HBO Boards BBC Series 'First Day on Earth' from Michaela Coel
Michaela Coel as Arabella in 'I May Destroy You'
HBO/BBC
Regular readers of Telly Visions have most likely read at least one rant concerning AT&T (and then Warner Bros. Discovery) ’s failure to properly promote the plethora of British series that HBO and HBO Max premiered between 2019 and 2023. Both parent companies made the same error, believing that as long as the show was on HBO or streaming on Max, viewers would magically find it and watch it. Out of the dozen or so British series released in that window, that happened exactly once, with Michaela Coel’s I May Destroy You, which became a sleeper hit months after its release via word of mouth.
Unsurprisingly, HBO is all about boarding another Coel project since her work is good enough to find success despite their marketing instead of because of it. However, between her A-list status landing her topline roles in projects as disparate as Marvel Studio’s Black Panther sequel to indie film Mother Mary, and publishing Misfits: a Personal Manifesto based on her Edinburgh Festival one-woman show, she hasn’t exactly had time to create a follow-up, until now. First Day on Earth marks Coel’s first TV series in four years, and it’s not surprising that the BBC immediately greenlit it or that HBO jumped on board.
Much like I May Destroy You drew on Coel’s real-life experiences with men, First Day on Earth will draw on Coel’s personal experiences as a British-Ghanaian born and raised in London. In the press release, Coel stated, “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.”
Here's the logline for Coel's new series:
British novelist Henri 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 turns 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.
Coel is slated to play Henri. She's also booked to pen all ten episodes, and executive produce alongside Jesse Armstrong (Succession), Phil Clarke (Such Brave Girls), and Roberto Troni for Various Artists Limited, in association with A24. More cast will be announced in due course; filming is slated to begin in 2025.
First Day on Earth does not yet have a release date, if it will stream/air simultaneously on both sides of the pond, or if HBO will air the series after it completes its U.K. run on the BBC.
