Maxine Peake

Born: 1974-07-14

Maxine Peake (born 14 July 1974) is an English stage, radio, film and television actress, playwright, producer, director and political activist, who made her name as Twinkle in Victoria Wood's sitcom Dinnerladies. She has since played Veronica in Channel 4's Manchester-based drama series Shameless, barrister Martha Costello in the BBC legal drama Silk and Grace Middleton in The Village. She is also an accomplished stage actress, having played the title role in Hamlet, and had a role in the 2014 film The Theory of Everything. In 2018 she played the lead in the film Funny Cow and had a starring role in Mike Leigh's epic Peterloo, a film very close to her heart.


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The Theory of Everything

as Elaine Mason
Released: 2014-11-26

The Theory of Everything is the extraordinary story of one of the world’s greatest living minds,...

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Wendell & Wild

as Irmgard Klaxon (voice)
Released: 2022-10-21

Two demon brothers enlist the aid of Kat Elliot — a tough teen with a load of guilt — to summon...

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All or Nothing

as Party girl
Released: 2002-05-17

Penny works at a supermarket and Phil is a gentle taxi-driver. Penny’s love for Phil has run dry...

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The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister

as Anne Lister
Released: 2010-03-01

A lesbian in the 1800s who keeps a detailed account of her life written in coded diaries...

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Peterloo

as Nellie
Released: 2018-11-01

An epic portrayal of the events surrounding the infamous 1819 Peterloo Massacre, where a...

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Red Riding: The Year of Our Lord 1980

as Helen Marshall
Released: 2009-02-28

After 6 years of brutal murders, the West Yorkshire Police fear that they may have already...

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The Falling

as Eileen Lamont
Released: 2015-04-24

England, 1969. The fascinating Abbie and the troubled Lydia are great friends. After an...

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Dance First

as Barbara
Released: 2023-11-03

Parisian bon vivant, World War II Resistance fighter, Nobel Prize-winning playwright,...

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Private Peaceful

as Hazel Peaceful
Released: 2012-10-12

Set in the fields of Devon and the WW1 battlefields of Flanders, two brothers fall for the same...

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Frozen

as Ticket Attendant
Released: 2005-03-12

It's two years since the mysterious disappearance of Kath Swarbrick's older sister Annie, but...

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Clubbed

as Angela
Released: 2008-10-02

An underworld drama set in the early 1980s, about a lonely factory worker whose life is...

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Funny Cow

as Funny Cow
Released: 2018-04-20

A comedian uses her troubled past as material for her stand-up routine, trying to rise up...

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Fanny Lye Deliver'd

as Fanny Lye
Released: 2021-07-29

On an isolated English farm in 1657, Fanny lives a quiet life with her oppressive husband John...

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Victoria Wood with All the Trimmings

as uncredited
Released: 2000-12-25

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

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Woken

as Helen
Released: 2024-03-03

In a post-apocalyptic world, the isle provides a safe haven from a pandemic that has decimated...

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Hamilton Mattress

as Lulu (voice)
Released: 2002-01-01

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

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Gwen

as Elen
Released: 2018-07-12

A mysterious — and suspicious — run of ill fortune plagues a teenage girl and her mother and...

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Run & Jump

as Vanetia
Released: 2014-01-24

After a stroke leaves her husband disabled and fundamentally changed, a spirited Irish wife...

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A Midsummer Night's Dream

as Titania
Released: 2016-05-30

At the tyrannical court of Athens, pitiless dictator Theseus plans his wedding to Hippolyta, a...

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Best Laid Plans

as Isabel
Released: 2012-02-03

David Blair directs this powerful British Drama, loosely inspired by John Steinbeck's novel 'Of...

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The 50 Greatest Television Dramas

as Self
Released: 2007-02-03

Boasting an amazing selection of the most watched, most influential and most highly acclaimed...

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Hamlet

as Hamlet
Released: 2015-03-23

From its sell-out run at Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre comes a film version of this unique...

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Hancock & Joan

as Joan Le Mesurier
Released: 2008-03-26

Drama which tells the story of comedian Tony Hancock's love affair with his friend's wife, and...

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Keeping Rosy

as Charlotte
Released: 2014-06-08

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

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Svengali

as Angie
Released: 2013-06-19

Svengali tells the story of Dixie, a postman from South Wales, and a music fanatic. All his life...

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The Shuttleworths

as Helen Bach
Released: 2015-01-01

Versatile singer/song-writer John Shuttleworth struggles to balance semi-professional...

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Bunch of Kunst - A Film About Sleaford Mods

as Self (archive footage)
Released: 2017-04-21

Documentary following British punk duo Sleaford Mods on their two year journey from Nottingham...

