 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(February 2021) |
Mike Leigh is an English director and writer known for his work in film, television and stage.
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(February 2021) |
Mike Leigh is an English director and writer known for his work in film, television and stage.
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Distribution | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | Bleak Moments | Yes | Yes | BBC Films | [1] |
| 1983 | Meantime | Yes | Yes | Premiered at London Film Festival Screened on Channel 4 | [2] |
| 1985 | Four Days in July | Yes | Yes | BBC Films | [3] |
| 1988 | High Hopes | Yes | Yes | Palace Pictures | [4] |
| 1990 | Life Is Sweet | Yes | Yes | [5] | |
| 1993 | Naked | Yes | Yes | First Independent Films | [6] |
| 1996 | Secrets & Lies | Yes | Yes | FilmFour Distributors | [7] |
| 1997 | Career Girls | Yes | Yes | [8] | |
| 1999 | Topsy-Turvy | Yes | Yes | Pathé Distribution | [9] |
| 2002 | All or Nothing | Yes | Yes | UGC Films UK | [10] |
| 2004 | Vera Drake | Yes | Yes | Momentum Pictures | [11] |
| 2008 | Happy-Go-Lucky | Yes | Yes | [12] | |
| 2010 | Another Year | Yes | Yes | [13] | |
| 2014 | Mr. Turner | Yes | Yes | [14] | |
| 2018 | Peterloo | Yes | Yes | Entertainment One/Amazon | [15] |
| 2024 | Hard Truths | Yes | Yes | StudioCanal | [16] |
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | "The Birth of the Goalie of the 2001 F.A. Cup Final" "Old Chums" "Probation" "A Light Snack" "Afternoon" | Yes | Yes | 5-part BBC series of short films entitled Five Minute Films |
| 1987 | "The Short and Curlies" | Yes | Yes | Screened on Channel 4 |
| 1992 | "A Sense of History" | Yes | No | Screened on Channel 4 |
| 2012 | "A Running Jump" | Yes | Yes | Released 24 June 2012 (UK) |
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | Hard Labour | Yes | Yes | BBC Play for Today |
| 1975 | "The Permissive Society" | Yes | Yes | BBC Second City Firsts |
| 1976 | Nuts in May | Yes | Yes | BBC Play for Today |
| Knock for Knock | Yes | Yes | BBC Second City Firsts, lost | |
| 1977 | Kiss of Death | Yes | Yes | BBC Play for Today |
| 1977 | Abigail's Party | Yes | Yes | BBC Play for Today |
| 1979 | Who's Who | Yes | Yes | |
| 1980 | Grown-Ups | Yes | Yes | BBC2 Playhouse |
| 1982 | Home Sweet Home | Yes | Yes | BBC Play for Today |
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1963 | Maigret | No | No | Actor: "Paul" Dir: Series 4, Episode 6: "The Flemish Shop" |
| 1973 | Scene | Yes | No | Dir: "A Mug's Game?" (8 March 1973) |
| 2009 | Teatr telewizji | No | Yes | Episode: "Przyjecie" (25 May 2009) |
| Year | Title | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| 1965 | The Box Play | Midlands Art Centre, Birmingham |
| 1966 | My Parents Have Gone to Carlisle | |
| The Last Crusade of Five Little Nuns | ||
| 1968 | Individual Fruit Pies | East–15 Acting School, London |
| Down Here Up There | Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, London | |
| 1969 | Glum Victoria and the Lad with Specs | Manchester Youth Theatre |
| 1970 | Bleak Moments | Open Space Theatre, London |
| 1971 | A Rancid Pong | Basement Theatre, London |
| 1973 | Dick Whittington and His Cat | Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, London |
| Wholesome Glory | ||
| The Jaws of Death | Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh | |
| 1974 | Babies Grow Old | Royal Shakespeare Company |
| The Silent Majority | Bush Theatre | |
| 1977 | Abigail's Party | Hampstead Theatre |
| 1979 | Too Much of a Good Thing | Radio Play |
| Ecstasy | Hampstead Theatre, London | |
| 1981 1998 | Goose-Pimples | Garrick Theatre, London Judith Anderson Theater, Off-Broadway [17] |
| 1988 | Smelling a Rat | Hampstead Theatre, London |
| 1989 | Greek Tragedy | Belvoir St Theatre, Australia Edinburgh Festival Theatre Royal, Stratford East |
| 1993 | It's a Great Big Shame! | Theatre Royal, Stratford East |
| 2005 | Two Thousand Years | National Theatre, London |
| 2011 | Grief | Cottesloe Theatre, London |
The following is a list of actors which collaborated with Mike Leigh on an ongoing basis. The list only includes Leigh’s feature films.
