Jilly Cooper's Rivals on Disney - episode 1 discussion thread WITH SPOILERS! Open the Pouilly Fume & curl up on the sofa with a lurcher puppy here!

[TheSecondMrsCampbellBlack]

Exciting!

Just finished it. Now madly in love with Danny Dyer!
So did the book not end like that then? Im going to have to read it. I feel a bit annoyed if they've only done half a book. Who does that??

Presumably they would finish the rest of the Rivals and follow straight on with Polo?

@CabbagesAndCeilingWax well that was a huge fuck off spoiler for the whole series and future series for those that aren't familiar.

Anyway, been out and bought the book today, I expect I'm not the only one, JC royalties will get a nice top up from this adaptation.

Sorry- I assumed that everyone had read the books 30+ years ago! I'll ask MN to remove.

I know the books are old but this will bring them to a whole new audience, there are going to be lots of people who aren't family with the stories.

I was born in 86 so can't say JC books have been on my radar previously.

Do the books actually say what Rupert's big secret is? I hate when they leave things a mystery like that - I rewatched and Declan opened a letter which had photos of a woman, which I missed the first time.

Yes, the next book explains what it means.

Well if you want to do the thing properly, then you've got to start right at the beginning, with Riders (although Rivals has already given a lot of spoilers for Riders I'm afraid).

Better block a couple of months out of your life - you won't regret it!

The books go in to a fair amount of detail about the franchise process - lots of meetings, Mousie loitering in the background, Charles dressing up in costumes, offices being bugged, getting caught & being threatened by Tony etc, being drilled on what answers to give the franchise people. so there is a lot of focus on Declan/Fred/Rupert for the last third of the book.
To embarrassed to admit how often I re-read Rivals & Polo 😊

I agree the programme drifted into boring crap about tv bids - and left out more relational stuff - RCBs children, ex wife etc - that is in the book -

Caitlin in the book ends up with Archie baddingham - but in the tv programme he is shagging a boy!

Riders is my favourite although I love the O Hara family - the tv franchise stuff seems bizarrely dated and not something that would make news headlines in real life...

@mum2jakie this would be amazing!

but - riders! the best of them all! surely we need to go back in time first

@waterrat I agree, in Cooperland the press are bizarrely interested in the ins and outs of TV franchising and the sex lives of showjumpers and polo players!

Me too.
Loved all the Jackie Collins.
Fell on Jilly Cooper by accident by picking up Rivals at the local library.
Didn't even realise it was a series until I found Riders (also in the library).
Read as many as I could in quick succession and then bought them as they came out.
Great books - have read the entire series at least twice.

Don't know if it's already been mentioned, but Alex Hassell/RCB really puts me in mind of a young Tim Curry.

OMG don't they finish it like it ends in the book? Fab if it means they're making another series, yes please!

What did you all think of Helen Campbell-Black? I thought hang on, she's supposed to be a world class beauty and she's not in this, at all, from the brief glimpse we got of her. She's talked about in the books as having yellow eyes and hair like bracken or drenched fox (IIRC!).

I loved how faithful this is to the book so far, I'm saving the last 2 episodes for this week I think. And then I might rewatch the whole thing.

Lizzie is played so brilliantly, I agree and James, urgh, just the right mixture of oleaginous and sneery and bum licking.

Archie and Caitlin get together in the book, I love where they meet at Paddington station (I think but yes, it would be the main line station for Rutshire I reckon!) and he buys her a drink and she sits with him in first class. Maybe they just decided they needed a gay character but they did already have Charles and RCB's private (very!) secretary. Oh well, he's a minor character, I don't mind.

Oh and Aiden is AMAZING as Declan, on paper it shouldn't work because, you know, a moustache and all but actually, he's really attractive!

Christina Hendricks could have been Helen Campbell-Black

I always imagined Helen as a young Jane Asher - that very fragile/elegant beauty.

It was soooo good and pretty faithful to the books although I was muttering - the lady in red dance was at the hunt ball when Taggie had been made over using the wardrobe from Corinium.

Totally agree re Lady in Red, and Rupert hates her new look and stomps off, drunk and she is bewildered.

Smashing the glass and Cameron says ooh two things broken tonight - the glass and his heart.

God, I love Rivals!

I swear we had the same lawnmower in the 80s as Declan in the scene where he’s cutting the grass pissed 🤣

Helen is attractive and I think the neat preppy style and the cross round her neck are good touches but I agree she’s not the stunning beauty of the books.

I also noticed it’s directed by Dermot O’Leary’s wife

They do dance together to Lady in Red at Patrick’s party too. It’s a popular song in the book!

Fair enough Chessie, I'm sure you're right! I've had it on the bloody brain every since fgs!