I May Destroy You’s Michaela Coel is teaming up with HBO and the BBC on her next drama series.
Coel is writing and starring in First Day On Earth, a ten-part series that she describes as “another very personal story for me”.
It comes four years after I May Destroy You launched on the WBD network and the British public broadcaster.
Coel will star as British novelist Henri, who is stuck. Work has dried up, her relationship is going nowhere. So, when she’s offered a job on a film in Ghana, West Africa – her parents’ homeland, where her estranged father lives – she can’t resist the chance to reconnect with him and the country of her heritage. But when she arrives neither the job nor her father turn out the way she expected, and soon Henri has to deal with danger and hypocrisy, form new friendships, lose her illusions, and create a new sense of identity – one that might leave her stronger, but could also break her.
The series comes from Various Artists, which was founded by Succession’s Jesse Armstrong, his Peep Show collaborator Sam Bain and former Channel 4 commissioners Phil Clarke and Roberto Troni, and A24.
Various Artists (VAL) produced I May Destroy You and Coel has worked with A24 on upcoming film Mother, Mary.
Coel will exec produce the series alongside Armstrong, Clarke and Troni as well as Jo McClellan for the BBC, and Piers Wenger for A24. Filming begins next year.
Coel said, “I am delighted to be working with VAL, HBO and the BBC again, and to partner with A24; thanks to all of their combined taste, care and expertise, I feel our show is in great hands. 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.”
Amy Gravitt, EVP, HBO & Max Comedy Programming, said, “Michaela’s words have the ability to transport the reader like no other. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to continue the conversation that began with I May Destroy You, alongside our close collaborators at VAL, A24 and the BBC. With Henri as our guide, First Day On Earth is as lyrical as it is visceral in its excavation of the idea of home. “
Lindsay Salt, director of BBC Drama, added: “Michaela is one of those exceptional talents whose work I have long admired. I May Destroy You is one of the reasons I wanted to join the BBC. In First Day On Earth, Michaela has created another unmissable series – truly original, heartfelt, hilarious, poetic storytelling and told in a way that only Michaela can. I can’t wait for everyone to see it.”