Work Actor | 1983 | 1988 | 1990 | 1993 | 1996 | 1997 | 1999 | 2002 | 2004 | 2008 | 2010 | 2014 | 2018 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dorothy Atkinson |  | | | | ||||||||||
| Michele Austin | | | | | ||||||||||
| Marion Bailey | | | | | | |||||||||
| Mark Benton | | | | |||||||||||
| Elizabeth Berrington | | | | | ||||||||||
| Jim Broadbent | | | | | ||||||||||
| Katrin Cartlidge | | | | |||||||||||
| Eileen Davies | | | | | | |||||||||
| Phil Davis | | | | | ||||||||||
| Edna Doré | | | | |||||||||||
| Karina Fernandez | | | | |||||||||||
| Vincent Franklin | | | | | ||||||||||
| Marianne Jean-Baptiste | | | ||||||||||||
| Paul Jesson | | | | |||||||||||
| Sam Kelly | | | | |||||||||||
| Sally Hawkins | | | | |||||||||||
| Oliver Maltman | | | | |||||||||||
| Eddie Marsan | | | ||||||||||||
| Lesley Manville | | | | | | | | |||||||
| Sinead Matthews | | | | |||||||||||
| Martin Savage | | | | | | |||||||||
| Judith Scott | | | | |||||||||||
| Ruth Sheen | | | | | | |||||||||
| Timothy Spall | | | | | | |||||||||
| Imelda Staunton | | | ||||||||||||
| Alison Steadman | | | | |||||||||||
| Peter Wight | | | | | |
| Title | Rating | |
|---|---|---|
| Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | |
| Bleak Moments | — | 71 (7 reviews) [18] |
| Meantime | 80% (10 reviews) [19] | 69 (unknown reviews) [20] |
| Four Days in July | — | — |
| High Hopes | 92% (13 reviews) [21] | 84 (12 reviews) [22] |
| Life is Sweet | 93% (15 reviews) [23] | 88 (18 reviews) [24] |
| Naked | 88% (60 reviews) [25] | 85 (21 reviews) [26] |
| Secrets & Lies | 96% (45 reviews) [27] | 92 (27 reviews) [28] |
| Career Girls | 88% (25 reviews) [29] | 76 (25 reviews) [30] |
| Topsy-Turvy | 90% (89 reviews) [31] | 90 (31 reviews) [32] |
| All or Nothing | 82% (93 reviews) [33] | 72 (31 reviews) [34] |
| Vera Drake | 93% (161 reviews) [35] | 83 (40 reviews) [36] |
| Happy-Go-Lucky | 93% (163 reviews) [37] | 84 (34 reviews) [38] |
| Another Year | 92% (173 reviews) [39] | 81 (36 reviews) [40] |
| Mr. Turner | 97% (196 reviews) [41] | 94 (44 reviews) [42] |
| Peterloo | 67% (162 reviews) [43] | 66 (34 reviews) [44] |
Katrin Juliet Cartlidge was an English actress. She first appeared on screen as Lucy Collins in the Channel 4 soap opera Brookside (1982–1983), before going on to win the 1997 Evening Standard Film Award for Best Actress for the Mike Leigh film Career Girls. Her other film appearances included Leigh's Naked (1993), Before the Rain (1994), Breaking the Waves (1996) and From Hell (2001).
James Broadbent is an English actor. A graduate of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in 1972, he came to prominence as a character actor for his many roles in film and television. He has received various accolades including an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards, an International Emmy Award, and two Golden Globe Awards as well as nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Grammy Award.
Mike Leigh is an English writer-director with a career spanning film, theatre and television. He has received numerous accolades, including prizes at the Cannes Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival, the Venice International Film Festival, three BAFTA Awards, and nominations for seven Academy Awards. He also received the BAFTA Fellowship in 2014, and was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1993 Birthday Honours for services to the film industry.
Secrets & Lies is a 1996 drama film written and directed by Mike Leigh. Led by an ensemble cast consisting of many Leigh regulars, it stars Marianne Jean-Baptiste as Hortense, a well-educated black middle-class London optometrist, who was adopted as a baby and has chosen to trace her family history – and discovers that her birth mother, Cynthia, played by Brenda Blethyn, is a working-class white woman with a dysfunctional family. Claire Rushbrook co-stars as Cynthia's other daughter Roxanne, while Timothy Spall and Phyllis Logan portray Cynthia's brother and sister-in-law, who have secrets of their own affecting their everyday family life.
Topsy-Turvy is a 1999 British musical period drama film written and directed by Mike Leigh, starring Jim Broadbent as W. S. Gilbert and Allan Corduner as Sir Arthur Sullivan, along with Timothy Spall, Lesley Manville and Ron Cook. The story concerns the 15-month period in 1884 and 1885 leading up to the premiere of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado. The film focuses on the creative conflict between playwright and composer, and their decision to continue their partnership, which led to their creation of several more Savoy operas.
