A very modern horror
Red Rose is Isis Hainsworth’s first time making a horror but she says it was the human relationships that drew her to the series.
She plays Rochelle, one of a group of Bolton teenagers enjoying the summer holidays after their GCSEs. Their phones are taken over by an app called Red Rose, which threatens them with dangerous consequences if they don’t meet its demands.
As well as a cautionary tale about the hold mobile phones have on many people, it also explores the importance of relationships, and that appealed to Hainsworth.
She said: “It’s a horror and it’s very much about teenagers and the relationships they have with their phones and how it can control you. But what drew me to it was the characters and the friendship groups – that’s what I really loved about it and it felt so real. I was excited to play Rochelle because she was a very different character to anyone I’ve played before.”
The cast had to remain in a bubble while filming during the pandemic and she believes that helped them all to become such good friends. In order to perfect the local burr, they continued to speak in a Bolton accent when the cameras stopped rolling. She said: “We were lucky we had a girl from Bolton in the show and we also had accent lessons. It’s a very specific accent, so I hope I managed to bring it to life.”
Red Rose, BBC iPlayer, also BBC3 on Mondays and BBC1 on Thursdays