As the second season of Rivals careers towards its mid-season finale, plenty of fans have been enjoying the continued rivalry between Lord Tony Baddingham (David Tennant), his arch-nemesis Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell) and former employee Declan O’Hara (Aidan Turner).
It’s only notched up a whole new level this season, with Tony not wanting to relinquish any bit of TV power to Venturer – or really, in his own personal life as it pertains to Cameron (Nafessa Williams) either.
The series is, of course, based on the novel of the same name that was published in 1988 by the late Jilly Cooper, with the show continuing to go down a storm with fans of the original book and newbies alike.
But is the series based on a true story at all? Read on to find out.
No, Rivals is not based on a true story.
However, it is based on the Jilly Cooper novel of the same name, which is inspired by Cooper’s own experiences of life in the ’80s and living in the Cotswolds.
In fact, one of the book – and show’s – main characters, Rupert Campbell-Black was actually inspired by two of Cooper’s friends in real life, Andrew Parker-Bowles – the former husband of Queen Camilla – and British fashion designer Rupert Lycett Green.
Although in the novel, Campbell-Black is said to have blond hair and blue eyes, Cooper was very complimentary of Alex Hassell, who has obviously taken on the role in the Disney Plus drama.
She said at the time of season 1’s release: “The more I see of him, the better and sexier he gets. And he’s very good. They’re building Rupert out as a multi-layered character, which they’ve done brilliantly.”
Speaking about setting her original novel in the world of television – as opposed to showjumping, which was featured in her first Rutshire Chronicles novel, 1986’s Riders – Cooper previously said in a press pack for season 1: “Rivals is set in the late ’80s – in the world of Commercial television or ITV.
“England was then divided into 15 different areas and every eight or so years rival groups would engage in titanic back-stabbing battles to oust the current holders by proving they could make better programmes and more responsibly represent the area.
“In Rivals the territory being fought over is The Cotswolds, and surrounding areas stretching from Oxford to Wales and Southampton to Stratford.
“The current holder played with magnificent menace by David Tennant is Lord Tony Baddingham, a ruthless bully who slings mud at his rivals, terrorises his staff and makes vast fortunes from advertising revenue.”
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She continued: “The Independent Broadcasting Authority or the IBA who award the franchises, however warn Lord Baddingham that if he doesn’t spend more of the ‘fortune’ he’s coining from advertising on making decent programmes, his company Corinium will lose its franchise. So Baddingham poaches from the BBC the Irish megastar interviewer, Declan O’Hara, played by Poldark and handsome Aidan Turner.
“Declan’s tousled black curls, brooding dark eyes and face as battered as The Irish Coastline, are soon pulling in vast numbers of viewers. One of Leftie Declan’s first victims is Rupert Campbell-Black, Tory Minister for Sport and Thatcher’s pet, who has dramatically reduced football hooliganism.
“Despite Declan being hellbent on carnage, the two men end up respecting and liking each other. Declan increasingly recognising Baddingham’s evil corruption, walks out of Corinium and joins forces with Rupert to steal his franchise. Thus, in bedroom and boardroom, the right to capture the Cotswold Crown is on.”
Cooper herself worked as a newspaper columnist throughout the ’70s and ’80s and was inspired to write Rivals as she came to appear on TV more regularly.
She said: “It was lovely to talk to everybody on set, the crews and makeup people, and marvellous to reflect it in Rivals. For my other books, I often had to go abroad for research. With this, I just had to be on the programme, which was particularly wonderful as I had two young children at the time.”
As for the characters in Rivals, while there are certainly many personalities to contend with, Cooper admits that she drew inspiration from some of the men in her own life when writing the novel.
She explained: “I adored my very handsome father who got a First at Cambridge, and also played rugger for both Cambridge and the Army.
“Later he escaped from Dunkirk and became a Brigadier. He was very macho as was my lovely late husband of fifty-two years, Leo Cooper, who published military history and was also a great rugger player. I love macho men but only ones who have a great sense of humour and are kind, especially to animals.”
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Rivals season 2 airs its midseason finale on Friday 5 June, with the rest of season 2 and season 1 available to stream on Disney Plus.
Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what’s on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
