History Series / IMayDestroyYou

* BeautyIsBad: Rather than being ugly and unkempt, Arabella's rapist [[spoiler:David]] is shown to be a realistic variant of a rapist. He's superficially charming, good-looking, and well-dressed, with finely coiffed hair.

* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: Thoroughly PlayedForDrama with regards to Kwame and Nilufer. Bella reacts badly to finding out that Kwame didn't tell Nilufer he was gay before having sex with her, because she's very sensitive about consent after being raped twice. It's having sex under pretences, she points out, but Kwame also asserts that Nilufer literally pressured him into having sex with her -- which is true, as shown in the scenes of them in bed. That's also [[QuestionableConsent rape-y]] on Nilufer's side, but Bella doesn't believe him.

* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: Thoroughly dissected and PlayedForDrama with regards to Kwame and Nilufer. Bella reacts badly to finding out that Kwame didn't tell Nilufer he was gay before having sex with her, because she's very sensitive about consent after being raped twice. It's having sex under false pretences, she points out, but Kwame also asserts that Nilufer literally pressured him into having sex with her (which is true, as shown in the scenes of them in bed). That's also rape-y on Nilufer's side, but Bella doesn't believe him.

* InnocentlyInsensitive: Terry is this to Kwame when she gives a speech about how Arabella only ''seems'' fine after being raped because he's not paying enough attention to her signs of trauma. Her speech is completely astute, which is why it's so heartbreaking for Kwame to not have anyone else realise he's just been raped too. But it's a tricky situation anyway, because focusing your attention towards someone you ''already'' know to have been raped is not a bad thing at all.

* FirstWorldProblems: [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] when Arabella has a breakdown on the bus in Episode 4; she keeps on reminding herself that there's a war in Syria and hungry children out there. Of course, rape isn't really a mere first-world problem.

* SexyShirtSwitch: Arabella does this with Zain's shirt following their first night together [[spoiler:where he took off his condom without her knowledge or permission during their initially consensual round of sex]]. They actually seem to have fun together [[spoiler:when she's still in denial that it was rape, but she soon realises that Zain ''is'' a rapist, even if it was a "subtler" form of rape]].

* SexyShirtSwitch: Arabella does this with Zain's shirt following their first night together [[spoiler:where he took off his condom without her knowledge or permission during their initially consensual round of sex]]. They actually seem to have fun together, [[spoiler:but she comes to realize that Zain really is a rapist, even if it's a "subtler" form of rape]].

* HeterosexualLifePartners: Arabella and Terry, who have been sisterlike friends since their school years. They are fond of saying "your birth is my birth, your death is my death" to each other.

* DoubleStandardRapeMaleOnMale: PlayedWith. Malik's rape of Kwame is brief but unpleasant to watch as it's very clear what's happening and Kwame keeps asking him to stop. However, it takes him longer to realize he was actually raped, and law enforcement does not take him as seriously as they do Arabella's.

** [[spoiler:In the first scenario, she teams up with Terry and Theo to drug David and beat the shit out of him.]]
** [[spoiler:In the second scenario, Arabella takes David home where he confesses some vulnerable truths about himself, before being arrested.]]
** [[spoiler:In the third scenario, Arabella takes David home and sleeps with him, with her being in charge the whole time.]]

* MoustacheDePlume: GenderInverted. [[spoiler:After Arabella outs him as a rapist, Zain is kept on by their mutual publisher -- but he publishes under a female pen name to deflect any association.]]

* AutobiographicalRole: Arabella is a loosely fictionalized version of Coel, struggling with assault and a potential SophomoreSlump after a first successful work about a dark-skinned black millennial woman similar to ''Series/ChewingGum''.

* DoubleStandardRapeMaleOnMale: Averted; Malik's rape of Kwame is brief but unpleasant to watch as it's very clear what's happening and Kwame keeps asking him to stop.
* HappyEnding: [[spoiler:Arabella accepts that she may never find real closure with her rapist, and decides to move on. She ultimately is able to finish her book]].

* TokenWhite: The main cast is black except for Arabella's roommate, Ben, and one of the officers investigating the case, Beth.

Arabella (Michaela Coel, ''Series/BlackEarthRising'' and ''Series/ChewingGum'') is a writer struggling to work on her second novel after a smash hit. Then she wakes up unable to piece together the events of the night, and begins to suspect she may have been sexually assaulted. If she can't remember, how could she have consented?

* ImagineSpot: Arabella imagines three confrontations with David, her rapist, in the finale:
** In the first scenario, she teams up with Terry and Theo to drug David and beat the shit out of him.
** In the second scenario, Arabella takes David home where he confesses some vulnerable truths about himself, before being arrested.
** In the third scenario, Arabella takes David home and sleeps with him, with her being in charge the whole time.

* UsefulNotes/VictimBlaming: Biagio angrily tells Arabella that if she had been careful with her drink, it wouldn't have been spiked, and she wouldn't have been raped. She angrily hangs up on him after this.

* NoPeriodsPeriod: Averted ''hard'' in the third episode. Arabella is remembering a night three months earlier when she visited her friend in Italy and the two hooked up with different guys at a local bar. She was having her period, and before they go out we see her changing her maxipad. ''Then'', just before having sex with her hookup, she remembers it's that time of the month and tells him. He's OK with period sex, despite her warning that she has a heavy flow, and after he puts a towel on the bed we actually see her remove her used tampon. [[RuleOfThree But only]] [[ItGetsWorse what happens next]] kills the mood: she passes a blood clot onto the towel, and we see that on screen, too.

Arabella (Micaela Coel, ''Series/BlackEarthRising'' and ''Series/ChewingGum'') is a writer struggling to work on her second novel after a smash hit. Then she wakes up unable to piece together the events of the night, and begins to suspect she may have been sexually assaulted. If she can't remember, how could she have consented?

* AccompliceByInaction: [[spoiler:Simon is this to Arabella's rape. He ditched the very drunk, very high Arabella in Camden to go hook up with Ava, his other woman.]]

* TokenWhite: The main cast is black except for Arabella's roommate Simon and one of the officers investigating the case, Beth.

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Arabella has pink hair.

* AutobiographicalRole: Arabella is a loosely fictionalized version of Coel, struggling with assault and a potential SophomoreSlump after a first successful work similar to ''Series/ChewingGum''.