Catching Liars Actor Tim Roth played psychologist and professional lie detector Dr. Cal Lightman in the critically acclaimed TV series “Lie to Me,” a drama loosely based on the scientific work of emotion researcher Paul Ekman, who served as a scientific consultant on the program. Like Ekman, the fictional Lightman is an expert on reading microexpressions, although he also uses other lie detection methods. However, Lightman’s highly unconventional—and often unethical—methods have little in common with Ekman’s scientific research. “Dr. Lightman, in less than 45 minutes, accomplishes things that take me weeks, if not months, to figure out,” Ekman (2009) commented. “But I suppose if they really showed what I do, people would change the channel because it would be too slow.”