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This page lists all differences between "Secrets & Lies", the 2014 Australian television series, and "Secrets and Lies", the 2015 American remake of the same name.

  • NOTE: This comparison only contains information on the first season of each series. This is due primarily to the fact that the first season of the American version is a strict adaptation of the Australian version, and that the American version possesses a second season that the Australian version currently lacks.

Title[]

Character Names[]

Character Genders[]

Character Ages[]

  • Thom Murnane was listed as being a 4-year-old, while Tom Murphy was listed as being 5.
  • There is an extra "h" in Thom's name, but in both it's a diminutive form of "Thomas".

Location Names[]

Interesting Notes[]

  • While almost every character in the American version took their first name from the first name of their Australian counterpart, Eva's name was changed to Abby. When Eva is being read her rights, Detective Cornielle declares Eva's full name: Eva Abigail Gundelach. Abby is a diminutive form of Abigail, so in this case, Abby gets her first name from Eva's middle name.

Different Scenes[]

  • In the scene where Ben and Christy are fighting over when Ben was with Jess, Ben says in the Australian version that it's been 5 years, hence Thom was 4. Because his age was upped to 5 in the American version, Ben tells Christy in this version that it's been 6 years since the altercation with Jess.
  • In the Australian version, the DNA results were never leaked out and placed in the newspaper.
  • In the Australian version, Dave does not come back after having been kicked out by Ben, and Ben is shown cleaning out the guesthouse, where he finds a piece of jewelry Jess lost on the night he and Jess conceived Thom. He later returns it to Jess.
  • In the Australian version, Scott does not appear while Ben is sleeping.
  • In the Australian version, Ben isn't shown buying a gun in order to protect his family, thence it's never implied that he kill himself with said gun.
  • In the American version, Dr. Tim Turner left England due to claims that he sexually assaulted a child. While this scene is identical to the one appearing in the Australian version, Dr. Turner was later accused of beating his son. It was later learned that the boy had hemophilia which was, in this case, acquired through the child having been born a product of incest. In the Australian version, however, the doctor is never shown to have a son, especially one who had been beaten.
  • In the Australian version, Tasha meets Paul Murnane on the day of the funeral to give her a toy shanook (a military helicopter with double rotors) to place on Thom's coffin. In the American version, Tasha meets Scott Murphy on the day before the funeral where she is given Scott's Silver Star to place on Tom's coffin.
  • In the Australian version, the reporters don't quit harassing Ben because here was another child murder case further east.
  • In the Australian version, Ben never went to see the Detective's daughter in prison, thus he was never stopped by cops on the bridge, where he was given not so subtle warning to back off.
  • In the Australian version, a descendant of the late Mrs. Bailey was living in her old vacant house, and was the one to find the blue jacket. In the American version, an autistic "collector" named Matt Daily was the one who had the jacket. His mom, Lisa, and brother Tyler weren't included in the Austrailan version.
  • The scene where Ben finds the plethora of flashlights in rows in his garage is missing from the Australian version of the show, as is the scene where he receives video footage showing cameras are hidden in his home. The Detective never received a text message from Ben's phone number.
  • Ben was not stalked, nor was he tortured by Kevin Richardson, in the Australian version of the show. There was also no mention of Kevin seeing Ben and Jess on the night of the barbecue. There is no mention of Elaine sleeping around behind Kevin's back while he was on tour with the military. There was no forcing Ben to dig his own grave, nor were there any scenes of Ben being waterboarded.
  • Christy's car was never vandalized by Cooper Dobson in the Australian version of the show. Nor was it revealed that Cooper was the one who vandalized the gate with the words "Child Killer".
  • Arthur Fenton, the reporter wanting to take down Detective Cornell didn't exist in the Australian version. Because of this there are no mentions of lab leaks, or any mention of Linda Freeman, the leak, being paid by Fenton to acquire information involving Andrea Cornell.
  • In the Australian version, there is no man named Seth Goring who was being harassed by the Detective. We learn that the Detective doesn't stop until an arrest is made. In the American version, Detective Cornell has been after Seth for three years. Seth hung himself in the basement after evidence emerged which proved Seth was guilty. Ben informs Arthur Fenton who places a story in the newspaper concerning the Detective's harassment, only to have Seth's son reprimand Ben, mainly because now Cornell will be hounding them even more now, and this time will find the truth.
  • Ben doesn't kick Christy out in the Australian version. In that version she leaves on her own.
  • There is no mention of Christy sleeping with her client after her finding out about Ben in the Australian version of the show.
  • In the Australian version, there was no secret $25,000 retainer (paid by Christy) to get Ben a decent attorney.
  • In the Australian version, Christy's brother doesn't call the police on Christy's suspicion that Ben hid something out in the woods. Therefore there was never any search in the woods with metal detectors. There is no interaction during this scene with Ben and Linda, the crime lab leak.
