Forget 'Law & Order: SVU,' This 4-Part Crime Series Has "TV’s Best New Detective Duo"

Published Sep 30, 2026, 4:53 PM EDT

Giovana Gelhoren is a High-Trending Topics Writer at Collider, covering the most-talked-about stars, movies, and TV shows. Before joining Collider, she was a Digital News Writer at People Magazine and served as Associate Editor at SheKnows, where she honed her expertise in celebrity coverage and entertainment journalism.

A proud Latina from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Giovana graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in Journalism and International Studies. She has interviewed countless celebrities, including Anne Hathaway, Halle Berry, Pamela Anderson, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Brenda Song, and is known for her encyclopedic knowledge of film, TV, and pop culture.

For 12 seasons, Law & Order: SVU proved that a detective duo is a powerful force to lead a crime show. With leads Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni), the central duo investigated cases, interrogated suspects, found culprits and had fans rooting for them at the edge of their seats. So, it's perhaps no surprise when new detective shows have two detectives front and center instead of one.

The latest series to join that trend is Channel 5's crime series Cooper & Fry, led by Downton Abbey's Rob James-Collier and former Doctor Who star Mandip Gill. The series, which adapts the bestselling book series by the same name by author Stephen Booth, was released on November 18, 2025, and has finally landed on BritBox. With a mismatched pair of detectives at the center, and compelling mysteries for them to tackle in each of the four episodes, the series is a compelling watch for any crime fan out there.

What Is 'Cooper & Fry' About?

Set in England’s Peak District, Cooper & Fry follows two detectives who are thrown together despite having very different personalities. They are James-Collier's DC Ben Cooper, a friendly, locally rooted detective who knows the community well, and DC Diane Fry, a guarded newcomer who has arrived from the city under mysterious circumstances. In each of the episodes, the new and begrudging partners investigate a series of mysterious and often grisly crimes and deaths across the rural Derbyshire community of Edendale. The cases tend to involve the area's complicated history, local folklore, family secrets and tensions within the small communities they investigate.

The first story, for example, begins when a body, missing its left hand, is discovered on a remote farmhouse during renovations. Tensions escalate when a second corpse, this time missing its head, is found, sending Cooper and Fry into the farm's murky past. And while the episodic cases carry the show, a big part of the series is the partnership between Cooper and Fry itself. They're essentially mismatched detectives who have to learn how to trust one another while solving each case, with their personal lives and complicated histories gradually becoming part of the larger story. Other Season 1 mysteries include the disappearance of a teenage girl, a murder connected to a village fighting a redevelopment plan, and the death of a photographer at an ancient stone circle. The episodes are all based on Booth's four books: Black Dog, Dying to Sin, Blind to the Bones, and Dancing with the Virgins.

'Cooper & Fry' Received Mixed Reviews

Image via Channel 5

While Cooper & Fry has yet to receive a critics' or audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, the series received a warm reception from many British outlets. Among them is The I Paper, who called the main characters in the series "TV’s best new detective duo in years." The outlet states that with "its two brilliant leads," the series is setting itself apart and breaking some new ground" compared to other detective shows available. In a review from The Times, however, the outlet states that the series still has a lot to prove to be comparable to ITV's similar series, Vera. ITV’s great Northumbrian, Vera. "'You two make a good team,' our sleuths are told at the end, but I am yet to be convinced," the review wrote. "If this show wants to be the next Vera, there is a long way to go."

Despite the mixed bag reviews, Cooper & Fry managed to snag a Season 2 renewal, which is currently in production. Per Good Housekeeping, the sophomore season, which will have eight episodes instead of Season 2's four, will cover another four of Booth's books: The Devil’s Edge, Fall Down Dead, One Last Breath and The Murder Road. James-Collier and Gill will be returning as the main detective duo alongside new faces Pollyanna McIntosh-Goldthwait, Scott Graham and Kathy Rose O’Brien. "Building on the unique friendship forged in series one, Ben and Diane will navigate cases steeped in the legendary folklore of the area, all while battling each other’s conflicting investigation styles and facing their complicated personal lives head on," the official synopsis of Season 2 reads.

Ultimately, while detective shows aren't exactly rare in streaming, Cooper & Fry sets itself apart with a mismatched detective duo front and center. And, with cases that avoid the obvious and often involve darker forces and folklore, the series is both character-driven and mystery-driven too.

Cast

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  Robert James-Collier

  DC Ben Cooper

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  Mandip Gill

  DC Diane Fry

• Charlotte Bradley

  Isobel Cooper

• Lorcan Cranitch

  DI Paul Hitchens