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.

Filmography

• Bait — Helen
• 2026Crackula
• Last Seen — Jenna Reid
• 2025I Swear — Dottie
• 2025Irvine Welsh: Reality Is Not Enough — Narrator
• 2025Laundreams
• 2025The Occupant of the Room — The Englishwoman (voice)
• 2025Words of War — Anna Politkovskaya
• Say Nothing — Older Dolours Price
• Secret Life of the Safari Park — Narrator
• The Haunted Season — The Englishwoman (voice)
• 2024Woken — Helen
• 2023Choked Up — Fiona Lacey
• 2023Dance First — Barbara
• 2023Tish — Tish Murtha (voice)
• Anne — Anne Williams
• Art That Made Us — Self - Actrice (Rules of the Game, Anne)
• 2022Incompatible — Director
• 2022Inner Polar Bear — Narrator (voice)
• 2022Lapushka! — Scoot Piccolo
• Rules of the Game — Sam Thompson
• 2022Something Out of Nothing
• 2022Wendell & Wild — Irmgard Klaxon (voice)
• 2021Doughnut — Thanks
• Star Wars: Visions — Kalina Kalfus (voice)
• 2021Where We Used to Meet
• Alan Bennett's Talking Heads — Miss Fozzard
• 2020It's Me — Miriam
• Mandy — Susan Blower
• 2020Surfaces — Alix
• 2019Be Still My Beating Heart
• 2019Fanny Lye Deliver'd — Fanny Lye
• 2019Judy — Judy
• 2018Ceremony: The Return of Friedrich Engels — Friedrich Engels (voice)
• 2018Funny Cow — Funny Cow, Executive Producer
• 2018Gwen — Elen
• 2018Peterloo — Nellie
• The Bisexual — Sadie
• 2018The Last Testament of Lillian Bilocca — Self, Producer, Director
• 2018Wonders of the Moon — Narrator (voice)
• 2017Cake
• 2017Dispossession: The Great Social Housing Swindle — Narrator
• 2017Men Who Sleep in Cars — Sarah
• 2017The Priest — Writer
• Three Girls — Sara Rowbotham
• 2017Unseen — Emma
• 2016A Midsummer Night's Dream — Titania
• 2016Generation '66 — Narrator
• 2016I Wish For You — Grown Up Mia
• 2016Red Top — Rebekah Brooks
• 2015Hamlet — Hamlet
• 2015Strange Weather — Jane
• 2015The Falling — Eileen Lamont
• 2015The Shuttleworths — Helen Bach
• Inside No. 9 — Nadia
• 2014Keeping Rosy — Charlotte
• 2014Run & Jump — Vanetia
• 2014The Theory of Everything — Elaine Mason
• 2013Keeping Up with the Joneses — Celia
• 2013Svengali — Angie
• 2013The Heart Fails Without Warning — Mother
• The Village — Grace Middleton
• 2012Best Laid Plans — Isabel
• 2012Private Peaceful — Hazel Peaceful
• Room at the Top — Alice Aisgill
• The Hollow Crown — Doll Tearsheet
• Black Mirror — Bella
• 2011DeafBlind — Maggie
• Silk — Martha Costello QC
• 2010Edge — Elly
• 2010Imaginary Friend — Pauline
• 2010The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister — Anne Lister
• Red Riding
• 2009Red Riding: The Year of Our Lord 1980 — Helen Marshall
• 2008Bike Squad — WPC Kate McFay
• 2008Clubbed — Angela
• Criminal Justice — Juliet Miller
• Fairy Tales — Cindy Mellor
• 2008Hancock & Joan — Joan Le Mesurier
• Little Dorrit — Miss Wade
• The Devil's Whore — Elizabeth Lilburne
• 2007Confessions of a Diary Secretary — Tracey Temple
• 2007I Am Bob — Marilyn Monroe Lookalike/Compere's Assistant
• 2007Would Like To Meet — George's Mum
• See No Evil: The Moors Murders — Myra Hindley
• 2006The Fear of Trilogy
• 2006The Madness of the Dance
• The Street
• 2005Faith — Linda
• 2005Frozen — Ticket Attendant
• 2004Christmas Lights — Pauline
• Shameless — Veronica Fisher
• Comedy Connections
• Early Doors — Janice
• 2002All or Nothing — Party girl
• 2002Hamilton Mattress — Lulu (voice)
• Linda Green — Receptionist
• Messiah — DS Vickie Clarke
• At Home with the Braithwaites — Trixie Fletcher
• Clocking Off — Marie Leach
• Sunburn — Sue
• 1998Girls' Night — Sharon
• dinnerladies — Twinkle
• Jonathan Creek — Marion Cretiss
• Dalziel and Pascoe — Dr Allison Laurie
• Hetty Wainthropp Investigates — Photocopy Assistant
• ChuckleVision
• The South Bank Show
• First Day on Earth — Helen
• The Bright Side Running Club
• The Unheard

Appearances as themselves (17)

• 2026Becoming Victoria Wood — Self
• 2025Quiet on Set: The Class Division in the Film Industry? — Self
• 2024Art Matters — Self
• 2022The Real Anne: Unfinished Business — Self- Presenter
• 2020The Great Mountain Sheep Gather — Self - Narrator
• Dinnerladies Diaries — Self
• The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up To Cancer — Self - Guest
• 2017Bunch of Kunst - A Film About Sleaford Mods — Self (archive footage)
• We Have Been Watching — Self
• Artsnight — Self - Presenter
• 2007The 50 Greatest Television Dramas — Self
• The Alan Titchmarsh Show — Self
• The Graham Norton Show — Self
• The One Show — Self - Guest
• Timeshift — Self - Narrator
• 2000Victoria Wood with All the Trimmings — Self
• Obsession: The Beryl Burton Story — Self