Maxine Peake

Diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome at 15, John Davidson navigates his way against the odds through troubled teenage years and into adulthood, finding inspiration in the kindness of others to discover his true purpose in life.

Two scheming demons strike a deal with a punk rock-loving teen so they can leave the Underworld and live out their dreams in the Land of the Living.

World-renowned journalist and human rights activist Anna Politkovskaya went from being a local print journalist to braving the Chechen killing fields and exposing Russian state corruption under Vladimir Putin. She refused to give up reporting on the war in Chechnya despite numerous acts of intimidation and violence, including being poisoned. She was ultimately murdered in the elevator of her block of flats and it remains unclear who paid for the contract killing.

Parisian bon vivant, World War II Resistance fighter, Nobel Prize-winning playwright, philandering husband and recluse…Samuel Beckett lived a life of many parts. Titled after Beckett’s famous ethos “Dance first, think later”, the film is a sweeping account of the life of this 20th-century icon.

Anna wakes to kind faces she doesn’t recognize and a remote island she has no memory of. She is forced to re-learn everything about herself, her husband and the baby she is carrying. But when two disfigured people arrive on the island and there is a violent altercation she discovers that the human race is close to extinction and goes searching for the truth about herself.

Filmmaker Mark Forbes explores the persistent class barriers within the UK film industry, revealing the struggles, resilience, and untold stories of working-class creatives fighting for a voice in a system stacked against them.

In Moss Side a white vampire offers a black ex-addict immortality. A story about privilege, hunger, and the high cost of power in today’s world.

Twenty-somethings Minnie and Leah have never left their hometown. When former coworker Danny unexpectedly returns, the pair spiral into a chaotic attempt to impress him, only to discover that the lives and relationships they’ve overlooked may be exactly what they need.

One of the most controversial writers of our times, join Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh as he undergoes a remarkable trip to find new meaning in his work, life and legacy.

A working-class photographer captures the impact of Thatcherism on the north of England but is unable to escape the poverty and inequality she exposed.

A feature length documentary celebrating the life of Britain’s beloved comedy icon Victoria Wood delving into the complex inner world of this national treasure nearly ten years after her passing. Victoria Wood remains one of Britain’s most cherished entertainers – a northern comic genius whose work reshaped the landscape of British humour. But behind the joyous persona – the singer, the satirist, the sharp-witted writer – lay a young woman navigating insecurity, anger, and self-doubt. Told in her own words and through the voices of those who knew her best, the film uncovers the formative experiences and personal battles that powered Victoria’s unmatched ability to make the nation laugh. The film will explore never-before-seen archive material and previously unheard audio recordings, to paint a vivid portrait of the woman behind the fame.

Short film for Refuge, the national charity for domestic abuse, drawing attention to the shocking rise in violence against women during the 2020 lockdown

A politician learns just how quickly things can go terribly wrong when a career-defining live TV interview goes off the rails due to a surprise coughing attack.

Based on the short ghost story of the same name by Algernon Blackwood from 1909, The Occupant of the Room centers on a schoolteacher whose late-night arrival at a hotel in the Alps leads to a sleepless night full of uncanny occurrences.

The story of Merseyside mum and campaigner Anne Williams, who lost her son Keven. For nearly three decades she fought the English establishment to expose the truth of what really happened at Hillsborough, and to try and get justice for the 97.

While caring for their dying mother, a child finds solace in a group of friends, but begins to encounter violence at every turn.

Every summer, the sheep on Scafell Pike are gathered down to the farm for shearing. On this epic journey, a shepherd reflects on life while caring for his flock in this rugged landscape.

Once a healthy, active young man, Hawking received an earth-shattering diagnosis at 21 years of age. With Jane fighting tirelessly by his side, Stephen embarks on his most ambitious scientific work, studying the very thing he now has precious little of – time.

An epic portrayal of the events surrounding the infamous 1819 Peterloo Massacre, where a peaceful pro-democracy rally at St Peter’s Field in Manchester turned into one of the bloodiest and most notorious episodes in British history. The massacre saw British government forces charge into a crowd of over 60,000 that had gathered to demand political reforms and protest against rising levels of poverty.

