Lie to Me

Did You Know?

• The series aired on Sky1 in the United Kingdom and on RTÉ Two in Ireland starting May 14, 2009.
• Season one and two have been released on DVD in Regions 1, 2 and 4, with season one also on Blu-ray in North America.
• As of March 2020, all episodes are available on Hulu and on Disney+ for a fee.

Cast and characters

Tim Roth portrays Dr. Cal Lightman, a brilliant expert in body language and microexpressions who founded The Lightman Group, a private company that assists law enforcement investigations. Lightman is divorced and shares custody of his teenage daughter; his mother's suicide drove him to study microexpressions. He has hinted at past involvement with British intelligence in Northern Ireland and admitted to being an MI6 agent during the Yugoslav Wars. Kelli Williams plays Dr. Gillian Foster, a psychologist who analyzes voice, language, and behavior. She has an open pact with Lightman not to let their professional skills interfere with coworkers' personal lives. Her husband's lack of candor challenges this; Cal initially suspects him of cheating, but it is later revealed he was struggling with drug addiction, and they divorce. Foster had adopted a baby who was eventually returned to the birth mother. This character is based on Maureen O'Sullivan, emeritus professor of psychology at the University of San Francisco.

Plot

In the first season, Cal and Gillian hire TSA officer Ria Torres, a natural at deception detection whose innate talent clashes with Cal's academic approach. Lightman's drive to study microexpressions stems from guilt over his mother's suicide, which parallels an anecdote in Paul Ekman's book Telling Lies. Early episodes sometimes pair Lightman with Torres and Foster with Loker on separate cases, though their work often intertwines. As the season progresses, all four main characters collaborate on a single case per episode. The team uses interviewing tactics such as careful questioning, provocative statements, and theatrics rather than force. In the pilot, Lightman extracts information from a silent subject by gauging his reactions to statements, a technique repeated in later episodes like Do No Harm.

Production

Samuel Baum served as original showrunner and head writer, with Brian Grazer, David Nevins, and Steven Maeda as executive producers. Katherine Pope worked as a consulting producer on the final four episodes of the first season. Shawn Ryan took over as show runner for the second season. The Lightman Group offices use the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. The theme song Brand New Day was performed by Ryan Star.

Reception

The show received mostly positive reviews from television critics, with a Metacritic score of 64 out of 100 based on 24 reviews. Entertainment Weekly's Ken Tucker gave it a B− rating, calling it derivative yet well crafted. Tom Shales of The Washington Post described it as an unusually meaty and thought-provoking crime drama. Viewing figures declined over time: the pilot drew 12.37 million viewers, while the season one finale had 8.46 million. The most-watched episode was A Perfect Score with 12.99 million. The second season premiered to 7.73 million viewers and ended with 4.94 million. The third season premiere, moved to October 4, 2010, was viewed by 5.87 million. Fox canceled the series on May 10, 2011. Lie to Me was nominated for a 2009 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Main Title Design and won both of its nominations at the 37th People's Choice Awards.