History Main / ReadingLips

* The 1990s series ''Series/ReasonableDoubts'' has a [[TheyFightCrime cop assigned to work with]] a deaf female prosecutor. She uses sign language but also reads lips. In one episode her car is towed away, but the man at the impound lot has a bushy moustache so she can't comprehend what he's saying and has to call the cop to translate for her.

* Kensi from ''Series/NCISLosAngeles''
* In ''Series/ThePretender'' episode "Flyer", the hero takes lip-reading lessons from a deaf woman in order to be able to figure out a conversation on a piece of surveillance footage.
* ''Series/TheWire'' has a few scenes with a lip-reader -- Herc manages to plant a camera overlooking Marlo's preferred meeting-spot but not a microphone, so he brings one in to tell him what Marlo is saying.
* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'': JD zones out and tries to recreate the lip motions so that they can be read.
* In ''Series/TheHardyBoysNancyDrewMysteries'' episode "Silent Scream", a deaf girl finds out about a Las Vegas bomb plot by reading the lips of a man in a phone booth.
* The deaf characters in ''Series/SwitchedAtBirth'' are proficient at this- namely, Daphne, Emmett and Melody.
* Sue in ''Series/SueThomasFBEye'', who is Deaf, uses her lip-reading abilities to do surveillance work for the FBI. The show is loosely based on the real-life Sue Thomas, who was the first deaf undercover investigator for the FBI.

* Done more realistically in ''Series/BurnNotice'', where Michael is trying to spy on a guy at a party. His voice-over explains that true lip reading is unreliable and is best paired with being just close enough to sort of hear the conversation and use lip reading to fill in the blanks and confirm what's heard.
* The ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "Under the Lake" features ghostly apparitions which appear to be silently speaking. Cass, one of the people trapped by the manifestation, is deaf, and is able to read their lips. It is shown not to be perfectly easy, with some words taking her several attempts to figure out.
* In ''Series/BrooklynNineNine'', Amy demonstrates the ability to lip-read in a Halloween episode... mostly. She gets the majority of what Captain Holt is saying (enough to formulate her plans) but then translate the rest as something something waffles. She admits it's not perfect when she recounts this.
* In ''Series/ElInternadoLasCumbres'' Amaia wears hearing aids but is able to read lips. Her skill helps when amnesiac Inés asks her to find out what she was mumbling in a recording of her in a hospital with no audio.
* In the final episode of ''Series/{{Bottom}}'', the protagonists find a tape showing the Prime Minister with a prostitute. The tape has no sound so Eddie tries to lip read what the PM is saying, which is apparently [[TheImmodestOrgasm "Oh yeeeesss...oh yeeeesss...oh yeeeeessss..."]]
* The 1990s series ''Reasonable Doubts'' has a [[TheyFightCrime cop assigned to work with]] a deaf female prosecutor. She uses sign language but also reads lips. In one episode her car is towed away, but the man at the impound lot has a bushy moustache so she can't comprehend what he's saying and has to call the cop to translate for her.

* ''Series/UtopiaFalls'': Apollo learns this after becoming deaf, but it goes slowly.

* ''WesternAnimation/BigGuyAndRustyTheBoyRobot'' also parodied the ''2001'' scene by having Dr. Slate confront Lt. Hunter about the true nature of the Big Guy (that it's actually an exosuit rather than a fully-operational robot). Unbeknownst to them, Rusty is watching them from outside the window. However, he can't actually read lips, instead going "Blah blah blah blah blah." while watching them speak.

* A recurring problem in police departments is police substituting this for actual ASL intrepreters. To make matters worse, not only do a lot of officers have facial hair, but they tend to start yelling when they think they're being misunderstood, making their lip movements go from "barely recognizable" to "completely unintelligible". Samantha Bee [[https://youtu.be/hMr831Ro2-k?t=108 demonstrates]].

* In ''Series/TheLWord'' the character Jodie, who is also Deaf has the ability to read lips across the restaurant well enough to tell that the couple Joyce and Phyllis are talking about breaking up.

* ''Series/SomedayOrOneDay'': Mo Jun Jie reads Chen Yun Ru's lips in the final episode, at a distance, when observing Yun Ru talk to herself [[spoiler: (she is really talking to [[MentalTimeTravel Huang Yu Xuan trapped in her body]]).]] He manages to accurately understand the entire conversation.

* The 1990's series ''Reasonable Doubts'' has a [[TheyFightCrime cop assigned to work with]] a deaf female prosecutor. She uses sign language but also reads lips. In one episode her car is towed away, but the man at the impound lot has a bushy moustache so she can't comprehend what he's saying and has to call the cop to translate for her.

* ''Starblazer Adventures'', based on the 1970's-80's British science fiction comic book. The Lip Reading stunt allows you to do this.

* Irene from ''VisualNovel/MissingStars'' claims to be able to lip read. She notes that [[RealityEnsues it's very hit-or-miss.]]

* ''Manga/Golgo13'': In "Melancholy Summer", Duke Togo reads the lips of a woman who's been waiting for her husband to return for six years. Unfortunately the man is Togo's target, and Togo reads his FamousLastWords through the scope as he's shot while calling out to her.

* In ''Film/Mandy1952'', this is a major part of the education at Mandy's deaf school. The founder, Jane Ellis, is good enough that most people don't realize she's deaf. [[spoiler:By the end, Mandy has gotten good enough to have a conversation with a normal boy.]]

* Literature/EncyclopediaBrown realizes that the thief who "overheard" the owners of a barber shop could do so while sitting under a hair dryer because she could read lips.
* Creator/TLSherred's ''Literature/EForEffort'': Two guys invent a machine that can [[{{Chronoscope}} display past events]], which they film. However, it doesn't come with audio, so they hire expert lipreaders to figure out what exactly the people were/are saying.

* In one [=WW2=] prisoner of war novel, the protagonist is warned that some of the German guards have lipreading skills.

** In Heinlein's ''Literature/PodkayneOfMars'', the title character and her younger brother have been kidnapped. Suspecting their captor might be bugging the room they're in, they plan their escape this way ([[FridgeLogic though that doesn't explain how their 'conversation' is recorded on Podkayne's diary recorder]]).

* In the comedy ''Hero'' (1992) while Bernie is TalkingDownTheSuicidal under the glare of media cameras, a lipreader watching the footage claims that they're talking about religion. GilliganCut to Bernie agreeing with John not to reveal he's a fraud in exchange for financing his child's education.

* ''Double Star'' by Creator/RobertAHeinlein. Two spacemen retire to a 'hush corner' of the hotel room to discuss the protagonist. The hush corner cancels out their voices, but as he's a stage performer he's learned to lipread as part of his trade.

* In the book ''A Maiden's Grave'', a girl only realizes she's going deaf and reading lips to compensate when she "mishears" "Amazing Grace" as "A Maiden's Grave".

* In the French film ''Film/ReadMyLips'', the protagonist is deaf, and can tell when her coworkers (who are implied to not know about her deafness) talk about her behind her back. PlayedForDrama when her assistant is kidnapped [[spoiler: by the mob he's been forced to work for]]; he uses her lip-reading ability to covertly communicate an escape plan.

** Aly in ''Literature/DaughterOfTheLioness'' can do this thanks to her spy training, and her magical Sight allows her to "zoom" even on distant individuals.