Red Rose is a 2022 British horror drama television series, based on the teenage angst experienced in varying degrees within a group of school leavers obsessed with their smartphones.

However, their plans are immediately thwarted as a sense of danger looms over the group when an app called "Red Rose" is downloaded, and makes sinister demands that end in deadly consequences if not followed.

[31] Actress Natalie Blair, born near to Bolton in Leigh, noted that "much of the cast would turn to [her] when perfecting accents and trying to grasp their characters", explaining she was "quite fortunate in the sense that I know the values that Boltonians have in family, in friendship and working hard for what you want.

Most of the supporting artists were locals themselves so you'd talk to them, and they'd tell you things right", and actress Amelia Clarkson reported that "filming was often interrupted by kids shouting, but she was thankful as she used that energy to channel into her Boltonian character".

On the suitability of Bolton as the setting for the series, interviewer Jack Seale reported they "cite the Anglo-Irish community, the way different generations happily mix, residents' tendency to speak plainly, and the shared trauma of the town being 'an industrial Mecca that became a Thatcherite graveyard' as reasons why".

Alongside the event, the creators were part of a "masterclass" hosted by Katie Thistleton, in which attendees received advice on script-writing, details on the production of the show, and related career information.

[5][10][a] Jack Seale from The Guardian, in a published interview with the show's creators prior to broadcast, called the series "an extraordinarily confident piece of work".

"[43] Nicole Vassell, in her three-star review for The Independent, claimed the series "nails the complexities of teenage life" and the "talented young cast gives life to the dialogue, making the characters feel grounded in both their playful banter and their understandable fears", but "suffers from a clash of big ideas, all vying for our attention at any one time: virtual reality, ghosts, exorcisms, mental health struggles and poverty.

The show seems as if it's uncertain of what it wants to be, and in its attempt to cover all bases of the thriller genre, the story becomes fuzzy" and it "would benefit from scaling back so we really feel the sense of panic".

However, Vassell concluded by saying that "for all of its jarring moments, Red Rose is full of enticing intrigue; as much as the Bolton teens on screen, you'll find yourself wanting to know who's behind the sinister app – and how they can be stopped before anyone else gets hurt".

[45] Also in a four-star review, Stuart Jeffries, writing for The Guardian, called Red Rose "entertainingly disturbing", but criticised the anachronistic soundtrack of songs from the 1990s, quipping "If this is what the kids are getting down to this summer, they have bigger problems than bad grades".

[46] Emily Watkins' four-star review for i applauded the series for having "captured the internet's dizzying expanse of possibilities along with the astonishing bleakness of its deepest depths", and by "[d]rawing on a host of up-to-the-minute topics, Red Rose's first episode was both highly entertaining and startlingly thought-provoking.