The Beautiful Lie is an Australian television drama that aired on ABC. The six-part series is a contemporary re-imagining of Leo Tolstoy's classic 1877 novel Anna Karenina. It is directed by Glendyn Ivin and Peter Salmon and produced by Endemol Australia's John Edwards and Imogen Banks. It premiered on Sunday 18 October 2015 at 8:30pm. Screenwriter Alice Bell made the decision to turn Anna and Xander into sports stars to heighten the transgression of a wife leaving her husband.
Melinda Houston found that the changes in society since Anna Karenina made Anna's decision to cheat on her husband seem immature rather than tragic. Michael Idato regards The Beautiful Lie as being superbly cast.