Michaela Coel to create and star in new BBC and HBO TV series

Michaela Coel is set to return to the small screen with a new “very personal” series.

The creator and star of the award-winning drama series I May Destroy You is reuniting with the BBC, HBO and A24 for her follow-up titled First Day on Earth. The series also boasts Succession’s Jesse Armstrong as an executive producer.

Coel will play Henri, a British novelist who finds herself at a personal and professional impasse. After she takes a job working on a film in her parents’ homeland, Ghana, she finds herself on an unexpected journey, dealing with new friendships, family trouble and broken illusions. The logline states that it is “one that might leave her stronger, but could also break her”.

In a statement, Coel writes: “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.”

Lindsey Salt, director of BBC drama, has called it “truly original, heartfelt, hilarious, poetic storytelling”. Amy Gravitt, executive vice-president at HBO & Max comedy programming has said that it is “as lyrical as it is visceral in its excavation of the idea of home”.

Filming is scheduled to begin next year.

I May Destroy You, which saw Coel play a writer dealing with the fallout from a sexual assault, became a critical darling in 2020, winning multiple awards. The Guardian’s Lucy Mangan called it “an astonishing, beautiful, thrilling series”.

Coel, who had previously created and starred in the comedy Chewing Gum, has since taken on roles in Mr & Mrs Smith on the small screen and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever on the big screen. She also released her first book Misfits: a Personal Manifesto in 2021.

She will next be seen starring alongside Anne Hathaway in Mother Mary, a melodrama about the relationship between a pop star and a fashion designer. The film is written and directed by A Ghost Story’s David Lowery and will feature original music by Charli xcx.