What It Feels Like For A Girl: BBC shares trailer and launch date for new Y2K drama – VIDEO
The show, inspired by the acclaimed memoir of former Attitude journalist Paris Lees, launches on BBC iPlayer and BBC Three on Tuesday 3 June 2025
The BBC has dropped the first trailer for What It Feels Like For A Girl, its forthcoming Y2K coming-of-age drama inspired by the acclaimed memoir of former Attitude journalist Paris Lees.
The series, about a group of hedonistic LGBTQ friends in early ’00s Nottingham, will be available in full on BBC iPlayer from Tuesday 3 June, when it will also begin its BBC Three transmission.
Filmed in South Wales and Nottingham, What It Feels Like For A Girl will star Ellis Howard as main character Byron.
The cast also includes Hannah Jones, Adam Ali, Laquarn Lewis, Alex Thomas-Smith, Calam Lynch, Jake Dunn and Dickie Beau.
“A proudly working-class story”
Speaking about the show earlier this year, award-wining writer and former Attitude columnist Paris said: “This is a proudly working-class story, and it needed a cast who could bring it to life authentically. We’ve struck gold with these highly talented actors, some of whom are already familiar faces – and some who are about to be.
“The biggest challenge was always the lead role – we’re following someone who’s going from, in the eyes of the outside world, a schoolboy, right up to a trans woman starting university, and all that’s in between. The moment I saw Ellis, I recognised something in him – a cheekiness, a delicateness, a complexity – and knew he was the one. And he rose to the challenge, again and again. The chemistry between El, Hannah, Laquarn and the rest of the Fallen Divas is something you can only dream of in drama.”
What It Feels Like For A Girl – the official synopsis
A raw, heartbreaking and hilarious drama that explores escape, self-discovery and self-destruction. It’s a new millennium and there’s a whole world to explore. But teenager Byron (Ellis Howard) is stuck in a small working-class town that hasn’t been the same since the coal mine shut down in the 80s. Byron needs to get away and doesn’t care how. Life explodes in a rush when Byron escapes to Nottingham’s vibrant underworld, discovering a realm of drink, drugs, and a chaotic family of troublemakers – ‘The Fallen Divas’. Byron finds a gang of kindred spirits in the mesmerising Lady Die (Laquarn Lewis), Sticky Nikki (Alex Thomas-Smith), Dirty Damian (Adam Ali), while an intense rivalry brews between Byron and the beautiful, acid-tongued Sasha (Hannah Jones). Between them, they beg, steal and skank their way on a rollercoaster ride of hedonism at the heart of the UK’s early 2000s club scene. The party can’t last forever though, and when Byron is seduced by bad-boy Liam, a shocking encounter occurs that will change life forever.
Produced by Hera Pictures (Mary & George, Temple, Hamnet) for BBC iPlayer and BBC Three, in association with ITV Studios, the eight-part series also features Emma Shipp (Rivals), Sekou Diaby (Boarders), Laura Checkley (Screw), Oliver Huntingdon (Sherwood), Lorn Macdonald (Bridgerton), and Rhys Connah (Happy Valley), with guest appearances from Fay Ripley (Cold Feet) and Selina Mosinski (aka Charity Shop Sue).