England, 1969. The fascinating Abbie and the troubled Lydia are great friends. After an unexpected tragedy occurs in the strict girls' school they attend, a mysterious epidemic of fainting breaks out that threatens the mental sanity and beliefs of the tormented people involved, both teachers and students.

On an isolated English farm in 1657, Fanny lives a quiet life with her oppressive husband John and their young son. One day their life is rocked with the arrival of young couple Thomas and Rebecca who claim to have been robbed and need a place to stay. But are these strangers really who they say they are?

Svengali tells the story of Dixie, a postman from South Wales, and a music fanatic. All his life he’s dreamed of discovering a great band and then one day, trawling through YouTube, he finds them… ‘The Premature Congratulations’. He hunts them down and offers them his management services. They are young, arrogant, sexy and utterly magnificent. Putting their demo on a cassette tape, Dixie heads out onto the streets of London…

A woman becomes enraged after being passed over for a promotion at her job.

A comedian uses her troubled past as material for her stand-up routine, trying to rise up through the comedy circuit by playing Northern England's working men's clubs.

Comic fantasy telling the story of Rebekah, an innocent and beguiling Northern girl who accidentally becomes Chief Executive of News International and gets caught up in a seventies Watergate-style scandal.

Set in the fields of Devon and the WW1 battlefields of Flanders, two brothers fall for the same girl while contending with the pressures of their feudal family life, the war, and the price of courage and cowardice.

At the tyrannical court of Athens, pitiless dictator Theseus plans his wedding to Hippolyta, a prisoner of war, while young Hermia is sentenced to death by her own father for loving the wrong man. Meanwhile, in the town below, an amateur theatre group rehearses. And beyond Athens, in the wild woods, dark forces are stirring...

After a stroke leaves her husband disabled and fundamentally changed, a spirited Irish wife struggles to keep her family members together. All the while they are under the microscope of an American researcher documenting their recovery process.

A lesbian in the 1800s who keeps a detailed account of her life written in coded diaries attempts to live independently while juggling an affair with a married woman.

MP's wife Celia discovers her husband's true colours when she is taken hostage by his criminal business associates.

David Blair directs this powerful British Drama, loosely inspired by John Steinbeck's novel 'Of Mice and Men'. Set in Nottingham, the film revolves around the relationship between the thuggish Danny (Stephen Graham) and Joseph (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), a giant of a man with a mental age of seven. When Danny finds himself in debt to a local crime boss, he feels he is left with no choice but to manipulate Joseph into participating in a series of underground cage fights from which Danny can pay his debts.

Two strangers witness a mysterious natural phenomenon that reawaken their senses and draws their fractured lives together.

A cleaner in a brand new apartment block begins to suspect one of the residents is a victim of domestic abuse.

Two adult sisters exist dysfunctionally, each limited by illnesses affecting both body and mind — one physically and the other psychologically.

Drama, entirely in verse, following three men who sleep on the streets of Manchester in their vehicles, having lost all their economic and social power.

From its sell-out run at Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre comes a film version of this unique and critically acclaimed production of Hamlet with BAFTA-nominee Maxine Peake in the title role. This ground-breaking stage production, directed by Sarah Frankcom, was the Royal Exchange's fastest-selling show in a decade.

'Ever had that feeling you're being watched?' A Deaf Blind woman has a man living in her house. She doesn't know he's there. What does he want?

A woman is moving house and as she is unpacking boxes she finds a long lost letter from her grandfather. As she reads it, his words evoke strong emotive memories and she is transported back into her childhood by her grandfathers words. As he shares his love and concern for the natural world around us. The journey back in time leaves Mia (the woman) visually and emotionally moved as she remembers and shares her grandfathers love and hope for the world around us. It is a story that transcends time.

Documentary which uses the latest, most detailed imagery to reveal the monthly life cycle of the moon. From Wales to Wyoming, Hong Kong to Croydon, the programme finds out how the moon shapes life on Earth, as well as exploring its mysterious dark side and discovering how the moon's journey around Earth delivers one of nature's most awe-inspiring events - a total solar eclipse. And at the end of a remarkable year of lunar activity, we find out why so many supermoons have been lighting up the night sky.

A mysterious — and suspicious — run of ill fortune plagues a teenage girl and her mother and sister on their hillside farm in this folk story set in the dark hills of Wales during the industrial revolution.

