BBC stars left in crippling debt as they hit 'rock bottom'
Daisy May Cooper and her brother, Charlie Cooper, were left with £300,000 worth of debt after selling the rights to their hit sitcom, This Country, to ITV. Appearing on Davina McCall's Begin Again podcast this week, the actress revealed what happened. Reflecting on the determination that she and Charlie had to get the project going, Daisy said: "I think what helped us more than anything was that there was no plan B. So it was like we could just throw f*****g everything at this, and had I been working with a mortgage, I probably wouldn't have gone for it. So we had to be at that kind of rock bottom with everything else to be able to gamble like that, I suppose."
TL;DR
- Daisy and Charlie Cooper were left with £300,000 in debt after selling rights to 'This Country' to ITV.
- ITV initially commissioned a pilot but dropped the show after deeming the pilot 'awful'.
- The Coopers were prevented from selling the idea elsewhere due to the contract, needing to buy back rights for £300,000.
- Daisy directly contacted a BBC commissioner with clips and scripts, leading to a meeting.
- Both 'This Country' and 'Fleabag' were commissioned by the BBC in the same hour.
- The BBC agreed to pay off the £300,000 debt, allowing the Coopers to keep their characters.