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two Baftas (for breakthrough talent and female performance) for the comedy Chewing Gum in
2016. It ran for two series on E4, a dazzling small-screen debut for this extraordinarily vibrant
and bright young woman from Hackney, east London.
Yet it was on Chewing Gum that things went wrong. Coel worked so intensively on the scripts
that she was prone to pulling all-nighters. On one occasion, while writing the second series in
the London offices of the show’s producers, she decided to take a break and go for a drink with
a friend. A few hours later she found herself coming to at her desk with vague recollections of
the night before. It became clear she had become separated from her companion and had been
sexually assaulted. The police investigated, a date rape drug was found in her system and arrests
were made, but no charges were brought. Despite the therapy Coel has had since, most of her
memory of this horrific night is still a blank — but I May Destroy You was born.
Cole with Marouane Zotti in I May Destroy You
NATALIE SEERY
The 12-part BBC series, which aired last summer, follows Arabella (Coel), a bright young talent
who starts the action being encouraged to follow up her bestselling first book by her agents. Yet
