![]() ![]() ![]() “You’re so emotionally manipulated that you can’t go off your natural emotions and feelings like you can in real life.” “I think Red Rose pushes on that disconcerting emotional numbness you get from scrolling,” adds Clarkson. ![]() “It can control the way you feel so much even though we could just turn it off and not feel it anymore. “Your phone lives in your pocket – it’s always there,” says Hainsworth. Speaking over Zoom, Clarkson, Isis Hainsworth and Natalie Blair each explain that what truly scares them about Red Rose is its reflection of how impossible it is to untether ourselves from our phones. This emphasis on the psychological entwined with the technological draws distinct parallels to Black Mirror, which actress Amelia Clarkson who plays Wren Davis is a huge fan of: “I think what I’m obsessed with is the psychological darkness of it all.” The sociopolitical undercurrent of the show is carried through Isis Hainsworth’s Rochelle, the first but certainly not the last to fall for Red Rose as a result of having no other option. Where Red Rose truly twists the knife is in its reflection of the frightening uncertainty of working-class families like Rochelle’s, our initial teenage protagonist leading us into the world of Red Rose – at a time where 41 per cent of children live in poverty in southeast Bolton, her struggle to merely keep the lights on feels all too real. No one knows how it’s coded, where it’s transmitted to – who is that data going to?” “The digital self we create on social media is part of us – but we are in a technological age where few people understand what they’re using beyond the surface level. “People attach themselves emotionally to what they create online”, says Paul. The pair found that social media fed three fundamental needs: care, attention, and a desire to feel seen and heard. While the creators insist that Blue Whale isn’t related to Red Rose, both undoubtedly touch on a core tenet of the internet’s malicious potential: our perception of reality is indelibly, and perhaps permanently, warped by our reliance on technology. Supposedly, this challenge issued increasingly dangerous tasks to teenagers across the world that ultimately would lead to fatal consequences. Some viewers may find similarities between Red Rose ’s sadistic challenges and the mysterious Blue Whale internet urban legend that emerged in 2016. After seemingly restoring power to her house, Red Rose threatens to expose Rochelle’s use of food banks and taunts her with the spectral image of her dead mother. The app, known as Red Rose, first appears on Isis Hainsworth’s steely-yet-vulnerable Rochelle, seducing her into using it under the guise of “helping” her. ![]() The show follows a group of teenagers navigating their post-GCSE summer, when a mysterious app begins to influence their lives, placing them on a path which may just lead to their own self-destruction. After working on fantasy drama The Wheel of Time and Mike Flanagan’s The Haunting of Bly Manor, screenwriters Paul and Michael Clarkson have returned to their hometown of Bolton for their new BBC creation, Red Rose. If that’s true, you might consider the Clarkson Twins to be geographical exorcists. Many regard the northwest of England to be a place haunted by its own history. ![]()
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