a process needed to stop bleeding. This results in people bleeding for a longer time after an injury, easy bruising, ...

as an

incest Incest ( ) is human sexual activity between family members or close relatives. This typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity (blood relations), and sometimes those related by affinity (marriage or stepfamily), adoption ...

uous disease with Michael Beach's character stating: "Hemophilia is the nasty byproduct of incest." A petition for a public apology was started on Change.org. In subsequent airings of the episode, the line was removed, but ABC published no formal apology.

International broadcast

* The series premiered in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Universal TV Universal TV, formerly Universal Channel, is an international pay television network specializing in movies and television series in the thriller, drama, comedy, horror, crime and investigation genres, owned by NBCUniversal International Netwo ...

on March 10, 2015. The second season aired from June 20 to August 22, 2016.Secrets And Lies
* The series premiered in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Zee Café Zee Café is an Indian pay television channel owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises. The channel mainly syndicates popular American and British television shows to appeal to the English-speaking population of India. History Zee English was ...

on April 11, 2015. * The series premiered in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

on M6 on November 5, 2015. * The series premiered in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

on Dizimax Drama. * The series premiered in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Globo Globo (meaning ''globe'' in Portuguese, Spanish and Italian) may refer to: *Grupo Globo, a Brazilian conglomerate primarily in mass media **TV Globo, a television network ***GloboNews, a television 24-hour news channel ***Globo (Portuguese TV cha ...

on October 17, 2016. * The series premiered in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

Rai 4 Rai 4 (pronounced ''Rai Quattro'') is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. Launched on 14 July 2008 with the film ''Elephant'', Rai 4 targets youths with ...

on September 13, 2015. * The series premiered in Finland on 13th Street on June 1, 2015.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Secrets And Lies (American TV series) 2010s American drama television series 2015 American television series debuts 2016 American television series endings American Broadcasting Company original programming English-language television shows 2010s American mystery television series American television series based on Australian television series Television series by ABC Studios Television shows filmed in North Carolina Television shows filmed in Wilmington, North Carolina Television shows featuring audio description Fiction about interracial romance Television series by Kapital Entertainment