Highest rated as cast or director
I Swear
2025
Say Nothing
2024 · 1 Season
Silk
2011 · 3 Seasons
Three Girls
2017 · 1 Season
Criminal Justice
2008 · 2 Seasons
Biography
Maxine Peake (born 14 July 1974) is an English stage, radio, film and television actress, playwright, producer, director and political activist, who made her name as Twinkle in Victoria Wood's sitcom Dinnerladies. She has since played Veronica in Channel 4's Manchester-based drama series Shameless, barrister Martha Costello in the BBC legal drama Silk and Grace Middleton in The Village. She is also an accomplished stage actress, having played the title role in Hamlet, and had a role in the 2014 film The Theory of Everything. In 2018 she played the lead in the film Funny Cow and had a starring role in Mike Leigh's epic Peterloo, a film very close to her heart.
Acted in 90
2020s
- 2026
- 2025
Laundreams
Movie
The Occupant of the Room
The Englishwoman (voice)
- 2024
The Haunted Season
The Englishwoman (voice) · 1 episode
- 2023
Tish
Tish Murtha (voice)
Choked Up
Fiona Lacey
- 2022
Lapushka!
Scoot Piccolo
Something Out of Nothing
Movie
Anne
Anne Williams · 4 episodes
- 2021
Where We Used to Meet
Movie
- 2020
Alan Bennett's Talking Heads
Miss Fozzard · 1 episode
Surfaces
Alix
It's Me
Miriam
2010s
- 2019
Judy
Judy
- 2018
Gwen
Elen
Ceremony: The Return of Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels (voice)
- 2017
The Priest
Movie
Men Who Sleep in Cars
Sarah
Cake
Movie
Unseen
Emma
- 2016
I Wish For You
Grown Up Mia
- 2015
Hamlet
Hamlet
Strange Weather
Jane
The Shuttleworths
Helen Bach
- 2014
- 2013
Keeping Up with the Joneses
Celia
Svengali
Angie
- 2012
Room at the Top
Alice Aisgill · 2 episodes
Best Laid Plans
Isabel
- 2011
DeafBlind
Maggie
- 2010
Edge
Elly
The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister
Anne Lister
2000s
- 2009
Red Riding
TV
- 2008
The Devil's Whore
Elizabeth Lilburne · 4 episodes
Hancock & Joan
Joan Le Mesurier
Bike Squad
WPC Kate McFay
- 2006
See No Evil: The Moors Murders
Myra Hindley · 2 episodes
The Fear of Trilogy
Movie
- 2005
- 2004
Christmas Lights
Pauline
- 2003
Comedy Connections
TV
Early Doors
Janice · 6 episodes
- 2002
Hamilton Mattress
Lulu (voice)
- 2001
Linda Green
Receptionist · 1 episode
Messiah
DS Vickie Clarke · 3 episodes
- 2000
1990s
- 1999
Sunburn
Sue · 1 episode
- 1998
dinnerladies
Twinkle · 16 episodes
Girls' Night
Sharon
- 1997
- 1996
Produced 3
2020s
- 2025
The Secret Assistants
Executive Producer
2010s
- 2018
The Last Testament of Lillian Bilocca
Producer
Directed 2
2020s
- 2022
Incompatible
Director
2010s
- 2018
The Last Testament of Lillian Bilocca
Director
Wrote 1
2010s
- 2017
The Priest
Writer
Appearances21
2020s
- 2026
Becoming Victoria Wood
Self
- 2025
Irvine Welsh: Reality Is Not Enough
Narrator
Quiet on Set: The Class Division in the Film Industry?
Self
- 2024
Art Matters
Self
Secret Life of the Safari Park
Narrator · 6 episodes
- 2022
The Real Anne: Unfinished Business
Self- Presenter
- 2020
The Great Mountain Sheep Gather
Self - Narrator
2010s
- 2018
The Last Testament of Lillian Bilocca
Self
Dinnerladies Diaries
Self · 3 episodes
Wonders of the Moon
Narrator (voice)
- 2017
Dispossession: The Great Social Housing Swindle
Narrator
Bunch of Kunst - A Film About Sleaford Mods
Self (archive footage)
We Have Been Watching
Self · 5 episodes
- 2016
Generation '66
Narrator
2000s
- 2007
The 50 Greatest Television Dramas
Self
- 2006
- 2002
- 2000
Victoria Wood with All the Trimmings
Self
Thanked in the credits1
2020s
- 2021
Doughnut
Thanks