As the glorious adaptation of the bonkbuster returns, show chiefs reveal that Jilly Cooper was so impressed she told each actor they were 'f***ing marvellous'.
Emily Atack: The New Barbara Windsor
Emily Atack has impressed with her performance as Sarah Stratton in the second series of Rivals. Showrunner Dominic Treadwell-Collins, a former boss of EastEnders, said: “Emily has got comedy bones and has shown that she can do so much. She reminds me of my friend Barbara Windsor because she’s someone who you assume is a funny little bubbly blonde - and actually has a steel, and can control a room.”
Fellow executive producer Felicity Blunt agrees: “Emily is utterly brilliant in season two - she’s like Barbara Windsor crossed with a bit of Marilyn Monroe, where you have that gorgeous sort of icon of a woman. Much like Jilly! You can't be a brilliant actor unless you understand comedy, and she really does.”
Jilly Cooper's Approval
The late Dame Jilly Cooper was thrilled with the second series. Dominic recalls: “She saw the rushes from filming and one of the last things she said to us, just the week before she died, was ‘oh my God, it's even better, isn't it?’” Felicity added that Jilly was particularly thrilled by Alex Hassell’s performance as Rupert Campbell-Black. “She loved watching him play Rupert and that we kept his edges and that he was complicated. I know she said that to Alex, and it meant so much to him.”
Raunchier and More Romantic
The series is full to bursting with saucy sex scenes, including romantic, silly, and bad sex, as well as virginity loss. Dominic said: “We’ve been sure to think about romantic sex, silly sex, bad sex. There's some virginity loss coming up as well. We've been very careful with it, we talk to the actors a lot.” One early scene features married couple Maud and Declan, played by Victoria Smurfit and Aidan Turner, having a steamy session in a hotel shower.
Felicity noted: “As a woman, she knows how to make it happen for him. You know, once you've been in the shower for 20 minutes, your hair's in your eyes and it’s time to go and lie by the fire. She sort of understands how to bring it to a really resounding, fantastic finish. I quite enjoyed that! Declan and Maud are icons, and that’s their language.”
Cast and Characters
The cast also includes David Tennant as Lord Baddingham, Claire Rushbrook as his wife Monica, and Katherine Parkinson as Lizzie Vereker. Danny Dyer plays Freddie, and his love affair with Lizzie is a highlight. Dominic said: “The love affair between those two characters has been delicious to play with for season two. We’ve been careful not to overdo it, you’ve got to leave the audience wanting more.”
Expanded Storylines
The expansion to 12 episodes allows deeper exploration of the book. Felicity said: “You have these sort of flash moments that we can lean into and create entire scenes and entire episodes around. We get to go deeper and broader.” This includes a particularly destructive affair and a dinner party scene that becomes a brilliant farce.
Future of the Series
A third series is planned, drawing from multiple Jilly Cooper books. Dominic explained: “What we're doing is looking at the books as a universe, as the Jilly Cooper-verse. So we will pick and choose from them all, and play around.”
Rivals series 2 is streaming on Disney+ from today.
