The Cry is a British television thriller miniseries, comprising four fifty-minute episodes, that first broadcast during April 2002 on ITV. The series stars Sarah Lancashire as Meg Bartlett, a child protection officer working for social services, who after suffering a second miscarriage, befriends a young mum, Christine Rearden (Emma Cunniffe), whom she later suspects of abusing her daughter, Eleanor. Joe Duttine, Anthony Calf and James Laurenson co-starred alongside Lancashire and Cunniffe. The series was directed by David Drury and written by playwright Peter Ransley. Two episodes were broadcast each week.