{"id":276956,"date":"2026-02-10T13:34:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T13:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/276956\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T13:34:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T13:34:10","slug":"miriam-petche-just-set-a-new-industry-standard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/276956\/","title":{"rendered":"Miriam Petche just set a new \u2018Industry\u2019 standard"},"content":{"rendered":"

The latest episode of Industry<\/a> is named \u2018Eyes Without A Face\u2019 after a Billy Idol<\/a> ballad that soundtracks its climax, but it could comfortably be titled \u2018Sweetpea\u2019s Vindication\u2019. After being slut-shamed and underestimated in season three of the gloriously overwrought banking drama, in which we first glimpsed her making a TikTok on the trading room floor, tenacious Sweetpea Golightly really shows her mettle in season four.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, she fully locks in. This is about agency over her narrative and proving she is capable,\u201d says Miriam Petche, the 24-year-old actress who plays Sweetpea so brilliantly. It\u2019s lunchtime in a buzzy London bar-restaurant and Petche, who is accompanied by her publicist, is talking perceptively and empathetically about the character who\u2019s made her Industry\u2018s latest breakout star. It\u2019s an enviable club that already includes Marisa Abela<\/a>, Myha\u2019la<\/a> and Harry Lawtey<\/a>, who left at the end of season three. \u201cAs we get to know Sweetpea, we see that she isn\u2019t this, like, turbo-charged Gen Z stereotype. She has a lot of depth,\u201d Petche says.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re yet to watch \u2018Eyes Without A Face\u2019 after it aired yesterday (February 9), brace yourself for spoilers and some of Industry\u2018s signature financial jargon. The episode follows Sweetpea and Kwabena Bannerman (Toheeb Jimoh), her co-worker at short-only fund SternTao, as they head to Ghana on a high-stakes reconnaissance mission. Kwabena is laid-back and jovial in the country of his heritage, while Sweetpea is so laser-focused that he likens her to Erin Brockovich, the famous whistleblower played by Julia Roberts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"MiriamMiriam Petche. CREDIT: Craig Gibson<\/p>\n

Launched by hyper-ambitious Harper Stern (Myha\u2019la) and super-toxic Eric Tao (Ken Leung), the fund\u2019s success is predicated on exposing the flaws in Tender, a disruptive banking app spearheaded by wily Whitney Halberstram (Max Minghella) and messy Sir Henry Muck (Kit Harington<\/a>). By doggedly following a digital paper trail that Tender has deliberately made chaotic, Sweetpea uncovers a smoking gun: the app has massively inflated the value of its launch deals in Ghana. It\u2019s a triumph of hype built on a house of cards.<\/p>\n

The Ghana trip is make-or-break for SternTao and Sweetpea alike. \u201cHarper was one of the few people who was willing to hire her. So if this short doesn\u2019t work, it\u2019s not like she can easily pack up and move on somewhere else,\u201d Petche says. During the episode, we learn that Sweetpea has essentially been blacklisted by the financial industry after her OnlyFans account leaked. One web article misogynistically refers to her as a \u201ccity tart\u201d. Midway through the episode, Sweetpea is shockingly physically assaulted, perhaps by someone connected with Tender, but she soldiers on with a broken nose.<\/p>\n

\"ToheebToheeb Jimoh and Miriam Petche in \u2018Industry\u2019. CREDIT: BBC\/Bad Wolf Productions\/HBO\/Simon Ridgway<\/p>\n

\u201cThis whole assignment is very much about her sense of self,\u201d Petche says. At this point, we\u2019re interrupted by the manager, who says politely but firmly that we should have ordered food as well as drinks during the lunchtime rush. Petche smooths over this potentially awkward moment by saying she\u2019ll remember this rule in the future, but she doesn\u2019t let it disrupt her train of thought.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer competence is her currency in this world and I think this season \u2013 and particularly this episode \u2013 really explores what she relies on for external validation,\u201d Petche says. When she joined Industry in season three, the actress created her own backstory for Sweetpea. \u201cI don\u2019t see her as having a financial net to fall back on. I don\u2019t see her having a family that could support her in this lifestyle,\u201d she says. Helpfully, the show\u2019s co-creators Mickey Down and Konrad Kay confirmed that Sweetpea Golightly is the actual name on her birth certificate, not just a quirky moniker invented for TikTok.<\/p>\n

\u201cSweetpea is always giving this performance of being fine and competent and strong,\u201d Petche adds. \u201cBut just because someone is strong, it doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re not deeply affected by what happens to them.\u201d At the end of the episode, Sweetpea spurns a display of kindness from Harper, then returns alone to her swanky London flat where she bursts into tears. \u201cI suppose, objectively, it looks quite sad, but I feel like it\u2019s quite transformative for her,\u201d Petche says. \u201cIt\u2019s a purging, a shedding of a skin that has previously worked for her. From this moment on, she\u2019s extremely direct with what she wants and what she\u2019s worth. I think she reaches a different level of how she feels about herself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cI\u2019d like to see Sweetpea go on a date. she deserves to meet someone nice\u201d<\/p>\n

