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Profile: Michaela Coel

Michaela Coel

BBC Radio 4 - Profile, Michaela Coel

The multi-talented performer making BAFTA history with awards for 'I May Destroy You'.

The multi-talented performer, described as ‘the biggest star of TV’, after taking top honours at the BAFTAs for ‘I May Destroy You’, her drama about sexual consent.

The multi-talented performer has just made BAFTA history, after taking top honours for ‘I May Destroy You’, her drama about sexual consent. The TV show – which she created, wrote, directed and starred in - also won best mini-series. It was inspired by Michaela Coel’s own experience of sexual assault after her drink was spiked.

Born in London to Ghanaian parents, 33 year-old Michaela Coel grew up with her single mum and older sister on a council estate in London’s East End. At eighteen, she became a Christian. Her conversion kick-started her writing career as she began penning and performing poems praising Jesus.     

After winning a scholarship to the prestigious Guildhall School of Music and Drama, her graduation piece - unusually- featured her own work, a play called ‘Chewing Gum Dreams'. It was about life on her estate and a girl desperate to lose her virginity. She later developed that into the award-winning Channel 4 comedy, Chewing Gum. 

Now Michaela Coel has been dubbed 'Queen of British TV' after her latest BAFTA success for her drama, 'I May Destroy You'. Mark Coles tells the story of her life, by talking to those who spotted her talents from a very young age, including friends from school, the church and the world of theatre.    

Presenter: Mark Coles
Intake producer: Matt Toulson
Producer: Sally Abrahams
Editor: Alex Lewis

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