Sweetpea's protagonist Rhiannon Lewis (played by Ella Purnell) is the definition of an anti-hero – and that's still something so rarely seen when it comes to female characters on screen.
A female-driven "coming-of-rage" story, Sky's new series sees a former wallflower pushed over the edge, unleashing a killer secret.
In an exclusive interview with Digital Spy, we asked Purnell how they struck that perfect balance between inviting audiences to empathise with Rhiannon in one scene, only for them to be horrified by her actions in another.
"Honestly, it's so nice to hear you say this. This is exactly what we wanted," the leading star said. "All the conversations we were having in the room, way back when, that's what we wanted to do."
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"That's what attracted me to this character and this project in the first place, was I knew it was going to be so challenging to tell the story the way we wanted to tell the story," she continued. "Which was to make the audience feel conflicted. We want to relate to Rhiannon's emotions and her motivations, but not to her actions..."
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"And that's hard, because to tell the story I think from a woman's perspective, you have to approach it differently from how you would if it was a man," Purnell noted.
"There is subconscious influences, you know, subconscious ways that we view women that are going to make us judge them a little harsher. It's going to make it harder to empathise. And so, that scared me. I didn't know if it was possible. I didn't know if I could pull it off."
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"I'm fascinated by psychology, and I was really influenced I suppose by the research I did into childhood trauma. How trauma changes you and forms you in all these different ways.
"And I suppose, the rage that we see in Rhiannon... I think it's so terrifying – because it's female rage, because it comes from a woman, we don't see it very often. So therefore it becomes unpredictable, by nature, because we can't predict what we don't know, what we don't see... It could have come out in so many different ways."
Ella Purnell also went on to praise the work of the production team, in piecing together the footage for the final edit of the series.
"It really does also come down to the editing and the directing and what [director] Ella Jones has done... because we did a thousand different takes, and it was really up to her to strike that line between when we were going to show her more emotional, vulnerable moments, and when we were going to show a slightly harder meaner side," she said.
"[Ella Jones] was the one that had to tow that line, in the edit, and I think she did a fantastic job."
Sweetpea is available on October 10 in the UK on Sky and streaming service NOW.
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TV Editor, Digital Spy Laura has been watching television for over 30 years and professionally writing about entertainment for almost 10 of those. Previously at LOOK and now heading up the TV desk at the UK's biggest TV and movies site Digital Spy, Laura has helped steer conversations around some of the most popular shows on the box. Laura has appeared on Channel 5 News and radio to talk viewing habits and TV recommendations. As well as putting her nerd-level Buffy knowledge to good use during an IRL meet with Sarah Michelle Gellar, Laura also once had afternoon tea with One Direction, has sat around the fire pit of the Love Island villa, spoken to Sir David Attenborough about the world's oceans and even interviewed Rylan from inside the Big Brother house (housemate status, forever pending).
