Cooper & Fry filming locations: Drama is set in the 'mystery-shrouded' Peak District but here's where it was really filmed
Two mismatched young detectives come together to solve a series of crimes
Cooper & Fry is set in the Peak District, but cast and crew used another stunning filming location to create the “mystery-shrouded”, folklore-steeped detective drama.
Channel 5 has adapted the detective series from the bestselling novels by Stephen Booth. We meet two mismatched detectives who are reluctantly thrown together to investigate a string of mysterious deaths. Affable local Ben Cooper (Robert James-Collier), and guarded newcomer Diane Fry (Mandip Gill) must learn to work together to get results.
While Ben leans into the traditional beliefs and customs of the area, Diane is a folklore sceptic. Together they “investigate murders that are steeped in folklore and encased in secrets”. Here’s everything you need to know about the filming locations used for Cooper & Fry on Channel 5.
Cooper & Fry filming locations: Where is it set?
Channel 5‘s detective drama Cooper & Fry is set in the “mystery-shrouded Peak District”. Of course, the Peak District is in central-northern England, at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire, it extends into Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire.
The action in Cooper & Fry specifically takes place in a town called Edendale. Talking about the place, creator and lead writer Caroline Ip told us: “What’s great about Edendale is it’s a bubble. It’s so cut off from everywhere else it has its own rules and own atmosphere.”
Co-creator and co-writer Ben Court added: “And it doesn’t have reliable mobile phone coverage, which comes in handy for writing when you want characters to be cut off and put in danger!”
Viewers can expect a “gritty and character-driven procedural drama set against the haunting beauty of the Peak District”, where modern policing collides with old-world superstition.
Is Edendale a real place?
Edendale is not a real place in the Peak District. It’s a fictional town made up purely for the purposes of drama!
However, anyone familiar with New Zealand might know that there IS a township called Edendale on the Southland Plains, west of the Mataura River.
Talking about Diane’s appearance in Edendale, Rob James-Collier explained: “Why has she arrived in Edendale? Why has she left a huge police force in Leeds for a small village at such a young age, when she was climbing the career ladder? That arouses suspicion in the station, with some thinking she’s there to spy on them.”
Asked whether he’s familiar with a rural community like Edendale, Rob continued: “I am. About 10 years ago, I moved to Dartmoor for a year. At that stage of my life I found it too still and too far away from London. But it’s nice to visit.”
He added: “With rural communities, everyone knows who everyone is, which has its positives and negatives. What’s lovely is you feel safer, there’s a strong sense of community, and people are very neighbourly. But, on the flip side, gossip goes around like you wouldn’t believe and your business is everyone else’s business.
“When Ben walks through the village in Cooper & Fry, he knows everyone knows his dad was killed. He’s wondering what they’re thinking, which can be oppressive.”
Where was Cooper & Fry actually filmed?
Cooper & Fry wasn’t actually filmed in the Peak District. In reality, cast and crew filmed on location in Ireland. They filmed in and around County Wicklow – “Garden of Ireland” – a region south of Dublin in the east of Ireland. The area is known for its beautiful mountains, stunning Irish Sea coastline, country estates, and the Wicklow Way.
The Wicklow Way is a famous 129km walking trail across the county, passing through Wicklow Mountains National Park. Within the park are glacial lakes, rivers and Glendalough, the remains of an early-medieval monastic settlement in a forested valley.
Talking about the show’s filming locations, Mandeep Dill – who plays Diane – said: “My favourite scenes to film were definitely the ones where we’re out and about. We filmed on a lot of lovely farms, cottages, and high streets. They were so nice because those scenes were so different from all the filming we did in the police station.
“We were in the police station solidly for a couple of weeks, filming all the scenes for the episodes, which meant we were in the interview room for days on end. Anytime we left the police station was great.”
Cooper & Fry filming locations included a glacial valley in County Wicklow
Scenes for the eerie crime drama were filmed specifically in these locations:
- Bray, a coastal town in north County Wicklow, Ireland.
- Glendalough, a glacial valley in County Wicklow, Ireland.
- Newtown Mount Kennedy, a small town in County Wicklow, which developed within the historic townland of Ballygarny.
- Glendarragh, in the townland of Carrownamaddy, County Wicklow.
- Lough Dan, Roundwood, a beautiful ribbon lake largely set on private property, in the Wicklow Mountains.
- Cloghleagh Forest, a dense, verdant woodland located in County Wicklow, within the Wicklow Mountains National Park.
- Poolbeg, an artificial peninsula extending from Ringsend, Dublin, into Dublin Bay.
- Ballymore Eustace, a small town in County Kildare, known for its heritage, and proximity to Russborough House and Blessington Lakes.
- Kilteel, a small village in the Eastern Uplands of County Kildare.
‘Darkness of’ Cooper & Fry and ‘Edendale folklore’
Director of Cooper & Fry episode 1 Ryan Tohill told us what piqued his interest in the series, which is based on four of Stephen Booth’s early novels including Black Dog, Dying to Sin, Blind To the Bones and Dancing with the Virgins.
He said: “The darkness of the stories drew me in. When I read Black Dog I felt the haunting rural community of Edendale was the detail you could lean into and use to make a different type of detective series. I wanted to make the series as unsettling as I could.”
The four part series of feature-length episodes is seeped in the folklore of the Peak District. Viewers see Cooper teach Fry about local Edendale folklore. This includes the story surrounding a severed head known as ‘Screaming Billy’.
Cooper & Fry filming locations: ‘A police procedural clashes with folklore in a rural community’
Ryan Tohill explained: “Disturbing truths emerge that casts a black shadow over the town and leads Cooper and Fry into a deadly fight for justice. I found the folklore an interesting avenue into a detective series, where you have ancient traditions surfacing in the 21st century and what happens when a police procedural clashes with folklore in a rural community. That opened the door to make a detective series which leans into those legends and is a little bit creepier than other series.”
Meanwhile, Cooper actor Rob James-Collier joked about comparisons to The X Files. He said: “Mulder and Scully had completely different life philosophies and were a young, good-looking couple, so I’d agree with that all day! We’re the British answer to them and throughout the series we have an occult thread, where we deal with folklore and local customs, which gives the show a different edge.”
Like Scully, Diane Fry is “sceptical of the folklore which Cooper has grown up with”. Mandeep explained: “By the end of the series, Diane doesn’t believe in the folklore. She just understands the village more and how those stories are relevant to the community.”
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