  • In the Australian version, Ben doesn't visit his attorney on Christmas morning where he learns that evidence must be retested due to the leak in the crime lab.
  • The scene in which Dave retrieves the flashlight, after Ben first hides it, in order to dispose of it for good, is missing from the Australian version of the show. In that version, Ben weighs the backpack down by filling it with rocks and then throws it into the river, only to discover that Christy was watching him from a higher vantage point. Dave does play a role in Ben's decision to move the flashlight, though, because originally Ben hides the backpack on a girder in between two floor joists in the crawlspace under the house. After Dave stresses how through the police are in their searches, Ben crawls back under the house with a rag and a jug of gasoline, retrieves the backpack and cleans the flashlight with the gasoline. He then takes the bag and moves it until he realizes throwing it in the river is the only way to fully dispose of it. Note that unlike in the American version, Ben never wraps it as a present. In this version Ben throws the backpack that once contained the flashlight into the river after being stopped by police on a bridge. Dave retrieves the flashlight, where he and Ben throw it into an abandoned well at the facility where he was tortured by Kevin Richardson.
  • In the Australian version, Ben doesn't go to Michael's on Christmas morning to see the girls, only to have Christy call the cops on him, learning that Abby was watching the whole time. Her brother tells them there's no need to send out a unit.
  • In the Australian version, Dave slipping a pill into Ben's drink is discussed in much less detail. In the American version, we learn it was "benzodiazepine", or "stress meds", according to Dave. There were no flashbacks of the bar in the Australian version, nor did Ben and Dave retrace their steps.
  • There is no mention of the sonogram photo in the Australian version, nor was there was mention of the woman at the bar, Ben's phone call to Jess, or Cornell visiting the bar after being called on Ben's disturbance.
  • In the Australian version, Ben does not possess Thom's tooth, nor is it ever really revealed why he went to Jess' house after exiting the taxi. In the American version we learned that Jess found Tom's tooth gone, with $10 under the pillow, and assumed that Scott had visited during the night.
  • Ben does not find Christy's safe with $150,000 in the Australian version, nor is it revealed her brother had been giving her money as a "buffer", or as Ben calls it, "an escape plan".
  • In the Australian version, Ben doesn't confront Christy's brother for making comments about Ben and Jess in front of the girls, nor is Christy's brother the one who says Abby could go with Ben to the fireworks. In that version it was Christy who said Ben could take Eva, but threatened to call the law if he didn't have her home by 7 pm.
  • In the Australian version, Ben's truck wouldn't start, so he and Eva ride with Jess to the fireworks. In the American version it's Jess' vehicle that won't start, and therefore she rides with Ben and Abby.
  • In the Australian version, Eva receives a new camera from Christy. In the American version, Abby receives a new phone.
  • The scenes at the fireworks display were shorter in the Australian version. Eva doesn't want Jess to take a picture of her and Ben, only to get mad when a passerby offers to take the picture so Jess could join "the family". In the American version Abby stresses that they aren't a family. In the Australian version, there is no game playing, nor does Jess buy Kettlecorn after Eva breaks her camera (phone in the American version).
  • There is no mention of the Detective being at the fireworks display in the Australian version of the show.
  • In the Australian version, the Detective doesn't interrupt Christy and Oliver (her client - Sam Morrison in the American version) in order to question Christy's whereabouts on the night of the murder.
  • In the American version, Ben meets Nicole at a Yoga Studio where he learns about Jane and Jess' bipolar medications. In the Australian version Ben meets Paul Murnane at a gym with a boxing ring where he learns about Jess.
  • In the American version, Ben finds Abby's bloodied shoes in an opening to a loose vent on the side of the guest house, while putting away a ladder. In the Australian version, Ben finds Eva's bloodied shoes buried in her outdoor clubhouse.
  • In the Australian version, Ben confronts Eva with the shoes he found, only to appear right as Detective Cornielle stops to talks to Eva. There is no way to hide the shoes. In the American version, however, Ben burns the shoes so that Detective Cornell could never find them.

The Ending[]

  • In the Australian version, Eva Gundelach is arrested for the crime she committed. In the American version, Abby Crawford (Eva's international counterpart) should have been arrested, but her father, Ben, takes the blame, and serves the time for his daughter.
  • A final webisode video for the Australian version shows Ian Cornielle undergoing a physchological examination. The case was especially unnerving to him, and the department wanted to ensure his mental stability wasn't comprised, because they had another case for him, this time with two victims, possibly hinting at a second season.
  • A final webisode video for the American version reveals that, more than likely either in an altercation between Ben and an inmate who despises child murderers, or because of a severe broken heart, Ben somehow dies in prison. Detective Cornell vows to bring Tom's true killer to justice. The scene then cuts to Cornell confronting Abby, obviously implying she was intent on making Abby pay for the crimes she committed.
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