List of works by Mike Leigh

Mike Leigh at the 2012 Berlin International Film Festival

Mike Leigh is an English director and writer known for his work in film, television and stage.

Film

See also: Category:Films directed by Mike Leigh

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]
2026	Untitled	Yes	Yes	TBA	[17]

Short films

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Notes
1975 (broadcast 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
2012	"A Running Jump"	Yes	Yes	Released 24 June 2012 (UK)

Acting roles

• West Eleven (1963) – Uncredited
• Two Left Feet (1965) – Uncredited

Television

Plays

See also: Category:Plays by Mike Leigh

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	The Kiss of Death	Yes	Yes	BBC Play for Today
	Abigail's Party	Yes	Yes
1979	Who's Who	Yes	Yes
1980	Grown-Ups	Yes	Yes	BBC2 Playhouse
1982	Home Sweet Home	Yes	Yes	BBC Play for Today

Series

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Notes
1963	Maigret	No	No	Actor: "Paul" Episode: "The Flemish Shop"
1973	Scene	Yes	No	Episode: "A Mug's Game?" (8 March 1973)
2009	Teatr telewizji	No	Yes	Episode: "Przyjecie" (25 May 2009)

Theatre

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 [18]
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

Recurring collaborators

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
	Meantime	High Hopes	Life is Sweet	Naked	Secrets & Lies	Career Girls	Topsy-Turvy	All or Nothing	Vera Drake	Happy-Go-Lucky	Another Year	Mr. Turner	Peterloo	Hard Truths
Dorothy Atkinson							N	N				N	N
Michele Austin					N			N			N			N
Marion Bailey	N							N	N			N	N
Mark Benton						N	N	N
Elizabeth Berrington				N	N				N			N
Jim Broadbent			N				N		N		N
Katrin Cartlidge				N		N	N
Eileen Davies	N								N		N	N	N
Phil Davis		N			N				N		N
Edna Doré		N						N			N
Karina Fernandez									N		N	N
Vincent Franklin							N		N			N	N
Marianne Jean-Baptiste					N									N
Paul Jesson								N	N			N
Sam Kelly							N	N				N
Sally Hawkins								N	N	N
Oliver Maltman										N	N	N
Eddie Marsan									N	N
Lesley Manville		N			N		N	N	N		N	N
Sinead Matthews									N	N		N
Martin Savage							N	N			N	N	N
Judith Scott		N							N			N
Ruth Sheen		N			N			N	N		N
Timothy Spall			N		N		N	N				N
Imelda Staunton									N		N
Alison Steadman			N		N		N
David Thewlis			N	N
Peter Wight	N			N					N		N	N

Reception

Title	Rating
	Rotten Tomatoes	Metacritic
Bleak Moments	—	71 (7 reviews) [19]
Meantime	89% (9 reviews) [20]	69 (4 reviews) [21]
Four Days in July	—	—
High Hopes	92% (13 reviews) [22]	84 (12 reviews) [23]
Life is Sweet	94% (16 reviews) [24]	88 (18 reviews) [25]
Naked	88% (60 reviews) [26]	85 (21 reviews) [27]
Secrets & Lies	96% (45 reviews) [28]	92 (27 reviews) [29]
Career Girls	88% (25 reviews) [30]	76 (25 reviews) [31]
Topsy-Turvy	90% (89 reviews) [32]	90 (31 reviews) [33]
All or Nothing	82% (93 reviews) [34]	72 (31 reviews) [35]
Vera Drake	93% (160 reviews) [36]	83 (40 reviews) [37]
Happy-Go-Lucky	93% (161 reviews) [38]	84 (34 reviews) [39]
Another Year	93% (170 reviews) [40]	81 (36 reviews) [41]
Mr. Turner	97% (193 reviews) [42]	94 (44 reviews) [43]
Peterloo	67% (162 reviews) [44]	66 (34 reviews) [45]
Hard Truths	95% (105 reviews) [46]	88 (32 reviews) [47]

