I May Destroy You review – Michaela Coel’s hard-hitting new drama

Every once in a while, a TV show comes along that leaves you breathless; a show that pervades your thoughts even when not watching and forces deep introspection after just the pilot episode.

Michaela Coel’s 12-part BBC drama I May Destroy You (IMDY) does just that.

In 2015 Coel brought the hit Channel 4 show Chewing Gum to our screens, a witty comedy based on growing up in Tower Hamlets. Coel plays the cringingly funny Tracey Gordon, regularly breaking the fourth wall with funny and petty asides; Chewing Gum walked so Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag could run.

A bona-fide TV triple threat, Coel has written, produced and starred in her own BBC drama. IMDY follows protagonist Arabella (played by Coel), an unapologetic party animal and newly successful millennial author adjusting to her newfound fame and trying to write a second book. Procrastinating from her writing Arabella heads out on a spontaneous night out where she’s spiked. Over the next few days, jarring memories randomly cloud her conscience as she puts the pieces of the night together, only to realize she was raped.

In the six episodes so far Arabella finds herself disassociating from the reality of what happened to distance herself from the trauma. When this has devastating further effects, she juggles keeping up with her fast-paced life and processing her trauma.

Coel’s writing is devastating. She addresses consent beyond the black and white “yes” or “no”, deftly handling the “grey” areas of sexual assault. In the wake of her assault, Michaela and her friends come to re-evaluate their own past and present sexual experiences with a newfound understanding of consent. The show covers everything from non-consensual condom removal during sex to being groomed for a threesome and an assault following consensual sex.

The show’s cast is predominantly black, and the script delves into the specific experiences of black and LGBTQ+ characters in an illuminating and fresh way. The characters are electric, Michaela’s social circle is filled with successful, edgy and attractive friends.

Coel plays deftly with the common “she asked for it” narrative around sexual assault. Michaela’s best friend Kwame (Paapa Essiedu) is obsessed with Grindr, they all use drugs and alcohol, the women go out alone, don’t keep an eye on their drinks and wear revealing clothes. But the writing is clear, none of them asked for this, none of them deserved it.

The acting is award-worthy, Coel often achieves the difficult task of showing the audience the disparity between what she is saying and how she is feeling as Michaela attempts to resume her normal life. The show is also frequently funny, light moments of relief that, in a sexual-consent drama, are an impressive feat.

IMDY doesn’t make for easy watching and is perhaps being streamed twice-weekly rather than in one iPlayer binge-able go for this reason. But it is something I wish my friends (girls and boys) had seen as teenagers or in sex-ed at school. It’s entertainment that is educational; Coel makes the audience re-evaluate their personal experiences and the way we sometimes pussyfoot around the issue of consent. IMDY calls on us to re-evaluate the relationship between ambiguity and consent, as Arabella says in episode four, we need to call assault as it is, “Not rape adjacent. Not a bit rapey.”

I May Destroy You is available on BBC iPlayer and on BBC One at 10.45pm every Monday and Tuesday.