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Jilly Cooper and the 'Rivals' series: the triumph of lascivious rich in the Thatcher era

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British writer dominates the sales charts with her 80s novels spiced with sex and hunting. Critics have surrendered to her, who also triumphs with the series that has hooked the country

Screenshot from 'Rivals'.
Screenshot from 'Rivals'.DISNEY +

The series takes off with a high-flying encounter on the Concorde: a close-up of the buttocks of the Sports Minister and former Olympic equestrian champion Rupert Campbell-Black breaking the sound barrier in the airplane bathroom in the company of an explosive journalist. The promiscuous rider enjoys playing tennis in the nude and shortly after, we see him flirting with a plump neighbor on his very private tennis court, in the gardens of his stunning mansion in the Cotswolds, the playground of the British aristocracy.

This is the start of Rivals (Disney+), the series that is a hit in the UK and is provoking an unexpected collective (and lascivious) nostalgia for the Thatcher era. Based on Jilly Cooper's novel and set in 1986, the series exposes the sexual excesses, power games, and entrenched classism of British society in a satirical and hedonistic tone that validates the saying that the past was better.

All eyes are on Jilly Cooper these days, author of the famous Rutshire Chronicles novels, the fictional county where Riders also took place, with one of the most mischievous covers of the 80s (the tanned hand of the experienced Campbell-Black resting on the buttocks of one of his many conquests). Jilly Cooper's books, appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2004, have dominated sales charts for decades and have climbed to more or less visible places on the shelves of the upper class.

Her romantic novels indeed paved the way for erotic literature in the 80s and 90s, and continue to do so to this day. Once scorned as soft porn, critics have finally bowed down to Lady Lilly Cooper. In a praise of over 3,700 words, University of Cambridge academic Ian Patterson compared the renowned author to Charles Dickens "for her ability to create a microcosm." Others see her as a modern-day Jane Austen spiced with salt and pepper.

In the microcosm of Rivals, seasoned with hunting, polo matches, and other British countryside traditions, the scepter and crown are held by Lord Tony Baddingham (David Tenant). His personal realm is the Corinium television network, allowing him to travel by helicopter like Rishi Sunak and live like a marquess in his comfortable mansion. The new star of his channel, Declan O'Hara (Aidan Turner), arrives at a nearby and newly restored abbey. In between them rides the illustrious Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell), burdened with his reputation as an unrepentant seducer.

Women are not left behind, with American producer Cameron Crook (Nafessa Williams) portraying a dominatrix. Madu O'Hara (Victoria Smurfit) is the dissatisfied wife of the presenter, always ready for action. Sarah Stratton (Emily Atack) flirts between them all with two powerful reasons. And Lizzie Vereker (Katherine Parkinson) is the discreet writer of risqué novels who fantasizes about her neighbors but dares not be unfaithful in real life.

Due to the timing, some have seen Rivals as a sort of Bonfire of the Vanities transplanted to the British countryside. "There's no way to watch the series and not believe that the 80s were like that," writes Zoe Williams in The Guardian. "There we have the nauseating deference of the aristocrats with their innate superiority, the venomous homophobia of the Tories, the abuse of power, sexual exploitation, misogyny, and racism... And even though we deny it, many of us can't help but feel nostalgic for the 80s."

How to Stay Married became the title of Jilly Cooper's first essay book, daughter of a military man and once married to a military historian who remains hyperactive at 87 and even makes a cameo in the series. In 2023, she published her latest installment with the trots and gallops of Rupert Campbell-Black, titled Tackle! (Tackling), delving directly into the football world she knows so well (she has been a lifelong fan of Leeds United).

The author herself has confessed her increasing difficulties with sexual encounters, to the point where her editors pressured her to include steamier scenes in her latest novel because that's what her loyal readers always expect from her. In a chapter of Rivals, by the way, the unrepentant rider takes a trip to Malaga and proudly boasts of his status as a conservative politician to reach the cli-tory of his latest conquest on a balcony overlooking the sea...