Michaela Cole’s I May Destroy You series wins a Bafta award

Michaela Cole best known for her hit series I May Destroy You has won a Baftas award for best mini-series. The star of channel 4 comedy series Chewing Gum was named Best Actress restoring order and faith in the industry as the series has finally gained the formal recognition it deserves.

Michaela Coel refused a £1million Netflix offer because she wanted creative control of I May Destroy You.

It may be easier/quicker to have success if you come from certain backgrounds & compromise to certain ppl, but will you create iconic work that serves the public that way. pic.twitter.com/bXMYwKmQlj

— Megha Mohan (@meghamohan) June 7, 2021

Fans were shocked and disappointed when the Netflix series Emily in Paris was nominated for a Golden Globe award by Hollywood Foreign Press Association for best comedy series leaving I May Destroy you out of the picture. This stirred outrage amongst people in the film industry as well as lovers of the show. 

Writer of Emily in Paris  Deborah Copaken  comments her thoughts on I May Destroy You 

I  told everyone who would listen, “( the show) deserves to win all the awards.”

When it didn’t, I was stunned. I May Destroy You was not only my favourite show of 2020. It’s my favourite show ever. It takes the complicated issue of a rape – I’m a sexual assault survivor myself – and infuses it with heart, humor, pathos and a story constructed so well, I had to watch it twice, just to understand how Coel did it.

Many people agreed with Deborah.

The show touches on sensitive topics such as sexual assault, relationships and friendships in a raw and authentic way.

The show is set in London from a black British perspective showcasing elements of different family dynamics, cultural references and just being a young creative in London. I May Destroy You depicts different forms of sexual assault in what felt like both a way to educate people on a topic that is often ignored as well as a way to shed light on the trauma survivors have to deal with. The show also critiques the systems that are supposed to protect us and the ways these systems fail victims of sexual abuse from dealing with police victim-blaming, pressures of social media and dealing with friends and family.

The show dives into varied experiences of different characters with sexual assault to illustrates anyone could be a victim and anyone could be a perpetrator but we all process things differently.

 With so many intense scenes in the show, Michaela Cole thought it was vital to have intimacy coordinators who helped the actors feel comfortable and therefore be fully vulnerable on set. 

An intimacy coordinator is perhaps not a role many of us outside of the industry are aware of but the difference it makes on set when dealing with challenging topics is incredible. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Michaela Coel Web (@michaelacoelweb)

Michaela Cole explains the importance of the role and thanks intimacy director Ita O’Brien.

“Thank you for your existence in our industry, for making space safe, for creating physical, emotional and professional boundaries so that we can make work about exploitation, loss of respect, about abuse of power without being exploited or abused in the process.” 

We look forward to seeing what Michaela Cole will come up with next and applaud her for paving the way for other creators to show up authentically and create magic.