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Surfaces

as Alix
Released: 2020-06-03

Short film for Refuge, the national charity for domestic abuse, drawing attention to the...

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Christmas Lights

as Pauline
Released: 2004-12-20

Robson Green and Mark Benton co-star in Christmas Lights, a one-off comedy drama for ITV1...

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The Priest

as uncredited
Released: 2017-12-11

Johnny Marr has teamed up with the award-winning actor Maxine Peake to create a new project...

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Ceremony: The Return of Friedrich Engels

as Friedrich Engels (voice)
Released: 2018-06-22

Following the artist Phil Collins' search for a decommissioned statue of German philosopher...

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Edge

as Elly
Released: 2010-10-23

A hotel. A cliff. Six lost people, looking for something, or looking to lose themselves.

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Generation '66

as Narrator
Released: 2016-07-31

Documentary exploring the key events of 1966, a period when British pop music, fashion and sport...

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Red Top

as Rebekah Brooks
Released: 2016-01-20

Comic fantasy telling the story of Rebekah, an innocent and beguiling Northern girl who...

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Strange Weather

as Jane
Released: 2015-01-02

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

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Cake

as uncredited
Released: 2017-09-29

Two women sit in a barren dystopian wasteland discussing the best way to die.

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Tish

as Tish Murtha (voice)
Released: 2023-11-17

A working-class photographer captures the impact of Thatcherism on the north of England but is...

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Judy

as Judy
Released: 2019-01-01

Set in Royton, Manchester, Judy is the uplifting story of a mother struggling to come to terms...

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Keeping Up with the Joneses

as Celia
Released: 2013-10-18

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

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Lapushka!

as Scoot Piccolo
Released: 2022-08-04

'The Butternut Squash Gang' always stumble upon a criminal rouse that is passed off by adults as...

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The Real Anne: Unfinished Business

as Self- Presenter
Released: 2022-01-06

The story of Merseyside mum and campaigner Anne Williams, who lost her son Keven. For nearly...

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Choked Up

as Fiona Lacey
Released: 2023-03-28

A politician learns just how quickly things can go terribly wrong when a career-defining live TV...

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I Wish For You

as Grown Up Mia
Released: 2016-01-01

A woman is moving house and as she is unpacking boxes she finds a long lost letter from her...

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Wonders of the Moon

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 2018-01-31

Documentary which uses the latest, most detailed imagery to reveal the monthly life cycle of the...

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DeafBlind

as Maggie
Released: 2011-12-31

'Ever had that feeling you're being watched?' A Deaf Blind woman has a man living in her house....

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Men Who Sleep in Cars

as Sarah
Released: 2017-10-01

Three men in modern Manchester spend each night sleeping in their cars. How did they end up in...

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The Last Testament of Lillian Bilocca

as Herself
Released: 2018-09-02

Maxine Peake's exploration of the true story of Lillian Bilocca, a largely forgotten but...

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The Fear of Trilogy

as uncredited
Released: 2006-01-01

Maxine Peake stars in a short film about three fears (birds, falling, sleepwalking) - filmed and...

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Dispossession: The Great Social Housing Swindle

as Narrator
Released: 2017-06-08

Narrated by Maxine Peake, this feature documentary explores the failures and deception that have...

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Unseen

as Emma
Released: 2017-09-22

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

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Where We Used to Meet

as uncredited
Released: 2021-09-28

While caring for their dying mother, a child finds solace in a group of friends, but begins to...

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Something Out of Nothing

as uncredited
Released: 2022-05-29

A specially commissioned animation inspired by Barbara Hepworth's art and life.

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The Great Mountain Sheep Gather

as Self - Narrator
Released: 2020-04-13

Every summer, the sheep on Scafell Pike are gathered down to the farm for shearing. On this epic...

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The Graham Norton Show

as Self
First aired: 2007-02-22

Each week celebrity guests join Irish comedian Graham Norton to discuss what's being going on...

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Inside No. 9

as Nadia
First aired: 2014-02-05

An anthology of darkly comic twisted tales, each one taking place behind a door marked 'number 9'.

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Star Wars: Visions

as Kalina Kalfus (voice)
First aired: 2021-09-22

This anthology of animated shorts from around the world celebrates the myth of Star Wars through...

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Hetty Wainthropp Investigates

as Photocopy Assistant
First aired: 1996-01-03

Instead of spending her golden years lying down, the indomitable Hetty Wainthropp found her...

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The Hollow Crown

as Doll Tearsheet
First aired: 2012-06-30

A series of British television films featuring William Shakespeare's History Plays.

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Shameless

as uncredited
First aired: 2004-01-13

The story of a young group of siblings pretty much abandoned by their parents, surviving by...

