In the safe serenity of her bedroom in Brighton, England, Miriam Petche breathes a sigh of relief.
“I love it here. Brighton is the place I always run back to whenever I’m overstimulated,” says the actor, who grew up in the bohemian seaside city.
The 24-year-old has just returned home from London, where she has spent several months navigating the cortisol-raising energy of a trading room floor for Industry’s fourth season.
The high-stakes series, which also stars Kit Harington, Marisa Abela and Myha’la Herrold, follows a group of ambitious young bankers navigating the cutthroat world of London’s elite investment scene.
Petche plays the firm’s newest sales recruit, Sweetpea Golightly, an unassuming yet razor-sharp gen Z influencer.
“I didn’t really grow up knowing anyone in that world, so it’s a completely different language for me,” says Petche, who was still studying at drama school when she landed the part in season three.
The brilliance of Industry is its ability to craft pressure without release. Conversations are sharp, coded and loaded with threat.
The soundscape is a hellish combination of stress and panic created by the hammering thud of keyboards, salespeople hurling million-dollar trades across the floor and phone lines echoing with urgency.
In the very first episode, a stressed-out graduate pushes himself far past the limit – pulling brutal hours, taking performance drugs and trying desperately to impress senior staff. By the end of the episode, he collapses in the bathroom and dies from exhaustion.
The company announcement of his death was inconsequential and the next young, eager recruit quickly replaced him. It’s an unsettling-yet-necessary watch for its on-the-pulse commentary on capitalism’s human cost, especially at a time when workplace culture is emerging from a global reckoning.
Season four shifts that tension into new terrain, stepping into the unmoored lives the characters have built beyond their desks. “This season looks at … how these people drive their personal and professional lives without any anchor. Everyone has their own agenda and they are stopping at nothing to see it,” says Petche.
“I watched the film Erin Brockovich [the true story of a woman who uncovers a corporate scandal and brings a giant company to its knees] in preparation. That is very much the journey that Sweetpea goes on this season.”
Miriam Petche as the firm’s new sales recruit Sweetpea Golightly in Industry. Image: HBO.
Industry isn’t the only project pulling Petche into compelling stories of power and abuse. She recently began filming Believe Me, a TV drama scheduled for release in early 2026, about the survivors of John Worboys (aka the Black Cab Rapist).
Worboys worked as a London taxi driver and, between 2000 and 2008, drugged and sexually assaulted numerous female passengers. In 2009, Worboys was convicted of offences against 12 women, and again in 2019 for additional attacks on more women.
Believe Me follows the story of the survivors who fought for justice after police disbelieved their initial reports.
“When I first read the script, I was shocked. You hope there is growth and that things are changing, but things haven’t changed as much as you would like to believe,” says Petche, who has yet to announce her role in the series.
“The way the story is told is beautiful and with a lot of respect to the women. These stories need to be told – especially now.”
For Petche, toggling between the male-dominated pressure cooker in Industry and failures of the legal system for female victims in Believe Me has only sharpened her hunger for rich female storytelling.
During her time off in Brighton, Petche says she’s been busy making her way through a string of female fantasy novels.
“I’m currently reading The Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas,” she says. “It reminds me of the first time you read a book written by a woman for women, which dares you to imagine what you would be like in those circumstances and reflect on who you are as a person. It’s pure escapism.”
It feels fitting that Petche is reaching for stories in which women step into their strength – a quiet echo of the work she’s doing on screen.
Season four of Industry is out January 11 on HBO Max.
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