Sweetpea (TV series)

Sweetpea
Promotional poster
Genre	Dark comedy Comedy drama
Created by	Kirstie Swain
Based on	Sweetpea by CJ Skuse
Screenplay by	Kirstie Swain Krissie Ducker Laura Jayne Tunbridge Selina Lim
Directed by	Ella Jones
Starring	Ella Purnell
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	6
Production
Executive producers	Patrick Walters Helen Gregory Iain Canning Emile Sherman Ella Jones Kirstie Swain Ella Purnell Manpreet Dosanjh
Producer	Zorana Piggott
Running time	41–50 minutes
Production companies	See-Saw Films Sky Studios
Original release
Network	Sky Atlantic
Release	10 October 2024 (2024-10-10)

Sweetpea is a British dark comedy drama television miniseries created by Kirstie Swain for Sky Atlantic. An adaptation of the book of the same name by CJ Skuse, it stars Ella Purnell in the lead role. The series premiered on 10 October 2024 on Sky Atlantic in the United Kingdom.

Premise

After a childhood of bullying, Rhiannon is leading a quiet life as an admin assistant at a local newspaper, living with her father and dog. However, her father's death leads to a chance encounter with a stranger that changes everything.

Cast

• Ella Purnell as Rhiannon Lewis, an administrative assistant working at The Carnsham Gazette, often called "Sweetpea" by her boss
• Nicôle Lecky as Julia Blenkingsopp, a classmate from Rhiannon's school years, who is now a local estate agent
• Jon Pointing as Craig, an employee at Rhiannon's father's construction company
• Calam Lynch as AJ, the new junior reporter at The Carnsham Gazette
• Leah Harvey as Marina, a junior detective working for the local police force
• Jeremy Swift as Norman, the editor of The Carnsham Gazette, and Rhiannon's boss
• Dustin Demri-Burns as Jeff Barker, a reporter at The Carnsham Gazette
• Luke McGibney as Mike, an obnoxious man who crosses paths with Rhiannon
• Ingrid Oliver as Diana St. John, a Detective Inspector at the local police force
• Alexandra Dowling as Seren, sister of Rhiannon.
• Nitin Ganatra as Rory, a detective working with Marina.
• David Bark-Jones as Tommy, Rhiannon's and Seren's father, and owner of the construction firm "Tommy's Transformations"

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
1	"Sorry For Your Loss"	Ella Jones	Kirstie Swain	October 10, 2024 (2024-10-10)
Rhiannon Lewis is a downtrodden wallflower, ignored and neglected by many people in her life. She also suffers from the psychological effects of childhood bullying by classmate Julia Blenkingsopp. As a result, Rhiannon occasionally entertains murderous thoughts. Her father, Tommy, is the only person who recognises her attributes and encourages her to stand up for herself. However, Tommy suddenly dies, leaving Rhiannon bereft. In the aftermath of his death, Rhiannon suffers a series of setbacks - she is passed over for a promotion at work by her ignorant boss, Norman; her sister Seren informs her she's selling their family home; and Julia, now an estate agent, returns to town. Rhiannon is distressed upon learning Seren has asked Julia to handle the property sale. Furthermore, Rhiannon's dog Tink dies in a hit-and-run when Rhiannon is distracted by a billboard of Julia's face. Angry and drunk, Rhiannon goes to confront Julia but is rudely rebuffed. Afterwards, Rhiannon gets into an argument with a stranger and finally snaps about being 'invisible', resulting in her stabbing the stranger to death in a rage. Disposing of the body, Rhiannon leaves the scene, finding that murder has inspired her with newfound confidence.
2	"This Sort of Thing Needs Some Feminine Energy"	Ella Jones	Kirstie Swain & Krissie Ducker	October 10, 2024 (2024-10-10)
Rhiannon's victim is soon discovered. When Jeff Barker, senior reporter for the Carnsham Gazette, calls in to identify the man as Ryan Lloyd, Rhiannon feigns interference on the call and then looks up the victim's family. She then reports to their boss, Norman, making the case that she should get a statement from the family. He agrees, but forces her to take junior reporter AJ Pierce with her. Once there, the family claim that Ryan was a wonderful person, but Rhiannon secretly sneaks into his room and discovers a restraining order issued against him by someone named Dave Ferris. She convinces AJ that they should get Dave's side of the story. They visit him and learn that Ryan was a bully who harassed him both at work and home, even making up a story about him being a child predator to the point that he had to explain to the police why he had pictures of his own children in the bath. Rhiannon is briefly sidetracked when she receives a text from her sister that Julia is coming over for a valuation of the family home. Throughout the valuation, Julia is dismissive and rude towards Rhiannon. Back at the offices of the Carnsham Gazette, Rhiannon convinces Norman to run with the story of Dave Ferris being bullied and for the first time is invited for drinks at the local pub. There, she gives a karaoke performance of Katy Perry's "Roar," which is interrupted by the sudden arrival of a group of detectives who ask the crowd to come forward with anything they may have seen regarding the murder. Shortly following this, Rhiannon spots a man pestering a bartender and recognises him as being the same man who was being rude to a nurse when she was trying to get help for her dying father. She makes an excuse and leaves the pub, follows him, and stabs him to death in much the same manner as her first victim. She then stops by the office of Julia's real-estate agency, Badgertons, and stares at an advertisement featuring Julia's picture, thinking to herself "People I'd love to kill..."
3	"Black Spots in the Garage"	Ella Jones	Kirstie Swain & Krissie Ducker	October 10, 2024 (2024-10-10)
4	"Everybody Loves Julia"	Ella Jones	Laura Jayne Tunbridge	October 10, 2024 (2024-10-10)
5	"Someone's been a Naughty Girl"	Ella Jones	Selina Lim	October 10, 2024 (2024-10-10)
6	"Life 2.0"	Ella Jones	Krissie Ducker	October 10, 2024 (2024-10-10)

