Pure: All you need to know about Channel 4's new series with OCD and sex at the centre

The new series starts tonight on Channel 4 
Natasha Sporn30 January 2019

Channel 4's latest honest and frank offering is making it's debut tonight, complete with Peaky Blinder Joe Cole.

Pure is loosely based on Rose Cartwright’s biography of the same name and follows a young woman suffering from a form on Obsessive Compulsive Disorder which leaves her racked with sexual thoughts.

Moving down from Scotland to London, lead character Marnie has her eyes opened to new ways of thinking about her conditions, afflictions and how to learn to live with the thoughts.

Here’s what you need to know about Pure…

What is Pure about?

Marnie’s daily life is plagued with intrusive, and sometimes distressing, thoughts of a sexual nature, turning pretty much any situation – no matter how innocent or innocuous – into something crude.

But while Marnie previously assumed she is just a sex addict, her move to London brings so much more than just a new home when she discovers she has a complicated form of OCD called Pure O, which stands for purely obsessional.

Down in the capital, Marnie settles into her friendship group after moving in with her “deceptively cheery” friend Shereen before befriending Charlie, a porn addict. Marnie also meets ladies-woman Amber and her housemate Joe.

Who stars in Pure?

Actress Charly Clive takes the lead role in the drama, flanked by Peaky Blinders star Cole as Charlie, Murdered By My Parents’ Kiran Sawar as Shereen, Niamh Algar as Amber and Anthony Welsh as Joe, of The Bisexual and Fleabag respectively.

Lead star: Charly Clive as Marnie
Channel 4

What is Pure O?

Standing for Purely Obsessional, mental health charity MIND describe the form of OCD as “experiencing distressing intrusive thoughts but there are no external signs of compulsions”.

Suffers still experience mental compulsions including checking how they feel internally and for any signs of bodily sensations, checking how they feel about a particular thought – or if they even still have the same thought – and repeating numbers or phrases in their head.

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When is Pure on?

Pure starts tonight at 10pm on Channel 4. After episode one, all six episodes will be available on All 4 as well as airing weekly on Wednesdays.

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