We chat with Daisy May and Charlie Cooper – the iconic siblings behind This Country – about what viewers can look forward to in season three, winning four BAFTAs, and their hilarious new book, This Is The Country.

Why a book? Is it a throwback to, say, when Monty Python did one?

Daisy: It was just, look, can we make more money, please? (laughs). There’s so much material from the show that Charlie and I found funny, but didn’t make sense due to plot lines. This is an opportunity to get those in. Some of my favourite stuff is in this book. There’s a story in it about a pheasant, which I love. The vicar tells Kurtan that he’s nursing his pheasant back to health… (BALANCE won’t spoil)

How did you go from nowhere to four-time BAFTA winners?

Daisy: Charlie and I were writing it for seven years before it aired on TV. It was such a long time coming. We felt we’d struggled and that everyone saw us as losers. So to get that recognition meant it was really worth it. At one point, a production company and a channel had dropped us and Charlie had to go off for a walk and have a bit of a cry.

Charlie: It was our first thing and we were incredibly naïve. We really learned the hard way. We had to do that to make it the show it was. We made every mistake in the book, but it paid off. To get recognised by BAFTA was unbelievable. It’s also quite sad too, because we thought, “Well if we’ve won one, they obviously don’t mean much” (laughs). I’m still trying to process that whole night.

Would you ever move to London?

Charlie: We’re really happy where we are (the siblings currently live in the Cotswolds, where This Country is based). We’re country bumpkins at heart. It’s just so nice to come back home. We love the pace of life around here and we love it that everyone knows each other as well.

What can you tell us about season three?

Daisy: Kerry and Kurtan finally grow up. Well, they become a little less selfish. There’s some great stuff, such as Big Mandy has a book club, with her own stories. That was a lot of fun to shoot.

Charlie: The first series was about Kurtan’s story; the second was Kerry’s. Now the third is the vicar’s, so it’s like we’ve gone back to basics, really.

So what’s next?

Charlie: We will write another comedy together. Something different to This Country, possibly a period piece? It’s still in its very early stages.

Daisy: I’ve been cast in something big that I can’t tell anyone about. So that’s annoying. I’m also in Armando Iannucci’s The Personal History of David Copperfield. It’s like The Office meets Victorian times. I’ve done Avenue 5, which is an HBO thing with Armando. It’s set in space. An £8million set caught fire and burned to the ground, so f**k knows if there’ll be a second season!

Daisy May and Charlie Cooper’s new book, This Is This Country (£16.99, Trapeze), is available in bookstores nationwide now