Channel 4 Sets Premier Date for 'Pure'

Channel 4 has officially announced the new comedy-drama series, ‘Pure’, will premiere on January 30 at 10:00 p.m.

In an adaptation of Rose Cartwright’s highly-acclaimed memoir, the series follows the life of 24-year-old Marnie (Charly Clive) who suffers from an extreme form of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder referred to as Pure O. Though it exhibits no external signs of compulsion, Pure O manifests itself through intrusive thoughts. For Marnie, these often-distressing ideas are always of a sexual nature.

Acting alongside Clive is Ireland’s own Niamh Algar. Algar plays the character of Amber, one of the first people Marnie encounters after moving to London.

The 25-year-old Westmeath native was first cast into the spotlight in 2016, after performing the major role of Olivia in Lorcan Finnegan’s horror film Without Name. The actress starred in Channel 4’s TV series The Bisexual, which premiered last October, and has earned the title of ‘a name to look out for’ by both The Observer and Screen Daily.

In an exclusive interview with Channel 4, Algar spoke about her ever-growing success.

“I feel extremely honoured to be among the people on that list,” she said. “When I was training to be an actor, you watch so many actors that you admire listed on those platforms, and so to be included gives me a huge sense of pride,”

In the same interview, Algar also spoke about the importance of addressing difficult topics on-screen. She imparted the notion that bringing issues like mental-health to the forefront of a show as accessible as Pure is essential to broadening the dialogue.

“I think TV’s an amazing platform for that. We’ve come such a long way in the last few years, and if you can start a discussion which then takes in feedback from social platforms and spreads the conversation even further, that can only be a good thing. It helps normalise the whole thing, which is so important.”