Ella Purnell is no sweetpea

Ella Purnell greets me with a hug. She’s fresh off the set of her HUNGER photoshoot and her eyeliner is still sitting as two black wings above her distinctive doe eyes. “How was the shoot?” I ask. “Red,” she says. “Very on brand for the show.” The show Purnell, 28, is referring to is Sweetpea. It’s her most recent television venture and, as she points out, her most difficult to date. Though the Sky dark comedy drama follows the decidedly complex villain arc of her character, I’m surprised to learn that Purnell found embodying Rhiannon harder than delving into the other gritty roles she is known for. Starring in the post-apocalyptic video-game adaptation Fallout, Purnell was required to do her own stunts (which included being lowered, tied up, into a body of water). Meanwhile, for the survival drama Yellowjackets her character was immersed in the Canadian wilderness amid the bloody and grimy aftermath of a soccer team trip gone seriously wrong.