{"id":510954,"date":"2026-04-03T15:13:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T15:13:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/510954\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T15:13:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T15:13:17","slug":"unmissable-and-truly-original-bbc-drama-confirms-exciting-new-cast-additions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/510954\/","title":{"rendered":"“Unmissable” and “truly original” BBC drama confirms exciting new cast additions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anticipated new BBC drama First Day on Earth has confirmed a number of exciting new cast additions. Created by and starring Michaela Coel, who was behind the acclaimed I May Destroy You, the story follows a British-Ghanaian novelist called Henri who heads to her ancestral homeland Ghana.<\/p>\n

On the run “from herself, her life, her partner, and that weird guy at her book talk”, in Ghana she finds herself “submerged in an altogether different world”.<\/p>\n

“Amidst new friends, fresh joy, and many different and nuanced relationships, Henri also finds secrets, lies, difficulty and denial \u2013 leading her to question everything about herself, her heritage and her family,” the synopsis adds.<\/p>\n

\"bukky<\/p>\n

Netflix<\/p>\n

Related: Best streaming services<\/a><\/p>\n

After previously announcing cast members<\/a> Ncuti Gatwa, Thandiwe Newton, Maxine Peake and Danny Sapani, several more names have been unveiled.<\/p>\n

The cast now includes Rocks’ Bukky Bakray in the role of Sunny, Kaos’ Rakie Ayola as Maame, Ama Serwah Genfi (aka singer Amaarae) as Nana, The Ugly Stepsister’s Adam Lundgren as Asger, singer Ray BLK as Jacqueline, and Wonka’s Kobna Holdbrook-Smith as Steve.<\/p>\n

Also on board are Litvinenko’s Dan Skinner as Chris, Mary Page Marlowe’s Daniella Arthur-Kennedy as Gladys, Forever in a Night’s Jameel Buari as Ronald, Territory’s Sam Delich as Klubeck, and Heartstopper’s Fisayo Akinade as Adekunle.<\/p>\n

Michael Owusu Addo, Joselyn Dumas, Sister Deborah, Adjetey Anang, Akofa Edjeani, Roselyn Ngissah, Akrobeto, Godwin Namboe and Lady Jay complete the line-up.<\/p>\n

\"ncuti<\/p>\n

BBC<\/p>\n

“I May Destroy You is one of the reasons I wanted to join the BBC!” director of BBC Drama Lindsay Salt previously said. <\/p>\n

“In First Day on Earth, Michaela has created another unmissable series \u2013 truly original, heartfelt, hilarious, poetic storytelling and told in a way that only Michaela can. I can’t wait for everyone to see it.”<\/p>\n

Coel herself previously said making the show had been “a beautifully intimate experience” and looked forward to offering “another televisual gift for anyone willing to accompany Henri on what will be a wild odyssey”.<\/p>\n

First Day on Earth will air on the BBC in the UK. A release date has not yet been confirmed.<\/p>\n

The new edition of Living Legends, a 100-page all-colour celebration of Harry Styles, is here! Buy Harry Styles in newsagents or online<\/a>.
<\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/p>\n

Sam is a freelance reporter and sub-editor who has a particular interest in movies<\/a>, TV<\/a> and music. After completing a journalism Masters at City University, London, Sam joined Digital Spy as a reporter, and has also freelanced for publications such as NME<\/a> and Screen International<\/a>. \u00a0Sam, who also has a degree in Film, can wax lyrical about everything from Lord of the Rings<\/a> to Love Is Blind<\/a>, and is equally in his element crossing every ‘t’ and dotting every ‘i’ as a sub-editor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Anticipated new BBC drama First Day on Earth has confirmed a number of exciting new cast additions. Created…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":510955,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[147950,379,178794,381,96,1156,178793,391,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-510954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-collection-latest-news","tag-content-type-news","tag-contentid-b1330150-de59-4596-a798-91a10ea33e59","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-entertainment","tag-locale-gb","tag-shorttitle-unmissable-bbc-drama-confirms-exciting-new-cast-additions","tag-tv","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=510954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/510955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=510954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=510954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=510954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}