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Coincidentally, Aidan Turner used to shoot at Chavenage House (The Priory in Rivals)

Synopsis

It follows Rupert Campbell-Black and Tony Baddingham as their long-standing rivalry comes to a head. The same filming location was also used to depict Trenwith House in the BBC’s 2015 adaptation of Poldark. In the 90s Jilly Cooper had a terrifying version of Riders, TV has avoided her since then ' bonkbusters' critics say the Jilly Cooper novels are outdated and silly.

The triumph, however, is that you have the budget and the time to do justice to the feel and spirit of the original book

This is far from the truth, Cooper satirizes the upper middle class of the Cotswolds with an iron spirit and has always had a knack for comedy, characters and entertaining plots. In many ways, his work was more like a Restoration comedy than a Carry On, where the characters are more developed and have more inner lives than you might think. Now comes RIVALS from Disney who boast an excellent cast and the good news is It’s a great watch, yes it’s full of bad moments, boobs and bums, even the occasional Willy.

You are doing a really creditable job

The changes are minor and actually open up the era and politics more. Bella Maclean is brilliant in the central role of Tagie, and Alex Hassel is brilliant as Rupert, a role that is impossible to cast because no one in history can be the character. that Cooper created—part villain, part Adonis, part whimpering child.

I really liked it

However, the real star of this is the ensemble of great character actors, Emily Atack, Danny Dyer, Katherine Parkinson, who give career-best performances. 80s soundtracks are the thing, and Rivals is a real triumph for Disney. It’s fun, it’s frothy, but there’s a deeper undertone that elevates it above a typical movie and gives us hope that we’ll be seeing a lot more from this team and universe in the future.