LONDON: After announcing herself to the wider world with her breakout role as Jackie in Paramount’s “Yellowjackets”, and traversing the irradiated wastelands as the charismatic hero of Amazon’s brilliant “Fallout,” British actress Ella Purnell has chosen a UK production for her next role — one without a cannibalistic schoolgirl or organ-harvesting robot in sight. It is, however, still a strikingly dark part for Purnell, as she plays a shrinking violet-turned-serial killer in “Sweetpea,” a six-part adaptation of CJ Skuse’s book of the same name.
Rhiannon has spent most of her life feeling unseen. Whether it’s the manspreading passengers on her bus to work, the bored shop assistants who blank her, or the condescending boss who constantly overlooks her for promotion. She consoles herself with a mental list: “People I’d like to kill.” A simple, harmless thought experiment that doesn’t really mean anything, right?
Wrong. When her school bully returns to the town, and Rhiannon loses her dad and her beloved dog, something snaps inside her, and the otherwise sweet, softly spoken young woman begins to lash out in the most violent way possible, making herself finally seen in the most shocking manner. All of a sudden, anyone who has found themselves on Rhiannon’s hypothetical hit list could well find themselves the target of her now very lethal rage.
The whole show hinges on Purnell, and she’s more than up to the job. Utterly convincing as the downtrodden victim-turned-vigilante, she’s a villain that’s easy to root for — a strange thing to admit, perhaps, but testament to Purnell’s skills here.
A strong supporting cast (including Calam Lynch as colleague AJ, Jon Pointing as Rhiannon’s sort-of boyfriend Craig, and Leah Harvey as a young police detective) provide excellent foils for Purnell, but “Sweetpea” is definitely her show. Dark, funny and surprisingly violent, it’s a star outing from an exciting young talent.
