(This story contains major spoilers from the season finale of Sweetpea.)

Starss dark comedy drama Sweetpea is based on the book series of the same name by English author CJ Skuse. But the TV series starring Ella Purnell is not so much an adaptation of the novels as it is a prequel describes how her protagonist Rhiannon Lewis transformed from a lowly administrative assistant who feels invisible to a calculating reporter who uses her job to The Gazette newspaper to throw away her co-workers and law enforcement as her pent-up rage and grief leave a string of murder victims in her wake.

“In the book, she’s really a full-fledged serial killer,” says writer and executive producer Kirstie Swain The Hollywood Reporter in the conversation below. “You don’t get to see any build-up to it, she’s (already) done it before. So we wanted to tell the story of what brought her to that point, what pushes her over the edge. What if – in the UK it was Dawn from The office — but if Pam from The office broke out because she was just tired of being overlooked?”

The answer to that question is to kill – but only really bad guys who deserve it. At least that’s how Rhiannon justified the three murders she carried out in the show’s first five episodes. But when AJ (Calam Lynch), Rhiannon’s co-worker and the only character throughout the series who actually sees her, becomes her fourth victim in the shocking season finale, it unlocks a new part of Rhiannon’s identity that she must now grapple with — should the show continue.

“I think the part of Rhiannon that she’s a little scared of does,” Swain explains. “Up until that point, none of the kills have really cost her anything. They’ve all kind of helped her feel better about herself and her life, and have helped her blossom and grow and achieve. We needed one of those deaths to really cost her.”

Below, Swain talks about creating Rhiannon’s origin story, changes to the characters from Skuse’s book, and the critical response to season one while looking ahead to what the future may hold.

***

How did you approach the adaptation and what are some of the biggest changes between the book and the show?

It was a really long process. It kind of coincided with covid, so that’s what made it take a long time. I started reading the book and then putting the book aside and just writing, figuring out what I could take from the book, what I could leave there. We went through a lot of processes to try to get the story right, because it ended up being a bit of a rape revenge (plot) for a while, and we walked away from that because I feel like it was done. We have seen many women being sexually assaulted on screen and we wanted away from that. We got to a point where we wanted to tell her origin story because in the book she’s really a full-fledged serial killer. You can’t see any build up to it, she’s done it before. So we wanted to tell the story of what brought her to that point, what pushes her over the edge. What if – in the UK it was Dawn from The office — but that Pam from The office walked out because she was just tired of being overlooked?

The show really relies on the audience identifying with Rhiannon and sympathizing with her. How do you think you achieved it?

We could see her as an underdog. I think so many people relate to the idea of ​​being overlooked. I have really felt it. My partner has felt it. My mother has felt it. I’m sure everyone has had that experience. And to be able to tell that story of her going from just a normal person to someone who’s a little extraordinary, but not in the best way, that was a gift. Hopefully the audience will stick with her because she does some things that are pretty questionable. And I think it makes the audience question themselves as well.

Rhiannon’s high school nemesis Julia (Nicôle Lecky) is at the root of her anxiety. She also has a sister who isn’t the nicest to her, and there’s a female shop assistant who also treats her badly, but neither of them become one of Rhiannon’s murder victims. Why does she only kill men?

I think those who run into her at that time just happen to be men. I don’t think she’s just targeting them, because she was going to do it to Julia as well. So only the people who got in her way those times happened to be men. She never wanted it to be man-hating or even people-hating, it’s just people who deserve it. Not men who deserve it, people.

Is the Julia character from the book and is her being in an abusive relationship true to the book?

No. I think in the book she had a really nice husband and kids too. We tried it with kids, and it was just a bit like ‘oh my god’, then you really don’t go with Rhiannon. I think as soon as there are children involved, you’re not really on Rhiannon’s side. Julia was not in my first draft. She was slowly burning herself again. I think in the book there were many reasons why Rhiannon does what she does, but she has told herself that this is Julia’s fault. And it really unlocked something for us because Julia didn’t see her, but in a weird way Rhiannon didn’t see her by focusing all her attention on Julia and that eroded her self-worth. In the book, Julia is not there as long as she is in the show. But I wanted to tell the story of two women together, not in a catfight kind of way because I don’t think it’s like that. It’s about two women getting to know each other in adulthood when they knew each other too well in childhood, in the wrong way. It’s their kind of re-education of themselves, which was really meaty and nutty.