Petche, who grew up in Brighton on England\u2019s south coast but is now planning a move to London, says conveying Sweetpea\u2019s maelstrom of emotions was also \u201ctransformative\u201d for her as an actress. When she first read the script, her instant reaction was: \u201cWow. This is the most words I\u2019ve ever said. It was extremely exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of Industry\u2018s great strengths is the way it ricochets from a snakey character to a slightly more sympathetic one and back again, but this is the first time Petche has taken centre stage. \u201cWatching the other actors steer the ship with so much grace and clarity and creativity, you do have these sort of silent moments to yourself where you think: \u2018How would I drive the car if I was given that permission for a little while?’\u201d she says. \u201cIt was deeply, deeply exciting and challenging for me as an actor. But I felt very ready to take it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MiriamMiriam Petche in \u2018Industry\u2019. CREDIT: BBC\/Bad Wolf Productions\/HBO\/Simon Ridgway<\/p>\n

Industry was Petche\u2019s first job after graduating from London\u2019s Guildhall School Of Music and Drama in 2023. When she began auditioning during her final year, Down and Kay asked if she was certain she wanted the part because it would involve leaving acting school a little early. \u201cI was like, \u2018If you guys want me, my bags are packed. I\u2019m [mentally] on the trading floor already,’\u201d she recalls bullishly.<\/p>\n

However, she\u2019s been acting professionally since she was 10, when she appeared in an episode of the BBC crime drama Vexed. At primary school in Brighton, Petche found it \u201cvery difficult\u201d to focus on academic subjects but concentration wasn\u2019t an issue when it came to creative arts. Performing with a local theatre group became Petche\u2019s \u201crespite\u201d from school, which led to paid assignments. \u201cIt was fun. I would never have done acting if it didn\u2019t feel like an enjoyable adventure,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Petche learned early on that near misses are part and parcel of an actor\u2019s life. \u201cI was auditioning pretty consistently as a child. I did some commercials, I did some pilot episodes that never went anywhere,\u201d she says. In 2016, she acted with her future Industry co-star Marisa Abela<\/a> in Runts, a play about \u201cthe sort of psychological warfare that girls can experience in high school\u201d. When she and Abela reconnected seven years later on the Industry set, it felt like a \u201ccrazy\u201d full-circle moment.<\/p>\n

\"MiriamMiriam Petche in \u2018Industry\u2019. CREDIT: BBC\/Bad Wolf Productions\/HBO\/Simon Ridgway<\/p>\n

A year later, when she was 15, Petche landed her first substantial TV role in children\u2019s fantasy drama The Worst Witch. Petche portrayed straight-A student Esmerelda Hallow in two seasons of the show, which was filmed during her school summer holidays, and says it crystallised her decision to pursue acting as an adult. \u201cI had these moments on set, and I\u2019ve had them multiple times on Industry, where I was like, \u2018I can\u2019t believe I get to do this as a job,’\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Though The Worst Witch gave her solid experience, Petche saw an acting degree as a way of enriching her skill set and proving her commitment to an unpredictable career. \u201cWhen I finished sixth form, I had a conversation with my family where I said: \u2018I\u2019m going to audition for the UK\u2019s top drama schools, and if I get in, I\u2019ll take that as a sign and go in all guns blazing,’\u201d she says. Happily, she was accepted on her first attempt by Guildhall, whose alumni include Michaela Coel, Paapa Essiedu<\/a> and Ewan McGregor<\/a>.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re blazing even brighter now. Petche has recently filmed another TV series, ITV\u2019s Believe Me, a true crime drama in which Daniel Mays portrays John Worboys, the serial sex offender known as the \u201cBlack Cab Rapist\u201d. Unlike Sweetpea, who\u2019s prone to what Petche affectionately describes as \u201cword vomit\u201d, the actress says she\u2019s under such \u201cstrict no-speak [orders]\u201d that she can\u2019t even reveal who her character is.<\/p>\n

So, what would she like to do next? \u201cI\u2019d love the physical and emotional challenge of doing stage work again. It\u2019s something I haven\u2019t put my body through since drama school,\u201d she says. \u201cYou know, screen acting requires a different set of skills but stage is very, very intense in the best way. And I\u2019m always drawn to characters who are complicated and have contradictions within themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking of which, she has some ideas for Sweetpea if she returns for season five of Industry, which hasn\u2019t been officially commissioned yet. \u201cI would love to see her in a position of power and how she grapples with that,\u201d Petche says. \u201cDoes she become the thing she dislikes in other people? Does she become similar to her learned behaviour?\u201d Then Petche lightens the mood a little. \u201cI mean, I\u2019d also like to see Sweetpea go on a date. At this point, I think she deserves to meet someone nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Industry\u2019 series four continues on BBC One and BBC iPlayer<\/p>\n

CREDITS:
Photographer: Craig Gibson<\/a>
Styling: Sarah Harrison<\/a>
Hair: Sophie Sugarman<\/a>
Makeup: Sara Hill<\/a><\/p>\n