Sally Wainwright wanted to “incapacitate” Renegade Nell’s male characters

The new Disney Plus fantasy series comes from the mind of Sally Wainwright, best known for her work on beloved British crime drama Happy Valley, and stars Derry Girls alum Louisa Harland as Nell, a young woman who unexpectedly becomes a notorious outlaw after being framed for murder.

Also starring the likes of Nick Mohammed, Joely Richardson and Adrian Lester, the series follows Nell on the run as she is chosen for "protection" by a mystical spirit.

Now, speaking exclusively with RadioTimes.com, director Ben Taylor has explained how Sally Wainwright approached the new series, specifically the male characters – which are markedly different to those in any of her previous works.

He said: “I think there was some, with a show of this size, course correction. So you’re shooting in blocks. So I did episodes one and two. And you put those together and you edit them, and you sort of take stock of what's working and what's not, and what dials to turn up or down.

"I think in terms of changes, Sally was overly ready and willing to sort of incapacitate people, especially the male characters."

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Taylor continued: "So Thomas (Jake Dunn) is essentially sort of lobotomised after episode 1, Poynton (Adrian Lester) after episode 3 is sort of incapacitated. We reconsidered that and sort of brought them back to life, Thomas less so but Poynton we needed to be a physical threat. I think he was originally written by Sally, or imagined to be bed-bound for five episodes.

"And we knew that wouldn't work for our big baddie. So yeah, we changed our mind on that.”

Taylor's comments come after titular star Harland also recently lifted the lid on Wainwright's creative process, explaining how she tackled difficult historical truths in the show, which is set in the 19th century.

She explained: "The nice thing about this world is I feel like it's a new world we’ve created, and apart from a through-line of historical accuracy, we can kind of do whatever we want.

"Sally, I think, is rewriting history a little bit, and that’s something lovely about the show."

Renegade Nell is coming to Disney Plus on Friday 29th March. Sign up to Disney Plus for £7.99 a month or £79.90 for a year.

Check out more of our Fantasy coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on.

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