Michaela Coel dedicates BAFTA to her intimacy coordinator

"Thank you for your existence in our industry, for making the space safe."
 By 
Rachel Thompson
 on 
Michaela Coel dedicates BAFTA to her intimacy coordinator
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Michaela Coel, creator and star of I May Destroy You, was named Leading Actress at the BAFTAs and dedicated her award to the intimacy coordinator she worked with, Ita O'Brien.

"Thank you for your existence in our industry, for making the space safe, for creating physical, emotional and professional boundaries so that we can make work about exploitation, loss of respect, about abuse of power without being exploited or abused in the process," said Coel.

O'Brien has worked as an intimacy coordinator on a number of shows exploring consent, including Normal People and Sex Education.

Coel added that she knows what it's like to film without an intimacy coordinator, to witness "the messy embarrassing feeling for the crew, the internal devastation for the actor."

"Your direction was essential to my show, and I believe essential for every production company that wants to make work exploring themes of consent," she added.

Rachel Thompson, sits wearing a dress with yellow florals and black background.
Rachel Thompson
Features Editor

Rachel Thompson is the Features Editor at Mashable. Rachel's second non-fiction book The Love Fix: Reclaiming Intimacy in a Disconnected World is out now, published by Penguin Random House in Jan. 2025. The Love Fix explores why dating feels so hard right now, why we experience difficult emotions in the realm of love, and how we can change our dating culture for the better.

A leading sex and dating writer in the UK, Rachel has written for GQ, The Guardian, The Sunday Times Style, The Telegraph, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Stylist, ELLE, The i Paper, Refinery29, and many more.

Rachel's first book Rough: How Violence Has Found Its Way Into the Bedroom And What We Can Do About It, a non-fiction investigation into sexual violence was published by Penguin Random House in 2021.


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