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Coincidentally, Aidan Turner previously filmed at Chavenage House (The Priory in Rivals)
Tale
It follows Rupert Campbell-Black and Tony Baddingham, who have a long-standing rivalry, and their rivalry comes to a head. The same filming location was also used to depict Trenwith House in the 2015 BBC TV adaptation of Poldark.
I read Rivals a few years ago and loved every page!
It’s hard to compare the book and its characters to its TV adaptation, as we all have our own ideas about how certain characters should look and behave. Also, while we can read a book at our leisure, TV has to move at a pace that suits the format and doesn’t drag on, so some characters or subplots may get cut for the sake of time.
He makes us love Declan as much as we hate Lord B!
That said, yes, there are differences to the book, but none are big enough to spoil the overall fun and entertainment value. The characters, especially Aidan Turner as Declan O’Hara, the honest journalist and David Tennant, the nasty Lord B are great!
It was great to see Jilly Cooper herself in the lunch scene at the restaurant
The 80s music is fantastic, although one part that annoyed me was the opening, high-pitched operatic music, it just didn’t fit. As for all the sex scenes, yes we could have done without some of them because we all have imaginations, but it wouldn’t have been a Cooper-written book.
She looked like she was really enjoying the show, as I did
The last episode ended very differently to the book, so I hope there will be at least another season where we see what happens with Taggie and RCB… And of course we know that nasty Lord B has to be around to wreak more havoc.