Vera Drake is a 2004 British period drama film written and directed by Mike Leigh and starring Imelda Staunton, Phil Davis, Daniel Mays and Eddie Marsan. It tells the story of a working-class woman in London in 1950 who performs illegal abortions. It won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and it was nominated for three Academy Awards and won three BAFTAs.
Timothy Leonard Spall is an English actor and presenter. Spall gained recognition for his character actor roles on stage and screen. He is known for his collaborations with director Mike Leigh, acting in six of his films: Home Sweet Home (1982), Life is Sweet (1990), Secrets & Lies (1996), Topsy-Turvy (1999), All or Nothing (2002), and Mr. Turner (2014). He was nominated for the BAFTA for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his role in Secrets and Lies, and received the Cannes Film Festival Best Actor Award for his portrayal of J. M. W. Turner in Mr. Turner. In 2000, he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Queen Elizabeth II. He won the 2024 BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, for his performance as Peter Farquhar in The Sixth Commandment.
Lesley Ann Manville is an English actress known for her frequent collaborations with Mike Leigh, appearing in the films Grown-Ups (1980), High Hopes (1988), Secrets & Lies (1996), Topsy-Turvy (1999), All or Nothing (2002), Vera Drake (2004), Another Year (2010), and Mr. Turner (2014). She has been nominated for two British Academy Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for her roles in Another Year (2010) and Phantom Thread (2017), with her performance in the latter earning her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Georgina Lowe is a British film and television producer, who has produced director Mike Leigh's films since 2009.
Happy-Go-Lucky is a 2008 British comedy-drama film written and directed by Mike Leigh. The screenplay focuses on a cheerful and optimistic primary school teacher and her relationships with those around her. The film was well received by critics and resulted in a number of awards for Mike Leigh's direction and screenplay, lead actress Sally Hawkins's performance, and Eddie Marsan's performance in a supporting role.
Marion Bailey is an English actress. She is best known for her work with her partner, filmmaker Mike Leigh, including the films Meantime (1983), All or Nothing (2002), Vera Drake (2004), Mr. Turner (2014), for which she was nominated Supporting Actress of the Year by the London Film Critics' Circle, and Peterloo (2018). In 2019 and 2020, she portrayed Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother in the third and fourth seasons of The Crown on Netflix, for which she won a Screen Actors Guild award winner for best ensemble in 2020 and 2021.
Simon Channing Williams was a British film producer. After having worked as a production assistant and producer of TV films and TV series in the 1970s and early 1980s, he and Mike Leigh formed the film production company Thin Man Films in 1988. This company has produced all of Mike Leigh's films since then, among them the double Oscar-winning Topsy-Turvy, the Oscar-nominated Vera Drake and the Palme d'Or-winning Secrets & Lies.
Heather Craney is an English actress, known for portraying Joyce Drake in Vera Drake, Alison Weaver in Life of Riley and Emily Holroyd in Torchwood.
The 34th National Society of Film Critics Awards, given on 8 January 2000, honored the best filmmaking of 1999.
Thin Man Films is a British film production company, based in London. It was founded in 1988 by director Mike Leigh and producer Simon Channing Williams to produce Mike Leigh's films. They chose the company name because both founders were the opposite of it.
Eve Stewart is a British production designer. She grew up in Camden Town and later trained in film, originally working in theatre. She later became a set designer, starting with Naked in 1993. In 1999, she received a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Production Design for Topsy-Turvy. She later began a collaboration with director Tom Hooper, working on Elizabeth I, The Damned United, The King's Speech, Les Misérables, and The Danish Girl.
Mr. Turner is a 2014 biographical drama film based on the last 25 years of the life of artist J. M. W. Turner (1775–1851). Written and directed by Mike Leigh, the film stars Timothy Spall in the title role, with Dorothy Atkinson, Paul Jesson, Marion Bailey, Lesley Manville, and Martin Savage. It premiered in competition for the Palme d'Or at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, where Spall won the award for Best Actor and Dick Pope received a special jury prize for the film's cinematography.
Francesca Jaynes is an English choreographer and movement director who works in many disciplines within the entertainment industry, including feature films, theatre and commercials.
Peterloo is a 2018 British historical drama, written and directed by Mike Leigh, based on the Peterloo Massacre of 1819. The film was selected to be screened in the main competition section of the 75th Venice International Film Festival. The film received its UK premiere on 17 October 2018, as part of the BFI London Film Festival, at HOME in Manchester. The screening marked the first time that the festival had held a premiere outside London. Leigh said he was delighted that Peterloo would be premiered "where it happened".