Sweetpea: cast, plot and everything you need to know

Sweetpea star Ella Purnell.
Sweetpea star Ella Purnell. (Image credit: Getty Images)

Sweetpea on Sky Atlantic and NOW 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 release date 

Sweetpea will launch on Sky Atlantic and NOW in the UK in 2024. We'll update with the release date when we hear, also with the US channel and air date.

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. But then Rhiannon is pushed over the edge and a violent incident 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 as Rhiannon

Ella Purnell plays Rhiannon, a woman hiding a terrible secret. She's 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

Ella Purnell at the launch of Yellowjackets.

Ella Purnell at the launch of Yellowjackets. (Image credit: Getty Images)

 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.

Big Boys season 2 reunites Jack and Danny.

Jon Pointing (on right) as Danny in Big Boys. (Image credit: Channel 4/Olly Courtney)

Is there a Sweetpea trailer? 

There's no Sweetpea trailer just yet, but when one is released, we’ll add it to this page. 

Nicholas Cannon
TV Content Director on TV Times, What's On TV and TV & Satellite Week

I'm a huge fan of television so I really have found the perfect job, as I've been writing about TV shows, films and interviewing major television, film and sports stars for over 25 years. I'm currently TV Content Director on What's On TV, TV Times, TV and Satellite Week magazines plus Whattowatch.com. I previously worked on Woman and Woman's Own in the 1990s. Outside of work I swim every morning, support Charlton Athletic football club and get nostalgic about TV shows Cagney & Lacey, I Claudius, Dallas and Tenko. I'm totally on top of everything good coming up too.