Daisy May and Charlie Cooper’s NightWatch: their hilarious ghost show is a warm-hearted joy

<p>The Bafta-winning siblings bicker, fart and squeal the night away in some of the UK’s ‘haunted as hell’ hotspots. But forget the ghosts – this is really just a golden opportunity to weep with laughter</p><p>A full moon looms, a synthesiser gulps and – dun dun duuuuuuuun – we’re off to HMP Gloucester in a Skoda Octavia with Daisy May and Charlie Cooper’s NightWatch (Sunday 26 October, 9.30pm, BBC Two). Why HMP Gloucester? Because the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/jan/10/seven-prisons-england-close">former</a> Victorian prison is, according to our hosts – the titular, Bafta-winning siblings behind peerless mockumentary <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/feb/22/this-country-bbc-perfect-horrifying-tv-for-anyone-who-grew-up-in-a-village">This Country</a> – “supposedly haunted as hell.” A fitting setting, then, for the first episode of a series that finds lifelong paranormal enthusiasts <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/daisy-may-cooper">Daisy May</a> (39) and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2024/dec/20/tv-tonight-charlie-cooper-investigates-the-winter-solstice">Charlie</a> (36) stuff their slippers into the aforementioned family hatchback and set off to spend a night bickering and farting “in some of this country’s spookiest places.”</p><p>An opening montage offers further elucidation. “Some people want to climb Everest,” explains Charlie while a theremin trembles over footage of the actors staggering like concussed Wombles through a succession of night-time locales. “We just want to see a ghost.” “Yeah,” agrees Daisy May, peering at us over her brother’s shoulder. “We just want to see a ghost.” As do we. Alas, years of low-resolution ITV2 series in which crestfallen celebrity ghost-hunters shout “I think it was just the wind” in abandoned branches of Wetherspoons have prepared us for