Mum on the run

Mum on the run: A dark new comedy stars Daisy May Cooper as a single mother going to desperate lengths to protect her child

• Daisy May Cooper’s latest dark comedy sees her play cash-strapped ‘Costello’ 
• The actress tells Weekend Magazine she related to character’s money struggles 
• READ MORE: The rise and rise of Daisy May Cooper

Many of the most successful comedies of recent years – Fleabag, Catastrophe, This Country – have been inspired by the lives of the women who’ve written them. Now there’s Rain Dogs, which, although it’s very British, has already been broadcast in the US to critical acclaim.

The story was created by Cash Carraway, who calls it ‘a love story told from the gutter’. She claims it isn’t exactly autobiographical but has ‘firm roots in the chip on my shoulder!’

Rain Dogs, a co-production between the BBC and US channel HBO, begins with the key character, cash-strapped Costello, and her daughter Iris fleeing from the bailiffs. They take a taxi until the young girl feigns sickness and the pair run off without paying.

It’s a well-rehearsed routine which introduces us perfectly to an eight-part story that goes into the underbelly of a modern London where the poverty is almost Dickensian. It’s a grim world of sex shows, prison and predators, but it’s also packed with humour.

Like the character of Costello – played by Daisy May Cooper – Cash, whose 2020 memoir Skint Estate was a big hit, was desperate to be a writer, but worked as a stripper in a Soho peepshow to earn enough money to survive as a single mother. Also like Costello, she was running from an abusive mother and a violent ex-partner, and found that often the only help she could get was from people who wanted something in return.

Rain Dogs, a co-production between the BBC and US channel HBO, begins with the key character, cash-strapped Costello, and her daughter Iris fleeing from the bailiffs

‘I was already a fan of Cash when I read the script and I thought it was brilliantly written,’ says Daisy May.

‘I’ve come from a similar background to Cash where we struggled for money, had bailiffs at the door and had to pawn everything. She had such a strong voice and it resonated with me. I thought, “I’ve got to play this part.” So much has happened to Costello but she refuses to let it defeat her.

‘Being a single mum, which I am, is unbelievably hard; you’ve got to be mum and dad and you’ve got financial issues on top of that. The guilt that you feel is horrendous.’

Costello’s foil is the dissolute aristocrat Florian Selby, played by Poldark’s Jack Farthing. The pair met at university and while he’s her best friend, he can also be her worst enemy.

His father killed himself, his mother is uncaring yet he is protected by money and wants to be a father figure to Iris. He can also be violent and we meet him as he’s coming out of prison, returning to Costello’s life just as she needs him most.

Adrian Edmondson, pictured, plays Lenny in the show. He says viewers will love the dark comedy because it’s recognisable, even if most of us have never been unfortunate enough to experience it

Meanwhile, comedy legend Adrian Edmondson takes the role of artist Lenny, another upper-crust character who is happiest among thieves, pimps and prostitutes.

‘Lenny becomes a semi-father figure to people in the show because he’s older,’ says Adrian. ‘Although he’s cantankerous, he has a heart in there somewhere.’

He says viewers will love the dark comedy because it’s recognisable, even if most of us have never been unfortunate enough to experience it. ‘Light comedy is a bit tedious, isn’t it? That kind of joke that anyone can tell. I think good comedy is dark. The show is written by someone who’s been through it and what she’s been through isn’t very nice, but she manages to tell it in a way that’s accessible, amusing, hard-hitting and emotional.’

Rain Dogs, Tuesday, 10.40pm, BBC1.

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