Rannaldini makes his tyrannical debut in The Man Who Made Husband's Jealous, fully reveals his devious, villinous nature in Apassionata and finally gets his comeuppance in Score!. Her characters are entertaining, compelling and so real, despite for the most part being horrendous charactatures and stereotypes, and weave in and out throughout her 'Rutshire Chronicles' series, either stepping forward to take their turn in the limelight or dropping in like old friends or to reveal their redeemed ways. Her books are just glorious, full of the most joyful prose and splendid similies (and I love anything that's written using the words glorious, splendid and joyful). If it trimmed some of the novel’s fat but kept its overall playful tone, Disney is onto a winner with Rivals.ĭo you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing your views in the comments below.I love Jilly Cooper. Should parts of the narrative be altered to fit a 21 st century perspective, Rivals would lose its original appeal and charm.įor me, it needs to wholly embrace the glamour, sex and seediness of the novel and follow more in the footsteps of Dallas and Footballers’ Wives to provide a refreshing bit of camp escapism, as opposed to a gritty look at the high pressures of trying to win a TV franchise. An early chapter to the book sees Baddingham ponder ‘alpha males’, a debate we are unfortunately still having today thanks to divisive internet figures.Ĭarol McGiffin attacks ITV again over Phillip Schofield and claims he 'was so b****y rude'Īudiences aren’t stupid on the whole, we’re aware 80s society was different, and that attitudes towards what is and isn’t acceptable have changed. More refreshingly, however, all the women are happily hairy – their private areas are all described as ‘bushes’ – harkening back to a time before being clean shaven is the expected norm.īut for all the throwbacks to pubic hair and shoulder pads, Rivals has some clear parallels to the modern day. One young character in Rivals is exclusively referred to as ‘poor fat Sharon’, while another is described as an ideal wife ‘if she’d lose three stone’. Meanwhile, any woman vaguely larger than a size six is described as voluptuous, or, more pointedly, fat. Women’s weight is also referenced repeatedly, with characters receiving praise for being painfully thin – one wife proudly announces she only weighs seven stone in the early chapters. Other pointers of Rivals’ 80s setting are the references to the AIDS crisis at the time, with multiple characters saying they’ve been tested, or referring to myths – such as not swallowing each other’s saliva – that thankfully have long since been busted.

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