So I was wary when I heard Rivals was being adapted for TV. How could anything capture the brilliance of Jilly Cooper? The humour? The heart? The gripping plot? Because that's the

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.

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

This highly anticipated, lurid adaptation is pure panto - and no-one is having more fun than the bare-buttocked actors