She’ll play Diane Fry to Robert James-Collier’s Rob Cooper in Channel 5’s new detective drama. 

Channel 5 have announced a new series, adapting the Cooper and Fry novels by author Stephen Booth.

The series, a run of four two-hour episodes, takes place in the Peak District and features a pair of mismatched young detectives; Rob Cooper is the affable local policeman, while Diane Fry is the guarded newcomer. Robert James-Collier (Downtown Abbey) will play Cooper, while Mandip Gill (Doctor Who, Curfew) has been cast as Fry.

The short press release which includes Cooper and Fry tells us…

Thrown together to investigate a string of mysterious deaths they must learn to work together to get results. As their personal lives begin to intertwine, a unique friendship begins to form… But it won’t always be easy. 

The commission, to producers Clapperboard, is to adapt four of Stephen Booth’s early novels for the pair – ‘Black Dog’, ‘Dying to Sin’, ‘Blind To the Bones’ and ‘Dancing with the Virgins’. If Copper and Fry finds favour with the viewers, there are 14 other stories in the book series, which has been going since 2000.

We’ll keep you posted on Cooper and Fry.

Mandip Gill

Diane Fry is not the only police role that Mandip Gill is taking on. She’s playing a PC in the forthcoming sitcom Can You Keep a Secret? alongside Dawn French and Mark Heap, which is bound for BBC One.

That show is based on the wonderfully bonkers idea of a couple who, when the husband is mistakenly declared dead, decide to try and keep the insurance payout.

Gill is also back as Yasmin Khan, opposite Jodie Whittaker, in a new series of full-cast Doctor Who audio dramas. Check out our review of ‘Vampire Weekend’.