BAFTA-winning siblings Daisy May and Charlie Cooper are back this Autumn with a new series called Nightwatch on BBC Two. Daisy May and Charlie are reunited through their mutual and lifelong passion for all things paranormal.
The Gloucestershire duo experience what it’s like to spend a night in some of the spookiest and most haunted locations in the country. Their mission is to stay from dusk till dawn.
Daisy May and Charlie, who both live just outside Stroud, rose to meteoric fame through the hit BBC comedy This Country.
As part of this year’s Cirencester History Festival, there’ll be a special screening of Nightwatch and Episode 1 featuring Gloucester Prison, at the Bingham Hall on the 31st October.
Stroud Times’ Faye Hatcher has been in conversation with Daisy May and Charlie, to find out more:
Congratulations on the new series! Before filming Nightwatch, had you encountered any paranormal activity?
Daisy May: I was living in a brand new house in South Cerney and it’s the most ridiculous and should be a funny story, but it happened! It was 5pm and me and my son were watching kids TV in bed, and I heard what sounded like running on the landing. Basically, it was like a child’s pair of legs and nothing else. The torso faded into the background of the hall. It ran around the bed and then completely vanished. It was the wildest thing! I was like – ‘did I nod off and dream that?’
Charlie: Nothing concrete, but stuff you obviously question. I do remember when I was staying at my friend’s house in Clapham, and the sensation of a dog jumping up on the bed, but looking down and there was nothing there. That was really weird.
Where was the spookiest place you stayed in the series?
Charlie. I was surprised how scared I got. I thought I’d be alright, but in the first episode we visited Gloucester Prison. They do ghost tours there, and as you know, there’s been evil energy there and over a hundred hangings, and they’re all buried on the premises. Daisy and I shared a bunk bed in a cell!
Daisy May: Oh god! The thing is – because it was only us in this massive, angry place, any sound is gonna freak me out!
Charlie: The premise is – whichever location we’re at, we film during the day and are given a tour round and talk about the history. Then at 10pm, the crew leave us and it’s just me and Daisy in the building. We’re just given iphones to film on. At Gloucester Prison, I slept for about 20 minutes. Daisy conked out after 5 minutes. My mind was racing, but nothing actually happened.
Daisy May: I fake tanned in the night and woke up very orange!
Charlie: Yeah – that was the scariest thing!
Daisy May: I think going to a prison specifically, you know there was a lot of misery there. If there’s going to be any energy it’s going to be negative, so for me that was one of the scariest.
If you did come back as a ghost, what would your daily routine be and who would you mess with?
Daisy May: Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen comes to mind. A thousand percent! I think he’s got quite a good sense of humour. He has such a cool house. It would be great to haunt him!! Imagine dinner parties and he’d say, ‘Yeah- this is haunted and we’ve got ghosts’, and we could do some fun stuff- poltergeist stuff, and throw plates up in the air!
Charlie: Yeah – and then people would think he was mad, and then he’d get cancelled!
Daisy May, in the series you carry around with you a suitcase full of ghost detectors. What paranormal detector gadget needs inventing, that hasn’t been already?
Daisy May: I’d love a metal detector for ghosts you could swing around!
Charlie: I’m not so convinced by the gadgets and gizmos. They’re a bit sporadic aren’t they?
Daisy May: They’re terrible! They’re an absolute con! I mean – I bought this thing that’s meant to detect ghosts, and it’s basically a red LED light… and that was £200!
Charlie: I think some sort of screening device, like an x-ray type thing, that you can see something looking at you from the corner of the room.
Daisy May: A bit like snapchat, when you can get a filter for seeing ghosts. A ghost filter!
At this year’s Cirencester History Festival, there’s going to be a special Halloween screening of of Nightwatch. You’re doing a Q&A afterwards. Is there a question you’re hoping won’t come up?
Daisy May: Yeah – what’s your favourite cafe in Cirencester?! I can’t choose – there’s so many! Do you know what? We might get asked about the underground tunnels in Cirencester, which I find fascinating, but I know nothing about. So we could open it out to the audience – if anyone knows whether these tunnels actually exist?
Charlie: What about Cirencester Ghost Society…?!
Daisy May: Oh, yeah- I set that up! I supposedly made up some ghost stories on Facebook, and then the local press picked it up!
Charlie, you’re an ambassador of Cirencester History Festival and you’re also doing a talk. Can you tell us more about it?
Charlie: So, I did a talk last year and Jess Yarrow, Festival Producer, put me in contact with a farm just outside Cirencester. They let me metal detect, and the project was- see what I can find in a year and whatever I discover, I’d talk about at the festival and bore everybody to death! I’ve found loads of good stuff actually. I’ve found loads of Roman stuff.
Daisy May: It’s so narcissistic and indulgent! Have you ever found a Roman silver denarius?
Charlie: No.
Daisy May: Because I did! I did, when I had an ex-boyfriend who was a metal detectorist, and I only ever did it twice… and the fact you’ve taken a whole year to find this stuff!
What do you think the history books will say about the Cooper Dynasty in 300/400 years time?
Charlie: Oh, god! I imagine dad will be more famous than us! Hopefully we live quite old, so we still have time to do something catastrophic! I hope the name will be remembered for the right reasons.
Daisy May: It will probably be a statue dedicated to ‘the decline’!
One night only screening of Nightwatch with Daisy May and Charlie Cooper plus Q&A. 31st October at Bingham Hall, 8- 9.30pm. Fancy dress encouraged! Tickets for this event go on sale on Saturday 4th October 2025
Charlie Cooper- Trench Wars: Detectorist v. Archaeologist with Miles Russell. Saturday 25th October at Cirencester Parish Church, 2–3pm
Cirencester History Festival runs from the 24th October to 2nd November. Headline speakers include Martin Sixsmith, Mary Portas, Ben Miller, Philippa Langley and John Suchet. For more information go to www.cirencesterhistoryfestival.org
Nightwatch is available soon on BBC iplayer.