Production

Skuse's novel was optioned in 2017 by See-Saw Films. In 2019, Sky Atlantic came onboard the project and Patrick Walters, Jamie Laurenson, Hakan Kousetta, Iain Canning and Emile Sherman were set as executive producer for See-Saw Films, with Liz Lewin as an executive producer for Sky Studios. Kirstie Swain has adapted the book. In 2020, it was revealed to be an eight-part series.

Casting

In November 2023, Ella Purnell was cast in the lead role and serves as an executive producer. Also cast were Nicôle Lecky, Jon Pointing, Calam Lynch, Leah Harvey, Jeremy Swift, Dustin Demri-Burns, Luke McGibney and Ingrid Oliver.

Filming

Filming took place in Southend-on-Sea in November and December 2023, with filming locations including Southend Observation Tower on Pier Hill, Western Esplanade's Cliff Lift and theme park Adventure Island. Filming also took place near the River Colne in Oxhey Park, Watford.

Title sequence

The title sequence was created by London-based Peter Anderson Studio. it was designed to visually explore the lead character's psychological state, utilising brutalist painting aesthetics and painterly compositions. The sequence features neon lights on rain-soaked streets and transforms everyday objects into symbols of violence, reflecting the duality of her existence. A bespoke typeface, with a hand-drawn aesthetic, contributes to the gritty tone whilst the sharp extensions in the typeface used in the title card were added to enhance the ominous atmosphere.

Broadcast

The series premiered on 10 October 2024 on Sky Atlantic and NOW TV in the United Kingdom Ahead of the series premiere, a full trailer was revealed in September 2024.

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, Sweetpea has an approval rating of 85% based on 20 reviews, with an average rating of 7/10. The website's consensus reads: "Ella Purnell is a diabolical delight in Sweetpea, a revenge fantasy that holds a lot of darkness beneath its playful exterior." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 69 out of 100 based on 12 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

Lucy Mangan, writing in The Guardian, was less impressed, comparing the series unfavourably to the original book.

Soundtrack

The series score was written by Isobel Waller-Bridge and the theme song ("Do You See Me Now") by Isobel and British artist Chinchilla, who also provided the vocals.

In addition, the series features a diverse soundtrack of popular music, including tracks from Billie Eilish, Icona Pop/Charli XCX, Labi Siffre and the Spice Girls.

External links

• Sweetpea at IMDb