Who is the real Liar?
The 10 crucial questions in telly’s gripping new thriller
1 Was Laura’s drink spiked? At the end of the episode Laura remembered the two wine glasses, one with her lipstick stain. Then we saw her dishwasher had been put on, with only the two glasses inside. “He swapped the glasses,” she tells sister Katy. “When I came back he was drinking from my glass. That’s why the whole night felt like a blur.”
So did Andrew drug her? If you look back, you see the lipstick on her glass. But in her flashback later, the mark is on his glass.
As a surgeon, Andrew would know exactly how much date rape drug GHB to use. Or did he pick up her glass by accident – or was it an old mark from a badly-washed glass?
2 Could a third person be involved?
Our favourite conspiracy theory is that both Laura and Andrew believe they’re telling the truth but she was raped by someone else.
Her ex Tom, right, has been having a fling with her sister and seemed a bit too OK with the end of a nine-year relationship.
The extremely friendly taxi driver already knew where she lived.
And Andrew’s smarmy colleague seems overly-interested in the date.
3 What is Laura’s mysterious mental illness past? There are references to Laura having had a mental illness, but we don’t know details. Laura tells sister Katy: “They’ll look at my medical history and they’ll call me a hysterical mad woman telling lies about the hero surgeon.” This suggests mental illness in the past – but should this matter? She also fears she will not be believed because of how much she drank. Even her sister asks how much alcohol she’d had.
4 What happened “last time”?
When Katy, right with Laura, reveals to her seemingly doting husband Liam that Laura says she has been raped, he asks: “Do the police know what happened last time?” Katy replies: “Why should they?”
But that’s all we know. Has she alleged rape before?
Something suggests she has been in a “he said, she said” situation before, or that the authorities may have suspicions if they knew her history.
5 Did Andrew’s phone battery really die? Rather conveniently, just at Laura’s front door at the end of the date, Andrew, right, exclaims: “Oh b ***** ks, I was going to call a cab but my battery’s died.”
“Oh smooth!” she laughs. But he insists it’s not a line and he is happy to walk. Laura invites him in to call a cab. Was Andrew planning this all along? Police said they analysed his phone – will we find out the answer?
6 Why did Laura wake up fully clothed if he said he undressed her? Viewers took to Twitter to ask this vital question. Andrew told police: “I took off her clothes and she had me take off mine.” But we saw Laura wake up almost fully clothed, below, except for her knickers lying on the floor. Does this mean Andrew is definitely lying or is there something much more complicated going on?
8 Is Laura’s sister really on her side? Laura’s sister Katy is playing the supportive sibling – but then again she’s hardly loyal, is she?
We already know that she’s been having an affair with Laura’s ex Tom, left, which was going on while they were together.
She stands by Laura, takes time off work and goes with her to the doctor and police.
But she’s also Andrew’s work colleague. What else is she hiding, and should we trust her?
7 What exactly happened to Andrew’s wife?
We saw Laura’s ex Tom looking up an old newspaper article, right, with the headline: “Wife of Lothian surgeon in tragic suicide”. The smaller print (yes, we paused it) told us that Andrew’s wife Mary suffered from depression for many years.
Tom called the coroner’s office to ask for details on the 2006 case. There’s something dodgy afoot here – could there be an even a darker secret in Andrew’s past?
9 Why did Andrew visit Laura in the classroom afterwards? After being accused of rape, you’d hardly think the best thing to do is seek out your accuser to confront them. Andrew says he just wants to talk about Laura not taking anything out on his son, her pupil Luke.
But Andrew tells Laura she is mistaken about the rape, that she never said “No”. Are these the actions of an innocent man desperate to clear his name – or of a polished liar trying to manipulate his victim? MORE than five million viewers were gripped – but utterly confused – by ITV’s harrowing new thriller Liar, about a possible date rape.
In Monday’s opening episode, teacher Laura ( Joanne Froggatt) went on a first date with surgeon Andrew (Ioan Gruffudd). The chemistry sizzled but next day she reported him for rape.
Flashback clues were drip-fed from both perspectives – two sides of the story, one truth. But who is lying? Here are the 10 big questions...
10 Why has she taken revenge so publicly? At the end, Laura declares: “I’m going to make sure everyone knows exactly who he is.” Katy tries to talk her out of it, but Laura writes on social media: “He held me down. He is a rapist.”
She posts it on Andrew’s Facebook profile page, left, telling Katy: “Now they know.”
With police only just beginning to investigate, surely she has jeopardised any court case?
Or is she out to punish him, whatever it takes?