Background
Secrets & Lies

Roxanne drives her mother crazy. Maurice never speaks to his niece. Cynthia has a shock for her family. Monica can't talk to her husband. Hortense has never met her mother.

Secrets & Lies

1996-05-242 hours 22 minutes

After her adoptive mother dies, Hortense, a successful black optometrist, seeks out her birth mother. She's shocked when her research leads her to Cynthia, a working class white woman.

Mike LeighDirector

Top Billed Cast

Brenda Blethyn

Brenda Blethyn

Cynthia Rose Purley

Marianne Jean-Baptiste

Marianne Jean-Baptiste

Hortense Cumberbatch

Timothy Spall

Timothy Spall

Maurice Purley

Phyllis Logan

Phyllis Logan

Monica Purley

Claire Rushbrook

Claire Rushbrook

Roxanne Purley

Lee Ross

Lee Ross

Paul

Lesley Manville

Lesley Manville

The Social Worker

Elizabeth Berrington

Elizabeth Berrington

Jane

Michele Austin

Michele Austin

Dionne

Ron Cook

Ron Cook

Stuart

Trevor Laird

Trevor Laird

Hortense's Brother

Brian Bovell

Brian Bovell

Hortense's Brother

Emma Amos

Emma Amos

Girl with Scar

Clare Perkins

Clare Perkins

Hortense's Sister in Law

Elias Perkins McCook

Hortense's Nephew

Jane Mitchell

Senior Optician (as June Mitchell)