Fingersmith poster

Fingersmith

★ 7.8 11K votes 2005–2005 1 season · 3 episodes Ended BBC One
Queer storiesLGBTQ+ lives and relationships at the center.This show: 9/10Period pieceSet meaningfully in a past era.This show: 9/10Secrets & liesHidden truths straining every relationship.This show: 9/10Puzzle plotNonlinear timelines, twists and structural games that reward attention.This show: 8/10Female perspectiveWomen's experience as the defining lens.This show: 8/10British TVThe British television sensibility: tone, restraint and format traditions.This show: 8/10Love storyA love story as the engine of the show, not a side plot.This show: 8/10Heists & consCapers, con artists and elaborate schemes.This show: 7/10
Rate this series
Starring
Elaine CassidySally HawkinsImelda StauntonRupert EvansDavid TroughtonStephen Wight
Starring
Elaine CassidySally HawkinsImelda StauntonRupert EvansDavid TroughtonStephen Wight
Ratings per Episode
246810
Votes per Episode
03875113150

Fingersmith Episode Ratings Heatmap

AvgE1E2E3
S18.28.18.28.2

Download Infographic

Fingersmith episode ratings heatmap infographic

The full episode-rating heatmap as a shareable image.

About

"A con story that becomes a love story"

Set in Victorian England, an orphan raised among petty thieves is recruited into a con: pose as a lady's maid, win the trust of a sheltered heiress, and help steal her fortune. What starts as scheme curdles into something far messier once genuine feeling enters the picture. The three-part miniseries is atmospheric and slow-building, heavy on class tension and gothic dread, with a structure that keeps flipping whose story you think you're watching. It rewards patience with a genuinely satisfying, twist-laden back half rather than cheap shocks.

Watch it for

the slow-burn plot reversal that recontextualizes everything you thought you understood.

Maybe skip if

you want fast pacing or dislike bleak Victorian settings and institutional cruelty.

Written by our AI editor to help you decide, spoiler-free by design.

All Seasons

▼
Miniseries2005
8.238032h 56m
EpTitleRatingYoursVotesRuntime
▶1Episode #1.18.1
13858 min
▶2Episode #1.28.2
12359 min
▶3Episode #1.38.2
11959 min

Full Cast & Crew

Cast

Elaine Cassidy Maud Lilly
Sally Hawkins Sue Trinder
Imelda Staunton Mrs. Sucksby
Rupert Evans Richard 'Gentleman' Rivers
David Troughton Mr. Ibbs
Stephen Wight Charles
Bronson Webb John Vroom
Richard Durden Mr. Hawtrey
Polly Hemingway Mrs. Stiles
Demelza Randall Dainty

Similar Series

Popular picks Shows that people who know this one usually know too. From our AI taste analysis.
Close in taste Nearest neighbors in our taste profile comparison: shared tone, themes and style.