Lie to Me is an American television drama series created by Samuel Baum and produced by 20th Century Fox Television which follows Dr. Cal Lightman and his colleagues in The Lightman Group who assist law enforcement agencies in investigations, reaching the truth through applied psychology: interpreting microexpressions, through the Facial Action Coding System, and body language.
Based on the real-life scientific discoveries of Paul Ekman, the series follows Lightman and his team of deception experts as they assist law enforcement and government agencies to expose the truth behind the lies.
The series aired in the USA on Fox from 21 January, 2009 to 31 January, 2011. There are 48 hour-long episodes in three seasons.
Lie to Me originally aired in South Africa on M-Net and DStv's M-Net HD channel from 25 September, 2009 to 2 August, 2011. It later aired on DStv's M-Net Series and TopTV's Fox FX channels. See "Seasons" below for seasonal broadcast dates and times.
Season 3 premiered on Fox FX on Wednesday 16 January 2013, at 20h30. New episodes broadcast weekly. There are 13 episodes in the third and final season.
Synopsis
The average person tells three lies in ten minutes of conversation.
Dr. Cal Lightman (Tim Roth) can detect the truth by analyzing a person's face, body, voice and speech. When someone shrugs his shoulder, rotates his hand or raises his lower lip, Lightman knows he's lying.
By analyzing facial expressions, he can read feelings - from hidden resentment to sexual attraction to jealousy.
But as Lightman well knows, his scientific ability is both a blessing and a curse in his personal life, where family and friends deceive each other as readily as criminals and strangers do.
Lightman is the world's leading deception expert, a scientist who studies facial expressions and involuntary body language to discover not only if you are lying but why.
Lie to Me is a compelling drama series inspired by the scientific discoveries of Dr. Paul Ekman, a real-life specialist who can read clues embedded in the human face, body and voice to expose both the truth and lies in criminal investigations.
Lightman heads a team of experts at The Lightman Group who assist federal law enforcement, government agencies and local police with their most difficult cases.
Dr. Gillian Foster (Kelli Williams) is a gifted psychologist and Lightman's professional partner who brings balance to the partnership by looking at the bigger picture while Lightman focuses on the details. He needs her guidance and insight into human behaviour, whether he knows it or not.
Eli Loker (Brendan Hines) is Lightman's lead researcher, who is so uncomfortable with the human tendency to lie that he's decided to practice what he calls "radical honesty." He says everything on his mind at all times and often pays the price.
Ria Torres (Monica Raymund) is the newest member of the agency, and one of the few "naturals" in the field of deception detection. She has a raw, untrained ability to read people that makes her a force to be reckoned with.
Samuel Baum, Brian Grazer, David Nevins and Steven Maeda serve as executive producers on the series, which is produced by Imagine Television and 20th Century Fox Television. Robert Schwentke directed the pilot.
Seasons
Season 1 (13 episodes)
Channel: M-Net | Premiere: 25 Sep 2009 | Finale: 18 Dec 2009 | Fridays, 20h00
Channel: M-Net HD | Premiere: 25 Sep 2009 | Finale: 18 Dec 2009 | Fridays, 20h00
Channel: M-Net Series | Premiere: 4 Apr 2010 | Finale: 27 Jun 2010 | Sundays, 18h00
Channel: Fox FX | Premiere: 9 Feb 2011 | Finale: 4 May 2011 | Wednesdays, 20h30
Season 2 (22 episodes)
Channel: M-Net | Premiere: 8 Jan 2010 | Finale: 8 Feb 2011 | Fri, 20h00 / Tue, 21h30
Channel: M-Net HD | Premiere: 8 Jan 2010 | Finale: 8 Feb 2011 | Fri, 20h00 / Tue, 21h30
Channel: M-Net Series | Premiere: 12 Dec 2010 | Finale: 8 May 2011 | Sundays, 18h30
Channel: Fox FX | Premiere: 5 Oct 2011 | Finale: 29 Feb 2012 | Wednesdays, 20h30
Season 3 (13 episodes)
Channel: M-Net | Premiere: 10 May 2011 | Finale: 2 Aug 2011 | Tuesdays, 21h30
Channel: M-Net HD | Premiere: 10 May 2011 | Finale: 2 Aug 2011 | Tuesdays, 21h30
Channel: M-Net Series | Premiere: 11 Mar 2012 | Finale: 3 Jun 2012 | Sundays, 18h30
Channel: Fox FX | Premiere: 16 Jan 2013 | Finale: 10 Apr 2013 | Wednesdays, 20h30