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Shameless

as Veronica Fisher
First aired: 2004-01-13

The story of a young group of siblings pretty much abandoned by their parents, surviving by...

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Black Mirror

as Bella
First aired: 2011-12-04

Over the last ten years, technology has transformed almost every aspect of our lives before...

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Dalziel & Pascoe

as uncredited
First aired: 1996-03-16

British crime drama based on the "Dalziel and Pascoe" series of books by Reginald Hill, set in...

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Criminal Justice

as Juliet Miller
First aired: 2008-06-30

Thriller by Peter Moffat about the challenges and politics of the criminal justice system seen...

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Jonathan Creek

as Marion Cretiss
First aired: 1997-05-09

Working from his home in a converted windmill, Jonathan Creek is a magician with a natural...

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The Devil's Whore

as Elizabeth Lilburne
First aired: 2008-11-19

Set between the years 1642 and 1660, "The Devil's Whore" charts the progress of the English...

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Little Dorrit

as Miss Wade
First aired: 2008-10-26

Amy Dorrit spends her days earning money for the family and looking after her proud father who...

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Messiah

as DS Vickie Clarke
First aired: 2001-05-26

Crime drama series following the investigations of DCI Red Metcalfe.

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Clocking Off

as Marie Leach
First aired: 2000-01-23

How much do you know about the person working next to you? From the outside, life at Mackintosh...

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Silk

as Martha Costello
First aired: 2011-02-22

Silk is a British television drama series produced by the BBC and first shown in 2011. Written...

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Dinnerladies

as Twinkle
First aired: 1998-11-12

Dinnerladies is a BBC sitcom written by and starring Victoria Wood that chronicles the antics of...

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The Village

as Grace Middleton
First aired: 2013-03-31

The Village tells the story of life in a Derbyshire village through the eyes of a central...

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Room at the Top

as Alice Aisgill
First aired: 2012-09-26

Joe leaves working-class, industrial Dufton behind him and takes a job as senior audit clerk at...

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ChuckleVision

as uncredited
First aired: 1987-09-26

ChuckleVision is a British comedy television series shown mainly on BBC One and CBBC channel....

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Art That Made Us

as Self - Actrice (Rules of the Game, Anne)
First aired: 2022-04-07

An alternative history of the British Isles, told through art. Looking at 1,500 years and eight...

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Alan Bennett's Talking Heads

as Miss Fozzard
First aired: 2020-06-23

Widely celebrated as Alan Bennett's masterpieces, his multi-award-winning Talking Heads return...

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Three Girls

as Sara Rowbotham
First aired: 2017-05-16

The story of three of the children who were victims in the 2012 grooming and sex trafficking...

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Early Doors

as Janice
First aired: 2003-05-12

A sitcom set in a small pub in Manchester, “The Grapes”, where daily life is bound up in the...

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Red Riding

as uncredited
First aired: 2009-03-12

Thrilling trilogy of films based on David Peace's cult noir novels about Yorkshire during the...

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Anne

as Anne Williams
First aired: 2022-01-02

Anne Williams, from Formby, near Liverpool, was devastated by the loss of her son, 15-year-old...

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Timeshift

as Self - Narrator
First aired: 2002-10-10

Documentary series which ranges widely over Britain's social and cultural history, its...

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Sunburn

as Sue
First aired: 1999-01-16

Sunburn is a British television series that followed the lives of a group of British holiday...

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Linda Green

as Receptionist
First aired: 2001-10-30

Linda's a Manchester girl, born and bred. She's in her early 30s and the friends she has now are...

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The Bisexual

as Sadie
First aired: 2018-10-10

Leila takes a break from her decade long relationship with partner Sadie, and begins to explore...

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Fairy Tales

as uncredited
First aired: 2008-01-10

Four contemporary adaptations of classic fairy tales, Rapunzel, Cinderella, The Emperor's New...

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Rules of the Game

as Sam Thompson
First aired: 2022-01-11

Sam is a hard-headed manager at a family-run business in the North West. However, when Sam...

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The Street

as uncredited
First aired: 2006-04-13

Anthology drama following the lives and passions of neighbors on a northern English street.

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Comedy Connections

as uncredited
First aired: 2003-06-09

Comedy Connections was a BBC One documentary series produced by BBC Scotland that aired from...

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Secret Life of the Safari Park

as Narrator
First aired: 2024-01-04

The denizens at Knowsley Safari, the longest safari drive in the UK and home to hundreds of wild...

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See No Evil: The Moors Murders

as Myra Hindley
First aired: 2006-05-14

See No Evil: The Moors Murders is a British two-part television serial directed by Christopher...

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