Culture Chat: the bonkbuster world of ‘Rivals’

Today we head to Rutshire, to take a crack at the frothy, riotous TV adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s 1980s romance novel, Rivals . The eight-episode series follows a cluster of posh English country-dwellers – including TV executive Lord Tony Baddingham (David Tennant) and local heartthrob Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell) — as they bonk and bust their way around the Cotswolds. Shoulder pads, extramarital affairs and messy dinner parties abound. But what is the show really about: Class? Sex? The 80s? Lilah is joined by the FT's Robert Shrimsley and Harriet Fitch Little to discuss. ------- We love hearing from you. Lilah is on Instagram @ lilahrap , and email at lilahrap@ft.com. And we’re grateful for reviews on Apple and Spotify! ------- Links (all FT links get you past the paywall): – Rivals is out now on Disney+ in the UK, and Hulu in the US. You can read the FT’s four star review here: – Robert Shrimsley’s column, ‘Were the 80s as much fun as Jilly Cooper says?’ is here: – We also love Jo Ellison’s recent column, ‘Jilly Cooper’s Britain: the bad sex world capital’: – Robert is on X @robertshrimsley . Harriet is on X @HarrietFL and Instagram @huffffle ------- Original music by Metaphor Music. Clips copyright Disney. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Culture Chat: the bonkbuster world of ‘Rivals’ is an episode from FT Everything Else by Forhecz Topher.

This episode is 31:12 long.

This episode was published on Nov 1, 2024.

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