A British series (“Chewing Gum”) and star (Michaela Coel) we first profiled a year ago finally caught on Stateside after it made its premiere on Netflix USA 2 months ago, winning over an entirely new group of fans. And after a successful first season, leading to its creator and star winning the BAFTA TV award (essentially the UK’s equivalent of the Primetime Emmys) for best actress in a comedy series, a second season was ordered. Given the well-documented general lack of work available for black actors/actresses in the UK in film and TV, “Chewing Gum’s” accomplishments (even its mere existence, taking into consideration its subject matter and star Coel) are certainly noteworthy.
The TV series is based on Coel’s 2012 one-woman show, “Chewing Gum Dreams,” in which the 26-year-old played a teenage version of herself, as she related past experiences growing up in the working class London neighborhoods of Hackney and Tower Hamlets, with her very religious mother, all while she became very acutely aware of her own sexuality, unprepared for the realities of sex and gender that she would face in the real world.
As Coel said when the TV show launched last fall, she wanted her show to reflect “the sort of life you don’t see very often on TV,” adding that the “sexual naiveté” of the character she plays reflects her own celibacy between the ages of 17 and 22, as a member of what she called “a massive conversion to this very Pentecostal, demon-exorcising church.”
“Psychologically, I was in a whirlwind,” she said.
“Chewing Gum” was both a critical and commercial in the UK, and, in May of this year, would earn Ms. Coel the BAFTA TV award (essentially the UK’s equivalent of the Primetime Emmys) for best actress in a comedy series.
As already noted, the series is now available for USA audiences to stream on Netflix. There are 6 episodes total, and are all rated TV-MA, meaning it’s not a series for the kids – targeted at mature audiences only for its explicit language and sexual situations; although ultimately it’s a comedy.
It may only be a matter of time before we start to see Ms. Coel on this side of the pond – as in, American TV and film. Especially if “Chewing Gum” continues to build a fan base in the USA, which would be made easier since it’s now streaming on Netflix USA.
The series returns for a second season on Channel E4 (UK broadcaster) on Thursday January 12, 2017 at 10pm. Per the network, season 2 begins with Tracey’s (Coel’s) return to the Pensbourne Estate which doesn’t quite go as she would have liked. Best friend Candice isn’t happy to see her, and mum Joy won’t let her in. But at least she’s back at work at Deepak’s Delectables. Tracey discovers ex-boyfriend Connor is in a new relationship, and goes out of her way to try and fool him into believing that she’s moved on. Connor meanwhile tells a few lies of his own in order to get Tracey to talk about what actually happened between them.
No word on when it’ll reach the USA; I’ll assume later in 2017, or maybe soon after it airs in the UK next month given that it’s become a hit for USA audiences as well and continues to find new audiences.
Channel E4 has premiered a trailer for the upcoming season 2 of “Chewing Gum,” which is embedded below:
