Cooper & Fry: Co-creators Ben Court and Caroline Ip talk us through how the Channel 5 series is different to the books
One of the characters has been 'simplified for the small screen'
Cooper & Fry is based on the bestselling novels by Stephen Booth, but the co-creators of the TV series have admitted they were forced to make some crucial changes – so how is it different to the book?
The eerie new detective drama airs in November and is one of the best new series to land on Channel 5 this year. Trust us.
It introduces two mismatched detectives who are thrown together to investigate a string of mysterious deaths. But DC Ben Cooper and DC Diane Fry have very different approaches when it comes to work (and almost everything else).
Although first brought to life in Booth’s books, the screenwriters have made some alterations to the characters of DC Diane Fry and DC Ben Cooper. Read on to find out how the TV series Cooper & Fry is different to the books.
Is Cooper & Fry TV series different to the book?
Co-creators and writers Ben Court and Caroline Ip have now revealed the key elements they wanted to keep from the novels and the ones they’ve changed. Caroline Ip explained why they’d changed some fundamental assets of Diane’s character.
She said: “We’ve changed Fry a bit. She almost had too much going on [in the books], so we simplified her, like her reasons for leaving the city. That’s not to say we won’t touch on elements of her backstory in, hopefully, a second season.
“Fry has gone through foster care and has a sister, but we simply didn’t have time to introduce those aspects of her life. That’s good, though, because it means there’s lots of room for that character to grow in later series.”
Caroline added: “You don’t want to tell everything there is about a character. You want to have a little bit of mystery so they can grow. Once you have actors inhabiting their roles, that starts to steer the characters.”
Meanwhile, also talking about the character of Diane Fry, Ben Court said: “Diane is a karate expert in the first book. There’s always a battle between how much of a character’s story you can tell in an episode versus how much plot. Everything we’ve ever written is always plot first and then a bit of character.”
‘We’re definitely true to the spirit of the books’
Although the TV series Cooper & Fry is different to the book, Caroline Ip promised that fans of the novels won’t be disappointed.
She said: “We’re definitely true to the spirit of the books and have taken broad elements of the stories. The books are so rich we can’t include everything, as there’s too much to fit into a couple of hours of TV.
Ben added: “We also wanted to make more of Cooper’s backstory, by having him investigate his dad’s murder throughout the series. We’ve created a returnable storyline, one which pulls all the books together.”
‘Cooper and Fry are more like brother and sister arguing’
It’s not just Diane’s character that has changed, the writers have also transformed the relationship between the two lead detectives. Cooper & Fry’s relationship is different in the book.
Caroline told us: “In the original version of the script, Cooper and Fry were much more combative. But when we saw the interaction between actor Rob James-Collier and Mandip Gill there was so much warmth between the pair, so what’s very combative on the page came off more like banter.”
She added: “They’re like squabbling siblings and we’re really pleased with that. By the end of the four episodes, their friendship turns into something lovely. So I’d like to think the audience will become invested in their relationship, because Rob and Mandip are so nice. You can hope for chemistry, but you can’t guarantee you’re going to get chemistry.”
Lastly, Ben said: “Cooper and Fry are more like brother and sister arguing. There’s no hint of ‘will-they-won’t-they?’ which is very important as that would change the dynamic.”
What books are the series based on?
Cooper & Fry is based on the bestselling novels by Stephen Booth. Series 1 adapt four of Booth’s early novels, including Black Dog, Dying to Sin, Blind To the Bones, and Dancing with the Virgins.
Black Dog has been described as “dark, intense and utterly compelling”. A review said: “Black Dog was an extraordinary first novel from a writer who has rapidly become the most promising crime author to emerge in the genre in years.”
There are currently 18 Cooper & Fry books published, so plenty of scope for more series!
Stephen Booth is an English crime-writer, and the author of the Derbyshire-set Cooper & Fry series. His books in order are as follows:
- Black Dog (2000)
- Dancing With the Virgins (2001)
- Blood on the Tongue (2002)
- Blind to the Bones (2003)
- One Last Breath (2004)
- The Dead Place (2005)
- Scared to Live (2006)
- Dying to Sin (2007)
- The Kill Call (2009)
- Lost River (2010)
- The Devil’s Edge (2011)
- Dead and Buried (2012)
- Already Dead (2013)
- The Corpse Bridge (2014)
- The Murder Road (2015)
- Secrets of Death (2016)
- Dead in the Dark (2017)
- Fall Down Dead (2018)
Read more: ‘Powerful story’ about ‘every mother’s worst fear’ Missed Call on Channel 5 will star Joanna Scanlan
