Daisy May Cooper is 'in talks' to become the new 'M' in upcoming James Bond film marking big career change

It’s been quite the year so far for BAFTA TV award winner Daisy May Cooper; after stunning audiences with her appearance at the 2023 BRIT Awards, the actress and screenwriter is now rumoured to be in line to appear in the forthcoming Bond film. Reports have even suggested she is set to take over the mantle of “M,” previously portrayed in the franchise by one Dame Judi Dench.

The reports first emerged in The S*n, where it was stated that a discussion about May Cooper and Bond came up during a conversation with friend Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who was a co-screenwriter for the previous film in the 007 franchise, No Time To Die. “Suddenly the production team were getting excited about the prospect of really taking M in a different direction,” a source told the tabloid. 

‘With Daniel leaving, it seemed the time to start looking at changes across the board and the dynamic between Bond and ‘M’ is at the heart of the films. So this opens the door to it being a bit lighter and more comedic going forwards – and will of course impact the direction the new 007 goes in too.”

This news would also indicate that Waller-Bridge may also be coming back on board as a screenwriter for the next film, though the search for a new James Bond rages on after Taron Egerton was the latest actor to say he didn’t feel he would fit the role of the long-loved secret agent. It would also appear that, if both May Cooper and Waller-Bridge are confirmed for their roles, the Bond franchise might revisit the tongue-in-cheek elements during the Sean Connery/Roger Moore heydays of the franchise. 

The rumoured talks are just the latest in the rise of Daisy May Cooper’s public profile, which has seen her grow from strength to strength ever since her first television appearance on ITV’s Doc Martin back in 2011. Shortly after that appearance, she would return to the West Country to work as a cleaner alongside her brother Charlie Cooper. Little would the viewing public realise that the job would form the basis of one of May Cooper’s greatest early successes. 

From This Country to The Masked Singer - Daisy May Cooper’s rise in popularity

Her second television appearance was as a cast member in the BBC Three comedy The Wrong Mans, portraying PC Garvey for two episodes. But it was her experiences as a cleaner in the West Country that laid the groundwork for her first starring vehicle - This Country. 

Though a similar idea for the television series was shot for ITV in 2011 (the same year as The Wrong Mans), it would be BBC Three who would commission the award-winning comedy in 2017. Alongside her real-life brother Charlie Cooper, This Country focused on the day-to-day lives of two cousins living in a small village in the Cotswolds. The programme includes 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.

It resonated with audiences, leading to three seasons on the channel and, more importantly, a BAFTA TV award win for Daisy May Cooper, earning at the 2018 ceremony Best Scripted Comedy and Best Female Comedy Performance for herself. Across the three series and the special, This Country received over 52 million BBC iPlayer requests, indicating the popularity the show still received to this day.

She was cast in satirist Armando Ianucci’s 2019 film The Personal History of David Copperfield (alongside Dev Patel), with the director also casting her for one episode of his HBO comedy Avenue 5 alongside Hugh Laurie. She would do the rounds on a number of panel shows until joining the cast of another BBC series, The Witchfinder, alongside Tim Key and produced by Steve Coogan’s Baby Cow Productions. Despite its popularity, the BBC confirmed they would only be producing one season of the show.

Though the BBC would still get behind their early creative investment, as she appeared in a six-part series of the broadcaster’s flagship BBC One in comedy-thriller Am I Being Unreasonable. Cooper played Nic, a mum stuck in a depressing marriage grieving a loss she can’t share with anyone, alongside co-writing the show with co-star Selin Hizli. The show received a nomination at the Comedy.co.uk Awards 2022 in the Best Comedy Drama Series category.

This leads us to 2023, which already has proven to be a prolific year for the actress; on top of hosting the BRITs, she also appeared in ITV’s singing competition The Mask Singer, finally revealing herself as the Otter in episode 6 and in the HBO/BBC collaboration Rain Dogs, which aired on HBO Max earlier this month. With Daisy May Cooper merely being mentioned in the lucrative role of M in the next Bond movie, her stock has once again shot up; IMDBPro’s Starmeter has her as of writing jumping up to 753 out of the 5,000 most viewed profiles on the movie website.