# I May Destroy You (2020)

> A carefree London writer must rebuild her life after a spiked drink leaves her questioning everything she knows about herself and her friends.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/85969

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 12
- Episode runtime: 30 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: drama
- Created by: Michaela Coel
- Network: BBC One
- Cast: Michaela Coel, Weruche Opia, Lara Rossi, Ann Akinjirin, Marouane Zotti, Mariah Gale, Sarah Niles, Natalie Walter
- TMDB rating: 8.0/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11204260/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: extreme
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: raw, funny, tense, reflective, bittersweet

## What critics say

Audiences broadly rate the miniseries positively for its bold, unflinching handling of sexual assault and its raw, original voice.

## Synopsis

I May Destroy You (2020) is a British limited series created by Michaela Coel for BBC One. Coel stars as Arabella Essiuedu, a self-assured London writer whose life of friendships, a long-distance boyfriend in Italy and a budding writing career is shattered when her drink is spiked. Weruche Opia plays her close friend Terry Pratchard, whose own romantic and professional choices run alongside Arabella's. Across twelve half-hour episodes the engine is Arabella's effort to piece together what happened to her, with memory returning in fragments while she navigates police officers, friends who hear her story differently, and the daily grind of making art from her experience. The show is set in contemporary London, where dating apps and group chats shape desire and friendship. Its tone moves between sharp, funny observation and raw, unsparing emotional weight, and its themes of consent, memory and female creative autonomy are handled with bold formal experimentation. Fans of Fleabag, Girls and Unbelievable will find resonance in its frank, authored voice and its refusal to flinch from the aftermath of harm.

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