Daisy May Cooper can make an abrasive character funny, then let the hurt show without making her suddenly likeable. Her acting is more assured than the mystery plotting of Am I Being Unreasonable?.
Fi1m perspective
Daisy May Cooper makes Nic’s abrasiveness in Am I Being Unreasonable? (2022) funny without asking us to find her easy company. Her delivery keeps us watching when the comedy falters, and her vulnerable moments remain awkward enough to avoid easy sentiment. We were moved when Nic’s aggression gave way to hurt, because Cooper made the change feel uncomfortable rather than reassuring. We rate her most highly here, making us concerned for someone whose manner has just made us laugh.
This Country (2017), the rural mockumentary she co-created with her brother Charlie Cooper, established that combination of comedy and vulnerability in Kerry Mucklowe. Playing Peggotty in Armando Iannucci’s The Personal History of David Copperfield (2019) took her beyond television comedy. With Am I Being Unreasonable?, co-written with Selin Hizli, friendship and motherhood became material for a comedy-thriller. Rain Dogs (2023), in which she plays single mother Costello Jones, gave her a lead role in a comedy-drama about poverty. These are different settings for an actor whose work repeatedly finds comedy in everyday frustrations.
Hizli, who also plays Jen, gives Cooper someone who can hold a scene with her when there is no immediate joke. Their exchanges feel less laboured than some of the surrounding plot, allowing the friendship to sustain our interest without another piece of information being withheld. Lenny Rush’s unforced timing as Ollie helps too. The casting makes the shifts between humour and darker drama persuasive enough to keep the first series worth trying, even when the writing frustrates us.
The difficulty is that Cooper and Hizli’s script does not always seem to trust what their acting has achieved. Repeatedly withholding information makes it harder to stay concerned about Nic, despite the feelings Cooper has made convincing. The next change of direction sometimes matters more than the consequences of the last, leaving her hurt interrupted by another puzzle. That is a substantial reservation about the first series, though the performances give us good reason to persist. We would happily watch Cooper in something that required fewer secrets.
Biography
Daisy May Cooper is an English actress and writer. She trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, graduating in 2010.
She is best known for co-creating, co-writing and starring as Kerry Mucklowe in the BBC Three series This Country (2017–2020) with her brother Charlie Cooper, for which she won a BAFTA TV Award for Best Female Comedy Performance in 2018. She co-created, co-wrote and starred as Nic in the BBC series Am I Being Unreasonable? (2022–), also appearing in The Witchfinder (2022) and Rain Dogs (2023). Other credits include Avenue 5 (2020–2022) and The Personal History of David Copperfield (2019).
