I Will Watch Anything Michaela Coel Is A Part Of, So I Will Be Sat For Her New HBO Series "First Day On Earth"
This post contains discussions of sexual assault.
Michaela Coel is bringing her brilliance back to the small screen.
The 36-year-old actor, writer, and director is set to create and star in a new drama series called First Day on Earth for HBO and the BBC. She described the show, which will feature 10 episodes, as "another very personal story for me.”
First Day on Earth will follow British novelist Henri (Michaela), whose life seems to be at a standstill. Work has hit a dry spell, and her relationship is going nowhere, so when she's offered a job on a film in Ghana — her parents' homeland, where her estranged father lives — she can't resist the opportunity to add a new adventure to her life, reconnect with her heritage, and hopefully reconnect with her dad.
But when she arrives, neither the job nor her father is what she expected. Henri is forced to embark on a journey of self-discovery, that could either make her or break her.
Michaela's parents are Ghanian, but she and her sister were raised by their mom in East London, where she often felt isolated because she was the only Black pupil in her classes.
"First Day on Earth is another very personal story for me which I hope will engage viewers from all over the world, and I can’t wait for audiences to go on Henri’s journey with her,” Michaela said.
Michaela is no stranger to transforming her intimate life experiences into works of art. She did it in 2020 when she created, wrote, co-directed, and starred in I May Destroy You — an Emmy Award-winning limited series about a social media star-turned-novelist who struggles to remember and come to terms with the night she was drugged and sexually assaulted.
In 2018, while giving a lecture at the Edinburgh International Television Festival, Michaela revealed the series was inspired by a real-life traumatic event. She recounted a time when she regained consciousness after a night out with a friend and realized she'd been raped. This happened while she was writing her first show Chewing Gum.
"I was working overnight in the company's offices," Michaela said. "I had an episode due at 7 a.m. I took a break and had a drink with a good friend who was nearby. I emerged into consciousness typing season two, many hours later. I was lucky—I had a flashback. It turned out I had been sexually assaulted by strangers."
It took Michaela two-and-a-half years to write I May Destroy You. She ultimately decided writing these 12 episodes would not only be cathartic but helpful for others who might have experienced sexual assault.
You can learn more about Michaela and her new project on Deadline.
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673), which routes the caller to their nearest sexual assault service provider. You can also search for your local center here.
