Sweetpea is a twisted comic drama on Sky Atlantic and NOW that sees a normal-seeming woman embrace her darker side. It stars Yellowjackets’ Ella Purnell as Rhiannon, a quiet wallflower whose life is transformed when a change encounter with a stranger has a shocking outcome. And rather than sending Rhiannon spiralling, the incident shows her she may actually be capable of anything. Can the girl nobody notices even get away with murder?
Based on the bestseller Sweetpea by CJ Skuse, here’s everything you need to know about the comedy drama series Sweetpea…
Sweetpea release date
Sweetpea will launch on Sky Atlantic and Sky Showcase in the UK on Thursday October 10 2024, with weekly episodes from 9pm, plus the full box set on NOW and Sky Box Sets. We'll update this guide with the US channel and air date when it is announced.
Is there a Sweetpea trailer?
Yes a full Sweetpea trailer has been released by Sky which you can watch below...
There is also a teaser trailer that was released earlier this year...
Sweetpea plot
In Sweetpea, Rhiannon (Ella Purnell) is an average girl next door, with a dull job and a presence so bland that people walk past her in the street without a second glance.
She’s continually overlooked for promotion, her dad is seriously ill and her love-life is a joke. So when her dog is run over and her father — the only person in her life she can really rely upon — passes away, she finally snaps and sets off on a rampage to claim vengeance on all who’ve wronged her. It ignites a power in her that is both intoxicating and dangerous. Can she bury her dark side once again or will she embrace this new, more deadly, version of herself?
Sweetpea cast — Ella Purnell on playing Rhiannon
Ella Purnell plays Rhiannon, a woman hiding a terrible secret. "It’s a story of grief and trauma that results in this complete character transformation," says Emma. "There’s also a coming-of-age element, but it’s mostly an exploration of how murder becomes like an addiction for her. Hopefully the audience really gets inside her head, understands and empathises with her."
She claims her first victim when a drunken lout pushes her too far as she walks home along the canal in the opening episode, however after that there’s one name at the very top of Rhiannon’s hitlist. That person is Julia (Nicole Lecky), a luxury estate agent who bullied Rhiannon relentlessly at school, who returns to town after 10 years away and tries to sell the house her late father left her. It’s a move that flicks a switch in Rhiannon and after locking Julia in her basement, she’s determined to take revenge upon the girl who caused her years of unhappiness.
"Rhiannon develops a moral code during the show," explains Emma. ‘"She believes there are good people and there are bad people, and that the bad people deserve to die. This black-and- white way of thinking is a trauma response she subconsciously adopted at a young age in order to process what happened to her and help her navigate the world."
However as the power dynamic begins to twist between Rhiannon and Julia and all their dirty secrets are laid bare, telling the difference between bully and victim becomes less than straight-forward.
"Rhiannon doesn’t have to be likeable, she’s a serial killer," says Emma. "I’m not interested in her being likeable, I’m interested in her being relatable. Creating a relatable serial killer means that the audience is going to feel conflicted, which is what made Dexter so great!"
The series is based on the books by C.J. Skuse, although Emma, who’s also an executive producer on the six-part series, says the show explores a different part of the story.
"I read the book and the script, with the understanding that they were going to be two very different things," she says. "I loved the tone of the books where Rhiannon is funny, she’s rude, she says what she thinks. She doesn’t seem to care, and she’s already got someone locked in the basement. I was very interested in how she got to that point. This series is more of an origin story exploring the emotional component behind that journey.’"
Yet playing someone in such a vulnerable and insecure mental space was quite a challenge for Emma on the six-month shoot. "I was constantly in the mindset of someone who was incredibly afraid, very lonely, had a lot of anger, and this sense of victimhood, this sense of injustice. Being in that mindset all the time is quite difficult so I messed around with the cast and crew a lot between takes. I became friends with all the people I murdered!"
* Ella Purnell previously played Jackie in Yellowjackets and has also starred in Star Trek: Prodigy, Sweetbitter, Belgravia and Ordeal by Innocence. Ella will be starring in the upcoming Prime Video sseries Fallout and has starred in the movies Churchill, Maleficent, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children and Army of the Dead.
Who else is starring in Sweetpea?
Sweetpea also stars Nicôle Lecky (Mood, Sense8) as Julia, Jon Pointing (Big Boys, Smothered) as Craig, Calam Lynch (Bridgerton) as AJ and Leah Harvey (Foundation) as Marina. Jeremy Swift (Ted Lasso) is Norman while Dustin Demri-Burns (Slow Horses) is Jeff.
Behind the scenes and more on Sweetpea
Sweetpea is a six-part series produced by See-Saw Films and fanboy in association with Sky Studios, adapted from C.J. Skuse’s cult novel of the same name by Executive Producer Kirstie Swain (Pure), written by Kirstie Swain, alongside Krissie Ducker (Killing Eve), Laura Jayne Tunbridge and Selina Lim (Sex Education, Hanna).
Commissioning Editor, Manpreet Dosanjh, is Executive Producer for Sky Studios. Executive Producer for fanboy is Patrick Walters (Heartstopper), and Executive Producers for See- Saw Films are Helen Gregory, Iain Canning, and Emile Sherman. Ella Purnell also serves as Executive Producer. Zorana Piggott (Heartstopper) is the Series Producer. NBCUniversal Global TV Distribution handle international sales of the series on behalf of Sky Studios.
The series is directed by award-winning director Ella Jones (The Baby, Back To Life), who also serves as Executive Producer.
