Charlie Cooper on his new show about British folklore

For his new BBC series, This Country star Charlie Cooper went in search of a mysterious creature of the night that disturbs the locals… only to stumble across some dogging enthusiasts.

The writer and actor headed to Norfolk for the documentary programme, Myth Country, trying to get a glimpse of Black Shuck, a ghostly dog sometimes seen as an omen of death. 

He even set up camera traps to try to capture some evidence of the mysterious creature, but had to admit: ‘We didn't find anything. 

‘But there was a sinister incident. The land we happened to be camping on was actually a bit of a dogging hotspot. So a car tuned up at 2am and started flashing his lights.

‘It's quite poignant that the most terrifying thing about a phantom dog is not the phantom dog, it’s fucking doggers, human beings. They're the worst!’

The three-part series, which starts on BBC Three at 9pm on Friday, follows Cooper in his camper van, investigating crop circles in Wiltshire and trying to track down the treasure of King Arthur in Wales, as well as seeking the harbinger dog,

Speaking about why he agreed to the series, he said: ‘It was a show about indulging in all my passions. So I can't tell you how much I love doing it, It felt like the perfect thing. Plus I've always done scripted, so the idea of not having to write a script for six months felt nice!’

The subjects were close to home as his partner is from Norwich (‘I love how proud they are about their local myths’) and the crop circles were close to the Costwolds where he grew up. ‘I'm familiar with most of these things, but at the same time I'm not an expert,’ he says. ‘So it was really nice discovering it all as I went.

‘It really feels that there's a folk revival going on. There's a real interest in this stuff again. So it felt like the timing was right. But it will never not be fascinating, paranormal folklore, it’s just whether it's in vogue – it comes back around every 15 to 20 years.

‘Folklore in general, is such a means of connecting both with the past, but also nature, because I think we live in a time when we are disconnected. There is a void in our lives. We live in the world so hyper-connected, and we're spending more hours indoors, on screens the whole time and we've lost something, a bit of spirituality, maybe. 

‘And we have the answers to everything now. We can get them from phones that are in our pockets. It just feels like [the uncertainty of] folklore is good for your well-being

‘Both me and my sister are obsessed with anything paranormal. But for me, particularly, I've always loved history and nature, and I feel like folklore just combines those two things really nicely.’

He even sees parallels with the comedy that made stars of both him and his sister Daisy May, explaining: ‘Writing This Country was a real deep dive into what was it like growing up in rural Gloucestershire, and that  makes you realise how utterly bizarre somewhere like that is.

‘Down from us, we've got the cheese rolling that happens every year. People fling themselves down a hill after a wheel of cheese which, in isolation, is  fucking insane. Yet they do it every year. 

‘This Country, was all about characters, really,  and the same for this: we met some amazing characters, people on the fringes of society a little bit. So there are a lot of parallels. 

‘There was a lot of folklore within [This Country] because it's all about characters and hearsay and "so-and-so said something on Facebook" and how something gets changed, and then it’s something else. And that's modern folklore, isn't it?’

He also said the episode of the comedy which mentioned the ‘Fox Twins’ who walked on their knuckles and stole livestock was also based on a real folk story. ‘That was something my dad told us that about these two feral boys that lived in the woods. And me and Daisy as kids took this as gospel.’

He said the ‘last piece of the puzzle’ in making this series was how people stared to explore what was on their doorstep more during the pandemic.

‘I bought a camper van and wanted to explore Britain,’ he said. ‘I can’t believe they let me actually use horrible beaten-up yellow camper van. But it’s an ex-AA van, so it's reliable.’

He added: ‘What I love about the show is meeting people who have so much passion for what they believe in’.

That included crop circle expert  Lucy Pringle, who ‘turned up with a 100 page dossier on research into the healing qualities of crop circles… and by the time, she’d finished with us, I'm was convinced.’

While Cooper says he was drawn to the theory that such markings are created from the energy of ley lines – despite meeting a man who makes them.

However, the ‘cropper’  insisted on remaining anonymous. ‘He said there's so much conflict in the crop-circle making world that his face couldn't be on camera. Basically, he's like, "if people know I've done this documentary, my car will be keyed by a rival crop circle maker". Genuine.’

Cooper even made his own crop circle for the series, above, but admitted it received only scorn among those who are more dedicated to the hobby.

And risking more comparisons with Mackenzie Crook – for whom he is often confused – Cooper even took up metal detecting for the King Arthur episode.

Despite owning his own devices, he admitted his experience until the documentary amounted to ‘about five minutes’, but added: ‘Since doing this episode, I've become obsessed. I've upgraded my detector. I've been on about five rallies. 

‘I haven’t found any coins, but I   went in my sister's garden and found a Tudor buckle, which is really cool. 

‘It's such an amazing hobby. I totally get why people do it. It’s a real means of connecting with your environment and history. The idea of touching something that hasn't been touched in 500, 1,000 years, whatever, it’s amazing.

‘You know, I think detectorists are  proper time travellers, and that's really beautiful.’

• Charlie Cooper’s Myth Country is on iPlayer from Friday morning and BBC Three at 9pm on Friday. All pictures © FremantleMedia Ltd / Naked West 

Published: 2 Oct 2024