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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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...

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 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.

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

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

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

A childless woman is told that her longed for unborn baby is incompatible with life. Alone, with her conscience and unable to openly discuss her situation because of society’s stigma surrounding termination and the self- silencing of women concerning reproduction, she painfully decides the best way forward.

Johnny Marr has teamed up with the award-winning actor Maxine Peake to create a new project which sets Peake’s spoken word performances to Marr’s instrumental soundscapes. ‘The Priest’ is based upon the characters that Joe Gallagher met on the streets in the first few days after becoming homeless in Edinburgh. Gallagher wrote a diary of his experiences for the Big Issue under the pseudonym James Campbell when he first became homeless in May 2015 and continued until he found a new home in March 2016. This short film was filmed in Manchester and features Molly Windsor in the lead role.

Maxine Peake's exploration of the true story of Lillian Bilocca, a largely forgotten but formidable figure in the fight for safer trawlers. The programme explores Lillian Bilocca's fight at the time through archive and dramatic reconstructions based on the play The Last Testament of Lillian Bilocca, written by Maxine Peake.

Maxine Peake's exploration of the true story of Lillian Bilocca, a largely forgotten but formidable figure in the fight for safer trawlers. The programme explores Lillian Bilocca's fight at the time through archive and dramatic reconstructions based on the play The Last Testament of Lillian Bilocca, written by Maxine Peake.