Liar is a British thriller TV series. It aired for two seasons from 2017 to 2020. Laura Nielsen, a teacher, goes on a date with surgeon Dr. Andrew Earlham, father to one of her students. Afterward though she wakes up with little memory of what happened and comes to believe he raped her. With no evidence beside her word however and Andrew seeming like a perfectly nice man, Laura has a hard time, especially when he begins to counterattack...
It stars Joanne Froggatt, Ioan Gruffudd, Shelley Conn and Zoe Tapper.
Examples:
- Abortion Fallout Drama: Makeda takes drugs to induce abortion. Nobody in the know disapproves, but they cover it up because her father would, and send Makeda back to Ethiopia.
- Affectionate Nickname: Rory calls Vanessa "Ness" or "Nessie".
- All Lesbians Want Kids: Vanessa is a lesbian who's expecting a baby with her wife. The pair are the only lesbians shown.
- Asshole Victim: Andrew, after he's been revealed to be a serial rapist who raped nineteen women and goes on the lam, is found murdered. The police naturally have many suspects among not only his victims but also their loved ones, and openly say he had it coming.
- Blackmail:
- Andrew realized in the past that a gay male colleague of his had been raped (by someone who it turns out he knew in medical school). Rather than help bring the rapist to justice, he video-tapes the guy secretly while he's raping another man, to use for leverage.
- Later, he also had Oliver blackmail a police detective to get them information on Laura.
- British Brevity: It ran for two seasons with only six episodes each.
- Clear My Name: In the second season, Laura is accused of murder and has to prove she's innocent, despite mounting evidence.
- Date Rape: Laura accuses Andrew of this (after drugging her drink), and looks into his past, finding incidents making her think he did it to other women as well. He's guilty of not only her rape, but many more.
- Depraved Homosexual: Oliver, a serial rapist who targets men (he's basically Andrew's gay counterpart, and even tutored him in the art of rape).
- Driven to Suicide:
- Andrew's wife's death was ruled suicide, allegedly due to depression. Laura suspects he really murdered her. It turns out that she did kill herself, over the awful truth her husband's a serial rapist, and he goaded her into doing this.
- Andrew's son Luke tried to kill himself as well by jumping into the ocean over the same revelation. He survived however.
- Carl considers this after killing Andrew, or so he thinks. He changes his mind in the last instant.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Andrew may be a serial rapist, but he genuinely loves his son Luke, and is always concerned with his wellbeing.
- Evil Mentor: When Andrew discovered Oliver was a serial rapist he confronted him, but instead of handing Oliver over he ended up being instructed how to get away with rape.
- False Rape Accusation: Andrew claims Laura is lying or at least confused and he didn't rape her. The head of a school she worked at comes forward to back this up, relating that she had accused him of sexual harassment also before dropping the complaint. It turns out he did harass her though. Andrew's later revealed not only to be guilty-Laura's just one of many women he raped.
- Fair Cop: DI Vanessa is quite attractive. Her colleague, undercover detective Charlotte, is as well (it's weaponized in her case to lure in a suspect).
- Fan Disservice: Laura is shown in the shower and topless from the side in the first episode. Since it's after she's been raped, however, this will not be titillating to many people.
- Faking the Dead: It turns out Andrew intended to frame Laura so the police would think that she killed him, and then disappear. However, he ends up being Killed Off for Real by her.
- Faux Affably Evil: Andrew and Oliver are both charming, friendly men most of the time. It's useful to lure their victims in.
- Flashback: Much of the series is told through flashbacks of Laura and Andrew's lives.
- Framing the Guilty Party: Laura attempts this, along with Vanessa, against Andrew to prove he raped them when legal evidence isn't forthcoming. It fails though.
- Frame-Up: In season two, Andrew frames Laura for murder with Oliver blackmailed into assisting him.
- Gaslighting: Andrew expertly twists what Laura says, doing all he can to get her thinking she was just confused, and he didn't rape her.
- Honey Trap: A female detective is sent undercover so Andrew can be framed for rape (which he did commit in the past). However, he sees through it and doesn't go for the bait.
- How We Got Here: The series uses repeated flashbacks to reveal how things transpired.
- Lipstick Lesbian: DI Vanessa Harmon and her wife are both feminine women, with no stereotypical traits to indicate their sexual orientation.
- Mercy Kill: Laura's father, who was slowly dying of brain cancer, asked her to painlessly end his life with drugs if he lost his faculties. When he did, she euthanized him with great reluctance.
- Never My Fault: Andrew blames Laura for making his son attempt suicide... which he'd only done because of the revelation about his dad's horrifying crimes.
- Obliviously Evil: Laura is chilled to realize from their conversation that Andrew really thinks he did nothing untoward by raping her.
- Posthumous Character: At the end of season one, Andrew is found murdered. He's still shown through flashbacks after this however.
- Rape as Drama: The series initially centers on Laura's charge of rape against Andrew, before he goes on to rape Vanessa as well, and is revealed to have raped many more women.
- Rape and Revenge: Andrew is abducted and nearly murdered by one of his victim's husbands for revenge. Laura's accused of murdering him in revenge as well.
- Reminiscing About Your Victims: After his mask slips, Andrew starts talking fondly about how he raped not only Laura but previous women in private conversation with her, to her utter horror. Not only that, but he video-taped each rape, and regularly views the recordings again for his enjoyment.
- The Reveal: Laura actually did kill Andrew. It was self-defense though. Since the police don't have evidence to show that she did anything wrong, the case is closed.
- Serial Rapist: Andrew is not only a rapist, but raped nineteen women overall. He also met another in the past who he blackmailed into "mentoring" him in how to get away with rape.
- Slipping a Mickey: Laura accuses Andrew of doing this to her, though no evidence can be found in her blood test. It turns out he did drug her with GHB, and its his m.o., which he learned from another serial rapist.
- Start of Darkness: Andrew's is revealed to have been when he'd discovered another serial rapist. Instead of turning him in, he blackmailed the man for lessons about it, as he's fascinated by the idea of control over other people. He then becomes a serial rapist himself under the first man's tutelage.
- Straight Gay: Oliver and the gay men he preyed upon all come off no different than average straight guys.
- Sympathetic Murderer: Laura is told by the police that they wholly understand if she murdered her rapist, and a jury will too. Privately many admit it was a public service, though nonetheless the murderer must be prosecuted.
- Vigilante Man: Laura is accused of killing Andrew in revenge when he's found dead, rather than having the police track him down. Carl did try to kill him, but failed (unbeknownst to him at first).
