Nicola Coughlan says society is not doing enough on toxic masculinity
Nicola Coughlan says society is not doing enough on toxic masculinity
Nicola Coughlan has told Deadline that society is not doing enough to deal with the challenges of toxic masculinity, a term for harmful ideas about how men should act. She made the comments ahead of the launch of I Am Helen, the Channel 4 drama she stars in. She also said toxic masculinity is on the rise among young men.
I Am Helen is a two-part drama, with each episode running 60 minutes. Coughlan plays the title character, Helen. Joe Cole plays Steve, her counterpart in the story. Channel 4 has set a November premiere, according to a Radio Times report published on 2 November.
The drama was co-created by Dominic Savage, who shaped it over several months with Coughlan. Savage also produces it, alongside Krishnendu Majumdar. It is the latest story in Savage's I Am anthology, a run of separate dramas told from a female perspective. The series has won a BAFTA.
Savage has made eight I Am episodes so far, working with actors including Kate Winslet and Letitia Wright. I Am Helen is the first entry in the anthology to run to more than one episode. That is a change in format for the series, which until now has told each story in a single programme.
Channel 4 released a first-look image of Coughlan and Cole in June. A trailer followed on 26 October, which Deadline covered in a separate article by Max Goldbart.
The broadcaster has also commissioned The Hormone Fix, a one-off factual special from Little Bird Films. A one-off is a single programme rather than a series. The 60-minute show is fronted by Davinia Taylor, an actor, author and wellbeing advocate. In it, Taylor looks at how hormones affect everyday life, from sleep, stress and mood to appetite and energy.
