More relevant than ever: The enduring importance of First Day

When we created First Day, we never planned to release it like this – on YouTube, direct to our audience. Having both come from a background in web series, we were excited to have our first big television commission, and to tell the story of Hannah Bradford, a transgender girl starting high school, to a wide broadcast audience of children across Australia and the world.

But in 2025, having seen the latest Supreme Court Ruling in the UK which ruled that under the Equality Act 2010 the terms “woman” and “sex” refer exclusively to biological sex at birth, the series is more relevant than ever, and a YouTube release feels both urgent and necessary.

We’ve made Season 1 of First Day freely available for audiences in the UK, because transgender kids deserve to see themselves on screen, and depicted in a positive light.

How First Day Began

First Day began as a small Australian drama pilot in 2017, following Hannah, a trans teenager in her first year of high school. One of Julie’s close family members was transitioning at the time, and she wanted her to be able to see a character like herself on screen, navigating friendships and identity and finding courage to be her authentic self.

After the initial pilot won the Gender Equity Prize at Prix Jeunesse and MIPCOM Diversify TV Excellence Award for Kids’ Programming, we were supported by the ABC, Screen Australia, the Australian Children’s Television Foundation and South Australian Film Corporation to create a four-episode series in 2019, followed by a second series in 2021.

We worked closely with trans creatives with our lead actor Evie Macdonald, who is transgender herself, at the heart of the process. Our goal was to make trans kids visible on screen, and for as many people as possible to watch the series and come away with a deeper sense of hope, empathy, and understanding.

International success

First Day has now aired in more than 21 countries, being picked up by Hulu in the US, NHK in Japan, and The Walt Disney Company for Latin America and Brazil. Incredibly, we won an International Children’s Emmy Award for Season 1 before being nominated against Heartstopper for the inaugural Children’s and Family Emmy Awards for Season 2. We’ve also received several other accolades for the project, including a Rose d’Or, Kidscreen Award and GLAAD Media Award.

But it’s the responses to the series from trans kids and their families that has meant the most to us. We’ve had messages from parents saying that First Day helped their children to feel supported and accepted at school, and a grandmother let us know that it had changed her outlook altogether, helping her to understand her grandson when he came to her with his story.

That’s why the series matters. When you’re watching Evie’s incredible performance in scenes where she’s experienced some of Hannah’s obstacles first-hand, it’s impossible not to empathise with her and see the world through her eyes.

First Day in the UK

The first season of First Day originally aired on CBBC in 2020. Since then, Hannah’s story has no longer been available to UK kids, and in an increasingly difficult political climate, we made the decision to go back to our web series roots and release the full first season online: with no paywall, no gatekeepers, just free access to the series for those who need it the most.

While shows like Heartstopper and Sex Education have done incredible work featuring older LGBTQIA+ characters, younger transgender kids are still being left out of the picture. To us, representation isn’t just about entertainment: it shapes people’s beliefs and actions.

If First Day can help even a few trans kids feel like they belong, that they’re important and that their stories are worthy of being told, then we’ll be meeting our original goals for the series. Trans stories matter.

Starting on Friday 4 July, we are releasing one episode weekly, with the aim of building local support for the series. If audiences keep watching, our aim is to release Season 2, which has never been seen in the UK, later this year.

We hope this release will make a big difference in small ways: helping one young person feel seen; one family start a conversation; one teacher show their class a story of kindness and empathy. And together, we hope that those small outcomes will help to shift the narrative in the UK away from fear and misinformation, and towards empathy and connection.

You can watch First Day on YouTube in the UK here from July 4, or share it with UK family and friends. If you’re in Australia, watch on ABC iview, or for other countries, check here: https://www.firstdayseries.com/where-to-watch

Thank you so much for supporting this story, and its ongoing impact. Now, more than ever, we’re excited to connect to audiences around the globe.