Created by Michaela Coel, I May Destroy You opens with the drug-facilitated sexual assault of Arabella, played by the show's writer and creator. Unfolding in 12 parts, viewers follow as Arabella, a writer made popular on social media, struggles to deal with the fallout.
Michaela Coel came into the public's consciousness with her award-winning, tongue-in-cheek comedy, Chewing Gum. While pulling an all-nighter to finish writing its second season in 2016, she took a writing break and met a friend at bar. Her drink is spiked. She is sexually assaulted and wakes up hours later in the Fremantle Media Production office.
Like Coel, Arabella comes to in a different location, wonky from the drugs with a shattered phone and very little memory of the night before.
In this Q&A with Arts24 Editor Lindokuhle Nkosi, Michaela details the making of I May Destroy You and how making the series provided her with an opportunity to transform her trauma.
