Fans have finally been given the release date for the TV adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s novel Rivals: October 18.
Set in the Eighties – a time of excess and drama – Rivals, as per the series description, “delves headfirst into the ruthless world of independent television in 1986.” Specifically, the rivalry between Rupert Campbell-Black and Lord Tony Baddingham, whose fierce dislike for each other seeps into the world of the Corinium television station, and into the lives of those around them in the fictional country of Rutshire.
The teaser for the show, which was released ahead of its premiere later this year, opens on rolling green hills, massive Eighties moustaches and a fair amount of bare skin – as well as a shot of Declan O’Hara smashing in a window with a golf club.
It boasts an all-star cast including David Tennant as Baddingham, Alex Hassell as Campbell-Black and Aidan Turner as O’Hara. It’s these three that form the heart of the story: Baddingham as the ruthless controller of Corinium, Campbell-Black as his longstanding rival and O’Hara as the talented newsreader who joins the station, only to find that Baddingham refuses to deliver on his promises.
Also shown are Emily Atack will be playing news presenter Sarah Stratton, Rufus Jones, as her husband Paul, and Catriona Chandler will be playing Caitlin O’Hara. Even more excitingly, Danny Dyer will be playing self-made electronics millionaire Freddie Jones and Lisa McGrillis will be playing his wife Valerie, while Claire Rushbrook is playing Tony’s dependable wife Monica.
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Rivals, which the show was adapted from, is part of Jilly Cooper’s Rutshire Chronicles: a series of romantic (and very sex-heavy) stories set in the British countryside.
Mainly focusing on the lives of the upper-class social scene (especially the life of serious seducer Rupert Campbell-Black), the stories feature adultery, death, illegitimate children and plenty of scandal. In May, she received a damehood for her services to literature, which she described as “orgasmic”.
