A new eight-part drama, based on one of Dame Jilly Cooper's so-called "bonkbusters" and partly filmed in the West, is being streamed. Rivals, released in 1988, has been adapted for a Disney+ series with an all-star cast including Aidan Turner and David Tennant.

As someone who grew up in the countryside at a time when you knocked back some wine and flirted with the local hotties, Rowan Pelling reflects on the benefits of living in a less progressive era when

Taggie and Caitlin looking out for each other when their parents are otherwise engaged, Lizzie's embarrassment over her photo on her book, Freddie sneaking extra potatoes and, lonely Rupert going home alone as the camera pans out, making him seem smaller and smaller and his huge house even bigger... it's all perfect.

Following on from Riders – the first in Cooper’s Rutshire Chronicles series which explores the racy showjumping set (and distinctly remembered for its risqué cover of a woman in tight white jodhpurs being spanked) – Rivals swaps the saddle for satellites, delving deep into the supposedly sexy world of television production.

It was, of course, Riders by Dame Jilly Cooper, the first in the Rutshire Chronicles, which has sold over one million copies in the UK since its publication in 1985. Now, the second novel in the series,

Rivals author Jilly Cooper has shared how the Disney+ interpretation deviates from her original work written nearly four decades ago. Thrilled fans can at last immerse themselves in the world of Rivals as the eagerly anticipated adaptation made its debut on Disney+ this past Friday, October 18.

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