Michaela Coel’s “unmissable” BBC drama confirms Ncuti Gatwa and Maxine Peake in exciting cast news

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The new drama First Day on Earth, starring Michaela Coel and a collaboration between the BBC and HBO, has announced its cast – and it’s full of talented actors!

Ncuti Gatwa (known for Doctor Who and Barbie), Thandiwe Newton (Wednesday, Line of Duty), Maxine Peake (I Swear, Say Nothing), and Danny Sapani (Killing Eve, The Diplomat) are all starring in First Day on Earth, and production has already begun.

The new 10-episode series, first revealed in 2024, stars and is written by Michaela Coel, who also serves as an executive producer. It centers around Henri, a character played by Coel, who is feeling unfulfilled and directionless in her life.

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Novelist Henri, who is British-Ghanaian, is running away from everything – her own issues, her current life, her relationship, and even a strange man she met at a book event. She travels to Ghana, the country where her family originated, and quickly finds herself in a completely new and unfamiliar environment.

Okay, so I’m playing as Henri, and things are really good at first – I’m making new friends and feeling genuinely happy. But as I get to know people, I start uncovering secrets and lies, and dealing with some tough stuff. It’s making me question everything – who I am, where I come from, and even my own family. It’s a lot to take in, honestly.

Michaela Coel is known for her acting work recently, including appearances in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and the Prime Video series Mr & Mrs Smith. However, First Day on Earth is her first time creating a TV drama since her hugely successful and award-winning series I May Destroy You in 2020. Before that, she wrote and starred in the BAFTA-winning sitcom Chewing Gum for Channel 4 in 2015, which was originally based on her 2012 play Chewing Gum Dreams.

Lindsay Salt, Director of BBC Drama, has previously praised Michaela as a remarkably talented individual, noting her admiration for Michaela’s work when the show First Day on Earth was initially revealed before the Edinburgh TV Festival.

I was so excited by I May Destroy You that it inspired me to work at the BBC! Michaela Coel has done it again with First Day on Earth – it’s a completely unique, moving, funny, and beautifully written series, and she tells stories like no one else. I’m really looking forward to everyone watching it.

Coel said making First Day on Earth was a deeply personal and enjoyable experience. He also expressed confidence in the show’s future, saying the creative team working on it is very talented.

In a 2025 interview with British Vogue, Michaela Coel described her new show as the story of a young British woman traveling to Ghana. She explained that the show will focus on the people she encounters, the situations she faces, her family relationships, and her journey of self-discovery.

Coel explained that your place in the world feels certain until you move somewhere new, and then things shift. If you don’t realize how your social status changes when you go to a place like Ghana, you could easily find yourself in awkward, humiliating, or even difficult situations. The question is whether she’ll learn from this experience, or repeat the same mistakes.

This has all the hallmarks of being a must-watch.

First Day on Earth will air on the BBC in the UK, a release date has not yet been confirmed.

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2026-02-12 19:22