The show that was destined to capture the zeitgeist

After three months of dodging spoilers and hearing international critics laud I May Destroy You as one of the best shows of the year, Australians have finally been able to catch up.

The BBC and HBO 12-part comedy-drama, which swelled into a cultural sensation after it premiered in the UK and US in June, landed on streaming service Binge on Wednesday.

Michaela Coel in I May Destroy You.

Ford also points out that Arabella is loud and simmers with rage, and in many ways is a lot of things that women are told not to be. But much like the show isn't interested in filtering its head-on look at consent, Ford says it isn't interested in meeting racist, gendered stereotypes.

While the series' key themes are inherently dark and thorny, it also exudes an immense amount of joy and Millennial buzz.

From the fashion to the music and vibrant city scenes, Ford describes it as "aesthetically beautiful".

"It captures the feeling of being young and mobile … the frenetic feeling of being on the street, of having momentum," she says. "I think it's very much working in the tradition of Girls and Insecure and Fleabag and all these sorts of really fantastic idiosyncratic, unapologetic, female-centric 'dramedies'."

And truly, Dr Rosewarne says, the show is not quite like any we've seen before: in characterisation, in tone, in appearance, in message.

You need only read the title to already hit a point of fascination. "Who is destroying who?" Coel posed to Vanity Fair. "What's been incredible is the whole new layer that has been revealed now that it's out, with the audience asking, will this show destroy me?"

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