'Rookie Blue's' Charlotte Sullivan not comfortable with basic police work

If it isn't easy being a cop, it's especially complicated being a rookie named Gail Peck.

With an off-putting attitude that cloaks a deep vulnerability and a police family tradition to live up to -- not to mention the need to work with not just one but two ex-flames -- there's surely a lot on the plate of the officer played by Charlotte Sullivan on "Rookie Blue," the Canadian-made Thursday ABC drama now in its third season and already renewed for a fourth.

While literally on the line between the U.S. and Canada, the pleasant actress saw the effect of the show's popularity. "We were shooting, and I had to rush to my brother's wedding in Buffalo [N.Y.]," she recalls on the "Rookie Blue" set. "I was driving, and I got to the border, and I had forgotten my car's insurance card.

"I had half an hour to get to the wedding, and the woman they brought over to do the inspection looked at me and said, 'You're from "Rookie Blue!" ' And I was like, 'Yes! Yes, I am!' And I got to the wedding in 15 minutes, so 'Thank you' to her."

Now that war veteran Nick Collins (Peter Mooney) is back in her life as a fellow rookie, Gail is finding it tricky to balance her interactions with him and with her most recent boyfriend, Officer Chris Diaz (Travis Milne).

And on top of that, there's the basic police work, which Sullivan admits she wouldn't be comfortable doing for real. "You can't always have an emotional connection with every single person you're dealing with," she tells Zap2it. "I don't know how you shut that off. Something feels incredibly robotic about it, so if you put yourself in that position, that's why I don't think I could do it."