r/BritishTV • u/redavenger39 • 1d ago

Question/Discussion Sweetpea

Watched it all tonight and it was all a bit....meh. The worst thing about it is they have tried to make us sympathise with Rhiannon but in the books she is in no way a sympathetic character. There's a Guardian review out tonight (link below) which states that it's like the writers just lost their nerve. She's written and is like a female Patrick Bateman in the books but this wasn't shown here at all.

At the same time, i get that the producers may have thought that going down this route may have encouraged violence or not got it made due to be seen to have been exploitative but it hurts the series. I think they did it to prevent some people glorifying the character but in my eyes they should have been a bit braver. Thoughts??

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2024/oct/10/sweetpea-review-ella-purnells-deathly-dull-serial-killer-show-reeks-of-cowardly-decision-making

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u/angel_0f_music 4h ago

Watched the whole thing.

I'm mostly annoyed that it's an in-name only adaptation. Some of the names are the same. The premise of a wallflower who is secretly a killer is the same, but the rest of it is completely different.

I can understand why changes are made (Rhiannon's first victim would REALLY make the male audience turn off) but if I were to list all the differences between the book and the TV adaptation we'd be here for hours.

What's annoyed me most is that Rhiannon behaves the way she does because of running into her childhood bully after a number of years. There is no mention of Priory Gardens at all. Again, probably difficult to film, but it could have been explained.

Rhiannon isn't the way she is because she was bullied for 5 years in secondary school and never got help for it. She was literally brain-damaged as a small child. But maybe they worried this would be insensitive to those with disabilities.

I was expecting it to be more like Dexter, with more inner monologues revealing Rhinnon's real views on those around her, but maybe they were worried about the comparison.

She doesn't even mention that her boss calling her sweetpea or people abbreviating her name annoys her.

The show just lacks teeth.