“Chewing Gum” creator, writer, and star Michaela Coel has been invited to give the MacTaggart lecture at this year’s Edinburgh International Television Festival. She’ll become the fifth woman to deliver the prestigious address in its 42-year history, Deadline reports. The British multi-hyphenate is “following in the footsteps of former ‘Doctor Who’ producer Verity Lambert, ‘60 Minutes’ reporter Christine Ockrent, [media personality] Janet Street-Porter, and Shine Group founder Elisabeth Murdoch.”
The “Black Mirror” and “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” actress said that she was “overjoyed” to accept the invite. “It seems in some way a celebration of the rapidly changing world we live in,” she stated. “But with the constant reshaping of our technological and political world, comes a growing need to shine a light and be vigilant rather than complacent about the future of our industry. I feel honored to contribute to this debate on such a prestigious stage.”
The BAFTA winner has spoken out about the importance of representation on-screen and behind the scenes. “There are hardly any black female writers and the black female experience on every continent — you know whichever that person comes from — does not exist on TV,” she observed. “Especially in Britain. I don’t see the experience of the black woman on TV. In order to write that, you have to understand it and I think it’s really hard to understand what it is to be a black woman unless you’re a black woman. It’s really hard. When I say black, I’m talking black, my dark — darker than paper bag skin. To live this life and for me, a working class, black female’s life, you can’t write that story unless you live that story. I think that we deserve to add our portrait to the gallery of life, to the gallery of television and we want that portrait to be accurate. In order for that to happen, we have to write those stories ourselves.”
“Michaela embodies everything we want the festival to be about this year — the future, the creative voice and, above all, optimism,” said Phil Edgar Jones, Director of Sky Arts & Head of Entertainment and the event’s Advisory Chair. “As one of the UK’s leading young writer-performers, she speaks directly to the next generation of talent coming through the ranks and has something to teach the TV ‘establishment’ too. We are thrilled she’ll be delivering the MacTaggart and I am very much looking forward to hearing her unique take on the industry and beyond.”
Fest Director Lisa Campbell added, “Michaela is a hugely inspiring figure who has achieved so much in such a short time. With her distinctive voice, attitude, and ambition this promises to be a ground-breaking and enlivening speech that will offer a completely different perspective. Our Talent Schemes delegates voted her as the person who has most inspired them to work in television, and like them, I can’t wait to hear the passionate and agenda-setting speech she’s set to deliver.”
Coel is currently working on the upcoming third season of “Chewing Gum,” her E4 comedy about a sexually inexperienced and awkward twenty-something born into a strict religious family. U.S. viewers can catch the show’s first two seasons on Netflix. Her next feature, Netflix musical “Been So Long,” is in post-production.
