Michaela Coel: 'Like Arabella, I realised my life was about to change for ever'

The actor and writer mined her own dark experiences of assault and racism for the BBC hit drama I May Destroy You

Michaela Coel's drama I May Destroy You has passed the point where we argue about whether it is a hit. The story of Arabella, a young London writer who's drugged and raped, and embarks on a quest for justice and self-knowledge, has been a passport for millions of BBC viewers into a world of shifting boundaries around sexual consent, generational clashes, social media addiction and drugs.

Coel, 32, stars, writes and co-directs the drama, which has also launched on America's HBO. The scrutiny means she's been prodded to excavate her own past, after she was drugged and assaulted by an unknown assailant in her 20s. So, to Coel the same question that Arabella's friend asks her on-screen character: why return to the worst of days with such punishing intensity?