Marina (Leah Harvey) is another interesting character. Can you talk about starting episode four with her talking about the people she wants to kill instead of Rhiannon being the intro narrator she usually is?

The split POV thing was something we played with during the development process, because it started out as a very single main character POV for the whole show. But then it felt like, wouldn’t it be interesting to look into Marina’s point of view and see Rhiannon as she doesn’t see herself? The whole idea of ​​the unreliable narrator. She tells herself: I’m doing this because people deserve it, they can’t get away with it. But then Marina says: You are breaking the law. It doesn’t matter if they deserve it, they might, but you can’t just go and kill them. So it’s a cat-and-mouse thing in a different way, because I was very aware of the cat-and-mouse idea with the characters in To kill Eve. You don’t want to be derivative, so just do it in a fresh way.

I thought the shared experience of them both being overlooked would make Marina indulgent with Rhiannon, but she seems even more eager to make her pay for her crimes because of it.

I think she thinks Rhiannon is the one who got away. There is an element of Marina not feeling seen and feeling underappreciated by Rhiannon which is another nail in the coffin. It’s sort of a retelling of her relationship with Detective Diana.

AJ is the only person, naively, in Rhiannon’s corner until the very end. What does it say about her and who she has become when she stabs him in the finale?

I think the part of Rhiannon that she’s a little afraid of does. Up until that point, none of the killing has really cost her anything. They have all kinds of helped her feel better about herself and her life and have helped her blossom and grow and achieve. We needed one of those kills to really cost her. And that’s why, I’m afraid, it was AJ. I have received so many messages about him. Sorry! He is such a lovely character. It was really difficult to shoot for everyone. The prop master has theories about how to bring him back if there was a season two. It has really affected people. So it’s this part of her that she’s awakened and we wanted to give a sense that it’s not going anywhere. That it’s here regardless of whether she presses it down. She said, “I’m not going to do it anymore,” but she can’t keep the beast; she is a beast.

The murders are quite graphic. What conversations did you have about how you wanted to approach those scenes?

Ella Jones, the director, had such a vision from the beginning of what it would look like, and we felt it should be graphic because female violence on screen is something you often shy away from. You don’t get to see the graphic you do if it’s a man killing. So we didn’t want to just pan away with the camera whenever she does these really disgusting things. We wanted the audience to say, “Whoa, that’s really quite disturbing.” Because it’s disturbing and I think because you get into her mind and you feel quite empathetic with her, quite sympathetic, I think you need to be shocked in those moments.

Besides, we talked a lot about Barry and Fargo as well as when it comes to those kinds of scenes and the clear feeling of it all, how you don’t know whether to be sick or laugh. We always talked about that scene Fargo where they put a leg in the chipper and it’s so disgusting but it’s actually what you’d have to do if you were trying to get rid of a body. So the stab in the neck at the beginning in episode one, that’s what was going to happen. And I had written a lot of that in the script as well, in terms of the details, especially of that scene and how, I think, just viscerally, seeing all the blood and stuff, it’s like there are real consequences to doing something like that . It’s not clinical, it’s very messy and you have to live with the consequences.

How much of the book series did you cover so far in the TV series?

So in season one it’s almost like a prequel to the book. So there is much more to come. She’s a great character, what a gift, and there’s so much source material too.

Have you already written a season two or longer?

No, no, no, not yet. I don’t know if I can talk about it.

There have been mixed reactions from critics and audiences to the series. Have you read any reviews? How do you feel about the response?

The the response has been fantastic. I guess you can’t please everyone with something that goes out, right? So I try to ignore the not so nice ones and just keep reading about the nice ones (laughing). Everyone has an opinion right? And it’s a pretty good show to have an opinion on because it’s about really uncomfortable stuff. But it’s just amazing that people are watching it. It’s all you hope for. You just hope that people will see your show and enjoy it and be interested and maybe think something.

***

Sweetpea now streaming all episodes on Stars app. Read THRs interview with Ella Purnell.