I May Destroy You creator, director and star Michaela Coel is reteaming with HBO and the BBC for her next series.
The two outlets will co-produce First Day on Earth, which Coel created and will star in as a British writer named Henri who takes a job on a movie filming in Ghana, her parents’ homeland. Various Artists Limited, which counts Succession creator Jesse Armstrong among its principals (and which produced I May Destroy You) and A24 are also behind the new series.
“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,” Coel said in a statement. “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.”
The description of the series reads: “British novelist Henri (Coel) 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.”
I May Destroy You was one of the most critically acclaimed series of 2020. Coel won an Emmy for best writing for a limited series and BAFTA TV honors for best miniseries, her lead role, writing and directing (shared with Sam Miller). First Day on Earth will be the first series project from Coel since then.
“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,” said Amy Gravitt, executive vp comedy programming at HBO and Max. “With Henri as our guide, First Day on Earth is as lyrical as it is visceral in its excavation of the idea of home.”
Added Lindsay Salt, director of BBC Drama, “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.”
Coel is writing First Day on Earth and will executive produce with Armstrong, Phil Clarke and Roberto Troni for Various Artists Limited, Jo McClellan for the BBC, and Piers Wenger for A24. Filming is set for 2025.
We’re delighted and feel extremely lucky that Michaela chose to bring her brilliant new show to us, after the extraordinary experience we had working together on I May Destroy You,” said Clarke and Troni. “Yet again, Michaela delivers a highly original, singular story that explores the relationship between England and Ghana via a second generation British-Ghanaian woman who takes up the opportunity to return to the homeland of her parents and finds herself encountering a cast of memorable characters and experiences that force her to face some painful home truths. But as ever with Michaela, it is by turns shocking, funny and unforgettable, and done in her inimitable style.”
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