Stephen Booth: Cooper and Fry on TV

Stephen Booth is coming to QUAD on Sunday 15 November, as part of the Derby Book Festival's autumn 2026 programme. He'll be in conversation with Zena Hawley, Agenda Editor for the Derby Telegraph, talking about his Cooper and Fry novels and their television adaptation.

If the names ring a bell, it's because the Cooper and Fry books have been favourites with Derby audiences for years. They're set in the Peak District, and the local scenery is a big part of the draw — plenty of locations to seek out if you're the type to go hunting for them. That same landscape is what brought the series to the screen: Channel 5's Cooper and Fry stars Rob James-Collier, known from Downton Abbey, as Ben Cooper, and Mandip Gill, from Doctor Who, as Diane Fry. The first season has already aired around the world, including in Australia, Japan and the USA, and a second has already been filmed.

Booth has earned a bit of a reputation for his work in these parts. The Sunday Express called him 'the master of this territory', and the Daily Mail described the series as 'crime writing at its finest'. During the talk, he'll discuss the screen adaptation alongside his current work on a new novel, so there's a look at where the series came from and where his writing is heading next.

It's a midday session, running from 12:30pm to 1:30pm at QUAD, Market Place, Derby DE1 3AR. Tickets are £10 for standard and £10 for concessions.