‘A bit silly’: What TV bosses got wrong about Jilly Cooper’s wonderful books

‘A group of people saw Jilly’s work as naff but another group saw it as dangerous and sexy,’ said ‘Rivals’ showrunner Dominic Treadwell-Collins

TV producers originally considered Dame Jilly Cooper’sRivals too silly to adapt into a series, said showrunner Dominic Treadwell-Collins.

Cooper, who has died following a fall aged 88, is one of the UK’s most celebrated authors, best known for her steamy fiction focusing on scandal and adultery in upper-class society. She wrote Rivals in 1988, the second book in her Rutshire Chronicles series, which depicts the sordid ongoings in a power struggle between two television companies in the Cotswolds.

Rivals was turned into a hit show for Disney+ in 2024, starring the likes of Danny Dyer, David Tennant, Katherine Parkinson, Alex Hassell, Aidan Turner and Emily Atack. However, Cooper’s work had previously been dismissed by TV bosses, says producer Mr Treadwell-Collins.

In an interview with The Independent last year, Mr Treadwell-Collins revealed that several TV executives turned their noses up at the thought of turning Cooper’s books into a show.

“Everyone said, ‘Jilly Cooper, oh, it’s a bit silly,’” he recalled. “But it’s not silly! She’s an amazing storyteller. There’s a really complicated love story at the heart of it.”

“She pulls apart Britishness and class and the way we all behave towards each other,” the 48-year-old continued. “I think it was a group of people who saw Jilly’s work as naff, but another group who saw it as dangerous and sexy. I knew I wanted to turn it into telly.”

The cast of ‘Rivals’ with Cooper attending the 2025 Bafta Television Awards in May (PA)

Following Cooper’s death, Mr Treadwell-Collins and fellow Rivals producer Alex Lamb said: “We are broken-hearted. Jilly was and always will be one of the world’s greatest storytellers, and it has been the most incredible honour to have been able to work with her to adapt her incredible novels for television.

“Crawling around on her sitting room floor with storylines on pieces of paper, sitting up late at her kitchen table holding hands with love and our tummies with laughter, receiving scoldings and heaps of wisdom in equal measure, watching her eyes sparkling as she sat behind the monitor on set watching Rutshire brought to life – every moment spent with Jilly Cooper was bloody marvellous.

“We have been so lucky to be able to call her our friend – and know that her legacy will endure in her writing, her television and the encouragement to have fun that she gave us all.”

ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.

ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.

The author at The Queen’s Reading Room Festival, a literary event celebrating the power and benefits of reading in September this year (PA)

Cooper died after a fall on Sunday morning. Her children, Felix and Emily said: “Mum was the shining light in all of our lives.

“Her love for all of her family and friends knew no bounds. Her unexpected death has come as a complete shock.

“We are so proud of everything she achieved in her life and can’t begin to imagine life without her infectious smile and laughter all around us.”

The Queen has also paid tribute to the author, describing her as a “legend” and a “wonderfully witty and compassionate friend to me and so many”.