Key

  = A film on Rotten Tomatoes with a "Certified Fresh" rating

  = A film on Metacritic with a "Universal Acclaim" rating

References

1. "Bleak Moments (1971)". screenonline.org.uk. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
2. "Meantime (1983)". screenonline.org.uk. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
3. "FOUR DAYS IN JULY". mubi.com. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
4. "High Hopes (1988)". screenonline.org.uk. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
5. "Life is Sweet (1990)". screenonline.org.uk. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
6. "Naked (1993)". screenonline.org.uk. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
7. "Secrets and Lies (1996)". screenonline.org.uk. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
8. "CAREER GIRLS (1997)". Turner Classic Movies. Archived from the original on 6 September 2014. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
9. "Topsy-Turvy (1999)". bfi.org.uk. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
10. "All or Nothing (2002)". screenonline.org.uk. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
11. "VERA DRAKE (2004)". bfi.org.uk. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
12. "Happy-go-lucky (2007)". bfi.org.uk. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
13. "Another Year (2010)". bfi.org.uk. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
14. "Mr. Turner (2014)". bfi.org.uk. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
15. Bleasdale, John (2 September 2018). "Peterloo first look: Mike Leigh's cudgel for a massacre". bfi.org.uk. Archived from the original on 22 May 2022. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
16. Andreas, Wiseman (14 May 2023). "Mike Leigh Underway On New Movie, Plot Detail Revealed". Deadline Hollywood . Archived from the original on 15 May 2023. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
17. Staff, Boxoffice (2025-10-30). "Bleecker Street Launches Event Cinema Distribution Division Crosswalk". Boxoffice Pro. Retrieved 2025-10-30.
18. "Leigh's Goose-Pimples To Rise Again at NY's Intar, Jan. 23". Playbill. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
19. "Bleak Moments". Metacritic . Retrieved 27 December 2023.
20. "MEANTIME". Fandango Media . Retrieved 27 December 2023.
21. "Meantime". Metacritic . Retrieved 27 December 2023.
22. "HIGH HOPES". Fandango Media . Retrieved 27 December 2023.
23. "High Hopes". Metacritic . Retrieved 27 December 2023.
24. "LIFE IS SWEET". Fandango Media . Retrieved 27 December 2023.
25. "Life is Sweet". Metacritic . Retrieved 27 December 2023.
26. "NAKED". Fandango Media . Retrieved 27 December 2023.
27. "Naked". Metacritic . Retrieved 27 December 2023.
28. "SECRETS & LIES". Fandango Media . Retrieved 27 December 2023.
29. "Secrets & Lies". Metacritic . Retrieved 27 December 2023.
30. "CAREER GIRLS". Fandango Media . Retrieved 27 December 2023.
31. "Career Girls". Metacritic . Retrieved 27 December 2023.
32. "TOPSY-TURVY". Fandango Media . Retrieved 27 December 2023.
33. "Topsy-Turvy". Metacritic . Retrieved 27 December 2023.
34. "ALL OR NOTHING". Fandango Media . Retrieved 27 December 2023.
35. "All or Nothing". Metacritic . Retrieved 27 December 2023.
36. "VERA DRAKE". Fandango Media . Retrieved 27 December 2023.
37. "Vera Drake". Metacritic . Retrieved 27 December 2023.
38. "HAPPY-GO-LUCKY". Fandango Media . Retrieved 27 December 2023.
39. "Happy-Go-Lucky". Metacritic . Retrieved 27 December 2023.
40. "ANOTHER YEAR". Fandango Media . Retrieved 27 December 2023.
41. "Another Year". Metacritic . Retrieved 27 December 2023.
42. "MR. TURNER". Fandango Media . Retrieved 27 December 2023.
43. "Mr. Turner". Metacritic . Retrieved 27 December 2023.
44. "PETERLOO". Fandango Media . Retrieved 27 December 2023.
45. "Peterloo". Metacritic . Retrieved 27 December 2023.
46. "Hard Truths". Fandango Media . Retrieved 10 January 2025.
47. "Hard Truths". Metacritic . Retrieved 10 January 2025.