The odd couple

DOWNTON ABBEY'S ROBERT JAMES- COLLIER AND DOCTOR WHO'S MANDIP GILL TELL LYNN RUSK ABOUT THEIR ROLES AS TWO MISMATCHED DETECTIVES IN THE UPCOMING SERIES COOPER AND FRY

- 

"It's challenging and really rewarding to play.

Mandip, 37, best known for her role as Yasmin Khan in Doctor Who, says she was drawn to the series because, despite the characters' different backgrounds, they share a surprising number of similarities.

"It's about two police officers who get on quite well," explains the Leeds-born actress. "You often see shows where the partners are very different and take a while to get on the same page. But in this case, even by the end of episode one, you can already see that although they come from different backgrounds and both have things going on in their personal lives, they're actually quite similar.

"Working with Robert makes it hard not to like him, both as a person and in what he brings to the character of Cooper. So when they said, 'Can you play it a bit colder?' I found that difficult. It would've made me seem rude as Fry, especially since the questions Cooper was asking were quite simple and genuine.