Michaela Coel’s January 22nd Sets Cast

January 22nd (working title), written by and starring BAFTA winner Michaela Coel (Black Earth Rising, Chewing Gum), has commenced filming and unveiled its cast.

A drama series that will explore the question of sexual consent in contemporary life, January 22nd (wt) also stars Weruche Opia (Inside No9, Sliced), Paapa Essiedu (Kiri, Press), Aml Ameen (Yardie, Mazerunner), Adam James (Belgravia, Doctor Foster), Sarah Niles (Catastrophe, Rocks) and Ann Aikin (Career of Evil, Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams: The Commuter).

Set in London, the story centers on the care-free and self-assured Arabella (Coel) who has great a group of friends, a boyfriend in Italy and a burgeoning writing career. But she’s forced to question and rebuild every element of her life after she’s sexually assaulted when a drink is spiked with a date-rape drug.

January 22nd is a BBC and HBO co-production produced by Various Artists Ltd and FALKNA for the BBC and HBO. It will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros., excluding the U.K. and Ireland, where it will be distributed by BBC Studios.

Coel said: “We’re incredibly lucky to have pulled together such a talented cast to bring these scripts to life and I look forward to sharing this work with you all next year.”

Piers Wenger, controller of BBC Drama, said: “We’re thrilled to be working with someone as bold and fearless as Michaela, she has created an ultra-contemporary show which explores the issues of her generation with huge compassion, humor and a raw truthfulness. It’s an incredibly urgent story which the BBC is proud to be telling.”

Amy Gravitt, executive VP of HBO programming, added: “It’s been thrilling to be a part of bringing Michaela’s vision to life. She writes with such intimacy and immediacy about how we treat one another, while always surprising us with moments of levity.”

Phil Clarke, executive producer, commented: “It’s incredibly exciting to be working with Michaela again. She has a brave and original vision and something mature and relevant to say about gender politics, about consent, about gratification, about social media, about her generation. It’s an explosive package.”