Daisy May Cooper revealed that she was making £100 a month as a cleaner and couldn’t afford to buy a McDonald’s before her breakthrough role in This Country.
The actress, 34, from Cirencester, Gloucestershire, won the 2018 Bafta TV Award for Best Female Comedy Performance for playing Kerry Mucklowe in the BBC Three series, which she co-created and wrote with her brother Charlie Cooper, 30.
She appeared on Lorraine today where she admitted that she went though a ‘bleak and depressing tine’ struggling to find work after drama school, and worked with her sibling as a night cleaner, using humour to ‘get through’.
Daisy May added that the struggled to afford £9 to get a coach to auditions because it was ‘such a big chunk’ of their weekly budget, and how many of their own experiences inspired moments in the show.
Daisy May Cooper revealed that she was making £100 a month as a cleaner and couldn’t afford to buy a McDonald’s before her breakthrough role in This Country. She is pictured playing Kerry Mucklowe alongside her brother Charlie Cooper as Lee ‘Kurtan’ Mucklowe
She told how the pair struggled to afford £9 to get a coach to auditions as it was ‘ such a big chunk’ of their weekly budget. The pair are pictured attending the 2018 Bafta awards
‘It was such a bleak time, said Daisy, ‘I’d just come out of drama school, didn’t get anything, had to move back in with my parents and do a night-time cleaning job.
‘I think I was paid about £100 a month and as we were going round cleaning, we came up with these characters and said, “We have to write something”. Because humour was the only thing getting us through such a depressing time.’
The hilarious mockumentary sitcom follows cousins Kerry and Lee ‘Kurtan’ Mucklowe, living in a small village in the Cotswolds, and pokes fun at the social isolation of young people in small communities.
She went on: ‘A lot it of it based on experiences we had. At the end of the first series, they’re talking about how they couldn’t afford a McDonald’s and had to watch their friends eating one, and that was our life.
She appeared on Lorraine today where she admitted that she went though a ‘bleak and depressing tine’ struggling to find work after drama school
Daisy told how working with her sibling as a night cleaner, the pair created their characters while using humour to ‘get through’
‘We had nothing and even to try and get up to auditions, £9 to get up on a National Express was such a big chunk of our weekly budget.’
Kerry turned heads while picking up her Bafta in 2018, wearing a dress made of bin liners, decorated with rubbish with a hat made of a bin lid decorated with a fake pigeon.
She revealed that the outfit was created for £5 for her mother, and donated the money she would have spent to a food bank, because she herself had ‘struggled so much’ before the show.
Kerry turned heads while picking up her Bafta in 2019 (pictured), wearing a dress made of bin liners, decorated with rubbish with a had made of a bin lid decorated with a fake pigeon
She said: ‘First of all it’s just shameless attention seeking. My mum made this for about £5. I thought, why not?
‘Because we struggled so much before the show, and I thought – “Why not spend the money I would have on a dress at a local food bank”.’
Speaking of receiving the award, she added: ‘That was one of the most surreal things. Because when we did our cleaning, we would say “One day, we’ll get the BAFTA”.
‘That was our only hope, our only vision. I couldn’t quite believe it, I thought I was going to pass out on the stage.’
Daisy spoke of she and her brother meeting with Hollywood producers Paul Feig and Jenny Bicks about their hit show to the US
The hilarious mockumentary sitcom follows cousins Kerry and Lee ‘Kurtan’ Mucklowe, living in a small village in the Cotswolds and pokes fun at the social isolation of young people in small communities. The pair are pictured in the series
Daisy spoke about meeting with Hollywood producers about their hit show, and admitted it was ‘surreal’ seeing high-flying producers looking at ‘a two for one menu’ at their local Cotswold’s pub.
She said: ‘The Hollywood producers which were Paul Feig, who did Bridesmaids and Jenny Bicks who did The Greatest Showman, came to our local pub in the Cotswolds.
‘We used to drink lime and soda there because we couldn’t afford anything else. They were looking at a two for one menu, staff being rude as ever. It was so surreal.’