This Country


This Country is a British mockumentary sitcom, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Three on 8 February 2017. Created by, written by and starring siblings Daisy May and Charlie Cooper, the series is about the day-to-day lives of two young people living in a small village in the Cotswolds. The programme centres on themes of social clumsiness, the trivialities of human behaviour, the eccentricities of living in rural England, and the boredom and social isolation of young people in small communities. Following rave reviews and over four million iPlayer requests, on 18 July 2017 the BBC renewed the programme for a second series, the first episode of which released on 26 February 2018. On 20 April 2018, the BBC renewed the programme for a 40-minute one-off special, as well as a third and final series, which aired from February 2020 to March 2020.
The Coopers play the central characters, cousins Kerry and Lee "Kurtan" Mucklowe. Their father, Paul Cooper, plays Kerry's father Martin Mucklowe, while their uncle, Trevor Cooper, plays local man and antagonist Len Clifton. Although credited to "Ivy Woodcock", the voice of Sue Mucklowe—Kerry's mother, never seen on screen—is provided by Daisy May.

Cast

The series was filmed on location in and around the small town of Northleach, Gloucestershire. Daisy Cooper said: "All the material is based around stuff that happens in Cirencester, but when we went to the channel they thought that Cirencester was a bit too big and Northleach is a smaller village, and sort of isolates the characters a bit more. Makes them more claustrophobic." The location used for exterior shots of Kerry's house is at 16 Fortey Road, Northleach.
Filming for series 1 commenced in September 2016, and was completed within three weeks. A second series was quickly confirmed, with filming taking place over the summer of 2017 and its first episode released on 26 February 2018. A one-off special episode, forming an epilogue to the second series, was filmed over the summer of 2018, and broadcast in October that year.
On 30 May 2019, actor Michael Sleggs—who played Michael "Slugs" Slugette—announced he was terminally ill and had not long to live. He died on 9 July 2019. Series 3 began production in August 2019. Production was completed by October 2019 and aired from February to March 2020.

Episodes

Series 1 (2017)

Series 2 (2018)

Special (2018)

Series 3 (2020)

Reception

This Country received positive reviews from critics. Stuart Heritage, for The Guardian, described it as a "perfectly observed" comedy, and wrote: "I found myself rewinding entire scenes because I was too busy howling with laughter to hear what was going on." Sean O'Grady, for The Independent, wrote: "It isn't very often that I am able to recommend something because it made me weep tears of laughter, but I am happy and heartened to say that the latest BBC mockumentary, This Country, is sublime enough to have lifted my spirits heavenwards... an uneasily well-observed quality that raises the comedic genre almost to an art form." Rupert Hawksley, for The Daily Telegraph, wrote: "It is, by some distance, the funniest thing on television at the moment." Mike McCahill, for Reader's Digest, described the programme as an "increasingly cherishable mockumentary" and essential viewing, observing that " Coopers have created an entire universe in a handful of episodes." Arts critic Bruce Dessau concluded: "It might have well-used stylistic elements of both The Office and People Just Do Nothing about it, but it is sharply-written and deftly performed stays just on the right side of cliché. And most importantly both Kerry and Lee are richly comic."

Awards

Home video releases

All three series of This Country and the Aftermath Speical have been released in Regions 2 both individually and in box sets.

Books

On 3 October 2019, an official hardback book was released, entitled This Is This Country: The official book of the BAFTA award-winning show, published by Trapeze Books.