Rivals

Was television really like that in the 1980s? That was the question from a thirtysomething producer, asked a little enviously perhaps, after seeing Rivals. “All that sex, drinking and smoking?” Yes, it absolutely was.

The raunchy Disney+ series is based faithfully on Jilly Cooper’s 1988 “bonkbuster”, one of the Rutshire Chronicles, set in a county inspired by the Cotswolds. Life here is dominated by rutting, closely followed by smoking, drinking and feuding.

Tone is a vital ingredient of a TV show but one of the hardest to define. And as far as tonal tightropes go, adapting a Jilly Cooper “bonkbuster” for a modern audience is one of the great high-wire writing acts of recent times.

Turning a TV franchise tussle into a gripping battle of fragile (male) egos, Rivals is both a riotous celebration of the 1980s and a depiction of disturbingly backwards sexual politics.

The announcement came in the form of an Instagram reel of scenes and quotes from the first series. According to Alex Hassell's local lothario and MP Rupert Campbell-Black, the second helping is "guaranteed to be even more pleasurable." 

Dominic Treadwell-Collins and Laura Wade led the writers' room who adapted the first half of Jilly Cooper's 'bonkbuster', bringing to riotous life the heady days and TV franchise battles of Cooper's heightened 1980s.