Daisy May Cooper on her new comedy, her marriage breakdown and Emmy dreams

Daisy May Cooper in Am I Being Unreasonable?
Daisy May Cooper in Am I Being Unreasonable? (Image credit: BBC)

Daisy May Cooper has created and stars in a brand new comedy thriller for BBC1, Am I Being Unreasonable? which centers on an obsessive female friendship that soon turns toxic. 

Daisy May Cooper who was catapulted to fame with her BAFTA-winning comedy series This Country, wrote the six-part series with her friend, fellow actor Selin Hizli, 33 (Deadwater Fell, Land Girls) and says she was spurred into writing it when her own marriage hit the rocks during lockdown. 

In the series, the two women play mums, Nic (Cooper) and Jen (Hizli) who immediately bond when they meet for the first time at the school where their two sons go.  

Nic, who is mum to Ollie (Lenny Rush) and is married to Dan (Dustin Demri-Burns) is grieving a huge loss in her life that she can't tell anyone about. 

Meanwhile, newcomer Jen, mum to Harry (Ruben Catt), is a kindred spirit who immediately lights up Nic's life.

However Jen seems to be hiding some big secrets of her own! 

Here in an interview with What To Watch, actor and comedian Daisy May, who is mum to two children, Pip and Jack, and has now separated from her husband, Will Weston, talks about Am I Being Unreasonable? which is packed with shocks and twists and reveals she'd love to win an Emmy. 

Interview with Daisy May Cooper...

Am I Being Unreasonable with Daisy May Cooper.

Daisy May Cooper stars in Am I Being Unreasonable?  (Image credit: BBC)

How would you describe the premise of the show and your character Nic?

Daisy May Cooper says, "It’s about friendships and how they can turn toxic. On paper Nic seems to have a brilliant life. She doesn’t really need to work, she’s got a funny husband, a great relationship with her son Ollie, a lovely house but she is still feeling completely lost. She’s lacking any meaningful connection and then Jen rocks up into her life and it’s like some sort of romance begins."

Am I Being Unreasonable with Daisy May Cooper and Selin Hizli.

Selin Hizli (right) co creator of Am I Being Unreasonable stars as Jen who bonds with fellow mum, Nic (Cooper). (Image credit: BBC)

What was the inspiration behind it?

"I’m going to talk openly here and say I was having a tough time in lockdown. My marriage (to husband Will Weston) was starting to implode, I was at home with the kids, I was miserable and Selin, who's been a friend since we met at drama school was going through a similar thing. We got back in touch and thought wouldn’t it be great to write something that started off with a kind of Mumsnet post saying, “I’m really unhappy in my marriage.’” 

There are some rather unfavourable depictions of fellow school mums in the show. Are they based on real life experiences?

"I remember my husband got me to do this neonatal class with a load of women I just had nothing in common with. All they wanted to do was talk about weaning their kids off milk and mashing up avocados. I was desperate because I was struggling and I just wanted to see the cracks in somebody else so I could go, ‘Me too! I feel rubbish and I’ve completely lost my sense of self!’ "

"In the show Nic and Jen are drawn to each other like moths to a flame because they’re both equally damaged. You realise everyone is putting on a front and in fact everyone is struggling."

Selin Hizli and Daisy May Cooper in Am I Being Unreasonable?

Selin Hizli and Daisy May Cooper first met at drama school, RADA.  (Image credit: BBC)

Did you and Selin always have yourselves in mind to play the leads when writing this?

"Too right! I’d be devastated if it was a success and somebody else was playing me. I don’t know how Phoebe Waller-Bridge gave that part in Killing Eve to someone else (actor Jodie Comer played the lead, Villanelle). I’d be so resentful!"

Am I Being Unreasonable? co stars Selin Hizli who wrote the series with Daisy May Cooper.

Selin Hizli who co-created Am I Being Unreasonable? plays Nic who seems to be hiding some secrets of her own.  (Image credit: BBC)

You two are good friends in real life. Do you remember your first impressions of each other?

"I hated Selin to start with. She had got into RADA when she was 18 whereas it had taken me a few years. At first I thought, ‘She can’t be my friend because I’m the funny working class one in this group. She can’t replace me!’  But she was the only person who made me laugh so much. She’s what got me through drama school." 

Tell us about Lenny Rush who plays your son, Ollie

"I’ve got to be honest and say kid actors are very hit and miss. It’s not their fault but when we got sent a video that Lenny had done, he just blew us all away. He’s such an extraordinary talent and the improvising he did in some scenes was amazing."

"My daughter, who is only four, came to watch us film one day and was devastated Lenny was playing my son and spending more time with me than she was. She’s too young to understand. She thinks mummy just wears silly clothes and prances about."

Lenny Rush stars as Nic's son Ollie in Am I Being Unreasonable? with Daisy May Cooper.

Lenny Rush stars as Nic's son Ollie in Am I Being Unreasonable?   (Image credit: BBC)

It’s fair to say there are lots of shocks and twists in store isn’t it…

"Yes, a big part of our writing process was ruling things out. We’d be like, ‘So what would people be expecting to happen next?’ and then we’d say, ‘Right, we can’t have that then!’ We wanted to make it genre-less. Writers  like Michaela Cole and Phoebe Waller-Bridge are massive inspirations to us. I want the States to be interested in this. I’ve got a BAFTA, now I want to get an Emmy!"


Am I Being Unreasonable? starts on Friday, September 16 on BBC One at 9:30pm and will be available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

Tess Lamacraft
Senior Writer for What's On TV, TV Times, TV & Satellite week, Whattowatch.com

Tess is a senior writer for What’s On TV, TV Times, TV & Satellite and WhattoWatch.com She's been writing about TV for over 25 years and worked on some of the UK’s biggest and best-selling publications including the Daily Mirror where she was assistant editor on the weekend TV magazine, The Look, and Closer magazine where she was TV editor. She has freelanced for a whole range of websites and publications including We Love TV, The Sun’s TV Mag, Woman, Woman’s Own, Fabulous, Good Living, Prima and Woman and Home.