‘Sweetpea’s Ella Purnell Swears She’s “Well-Adjusted” Despite Killer Role: “It Does Haunt Me”

Despite her upcoming murderous portrayal, Ella Purnell struggled to stomach her latest role.

As the British actress discussed her homicidal character Rhiannon Lewis in Sweetpea, premiering Oct. 10 on Starz and Sky, she admitted starring in the series did “take a toll” on her mentally.

“People think I must be really messed up, but I swear I’m a happy, well-adjusted human!” Purnell told The Guardian. “I can’t do horror films. I don’t really love watching too much gore, or any supernatural things. I’m not even really a big sci-fi person. And I’m not a gamer. So I don’t know how any of this has happened!”

The six-part series stars Purnell as Rhiannon, a quiet wallflower who develops a vengeful and intoxicatingly liberating taste for murder.

Serving as a prequel to CJ Skuse’s book series, Purnell says the literary version of her character Rhiannon is much more “snarky and definitely a lot more evil” than her portrayal.

“She starts to feel more powerful and then obviously the more power you feel, the more power you exude – people read that energy,” she adds. “If you take away the murder, it’s quite a sweet coming-of-age story.”

Purnell also recounted an “embarrassing” on-set moment when she “kind of blacked out” while filming Rhiannon’s first murder, which called for her to stab a rubber dummy filled with blood bags for a five-minute continuous shot. “After the first minute, I closed my eyes so I couldn’t see anybody, and just went in,” she explained.

The show ends on a particularly disturbing note. “Oh don’t, it’s awful. It does haunt me,” says Purnell of the scene.

Purnell explained that she had to prioritize self-care while making the show, “because otherwise it could lead you down some dark paths. The job’s not worth your mental health.”