Narrated by Maxine Peake, this feature documentary explores the failures and deception that have caused a chronic shortage of social housing in Britain.

Documentary following British punk duo Sleaford Mods on their two year journey from Nottingham bedroom recording sessions to chart success

Documentary exploring the key events of 1966, a period when British pop music, fashion and sport was making waves across the globe, but when the nation's upbeat mood was undercut by darker sensibilities.

Set in Royton, Manchester, Judy is the uplifting story of a mother struggling to come to terms with her cancer diagnosis. The debut film of acclaimed theatre director Matthew Dunster, Judy stars Maxine Peake and is a Little Brother/ BFI production.

Following the artist Phil Collins' search for a decommissioned statue of German philosopher Friedrich Engels in eastern Ukraine, and documenting its journey and arrival to a homecoming party in Manchester.

Six troubled strangers arrive at a hotel located on the south coast cliffs of Dover. Looking for something, or looking to lose themselves entirely, the guests spend time together in the cold, isolated setting. As tentative connections form, they begin to uncover a shared purpose that unites them.

Penny works at a supermarket and Phil is a gentle taxi-driver. Penny’s love for Phil has run dry and they lead joyless lives with their two children, Rachel, a cleaner, and Rory, who is unemployed and aggressive.

An underworld drama set in the early 1980s, about a lonely factory worker whose life is transformed when he becomes a nightclub doorman.

After 6 years of brutal murders, the West Yorkshire Police fear that they may have already interviewed The Ripper and let him back into the world to continue his reign of terror upon the citizens of Yorkshire. Assistant Chief Constable of the Manchester Police, Peter Hunter, is called in to oversee the West Yorkshire Police's Ripper investigation and see what they could have missed.

Boasting an amazing selection of the most watched, most influential and most highly acclaimed programmes ever made, The 50 Greatest Television Dramas presents a long overdue assessment of the rich heritage television drama has to offer. Channel 4 invited over 200 of Britain's top television drama professionals – writers, directors, producers and commissioners – to take part in an exclusive poll to discover what they consider the finest dramas ever produced.

A gripping story of love, deceit, betrayal and survival set against the backdrop of the Miners' Strike of 1984-85. Michelle is married to Gary, a young miner who goes on strike as soon as the dispute between the Thatcher government and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) begins. Meanwhile, her sister Linda's husband Paul is a local policeman. Paul becomes more and more voluble in his opposition to the strike, while Linda looks around her and witnesses the women of her community suddenly find a voice and independence. The scene is set for political and personal conflicts which would change their lives forever.

It's two years since the mysterious disappearance of Kath Swarbrick's older sister Annie, but Kath remains haunted by a need to know what happened. When police investigations wind down, Kath continues the search herself. She gets nowhere until she steals some CCTV footage of her sister on her final day. Visiting the spot where Annie was filmed, Kath becomes convinced she has found a portal to another reality and from this portal Kath is trying to say something.

Robson Green and Mark Benton co-star in Christmas Lights, a one-off comedy drama for ITV1 centred on two lifelong friends who have always competed with each other. The festive season brings on new challenges and takes their rivalry to extremes resulting in the two friends forgetting what Christmas is really about. Can anything bring them to their senses?

The comedienne stars in this festive sketch show, alongside a host of celebrity guests.

Sludger the aardvark tries to make it big as a drummer in the big city.

Drama which tells the story of comedian Tony Hancock's love affair with his friend's wife, and her fight to save the man and his career.

Funny film concerning John Prescott's affair with Tracey Temple

In the middle ages there was an outbreak of dancing manias in Europe that lasted hundreds of years. In the 20th century thousands of Chinese men and some women thought that their genitalia were vanishing, while schoolgirls in Belgium thought that they were being poisoned by a certain brand of fizzy drink. Looking at these various cases, and more, the professor (Maxine Peake) takes us on a musical journey through mass hysteria.

A single mum looks for love in the lonely-hearts pages, but someone has already decided to play cupid - her eight year-old son…

Two British best friends and in-laws Dawn and Jackie work together at a factory. When Dawn is diagnosed with a brain tumor Jackie shares $100,000 she's got from her secret lover with Dawn to fulfil her dream - a visit to Las Vegas. They buy two tickets and fly there...