Rivals on Disney+: All the Jilly Cooper books that have been adapted and if you can still watch them
By Helen FearRivals on Disney+ is easily one of the best TV shows to land on our screens in 2024 - it's fun, it's sexy, and it's cheeky as hell. So having binged it (and you will), you might be hoping to find some more Jilly Cooper adaptations to watch...
Fans of the novelist will know that Rivals is one of 11 books in the Rutshire Chronicles. Not to mention the multiple other fictional stories she's written over the course of her five decade career.
So how many of Jilly Cooper's books have been adapted into TV series or films? Are they any good, and can you still watch them? Here's everything you need to know...
What Jilly Cooper books have been adapted for TV and film?
Jilly Cooper has written dozens of books - 44 in fact - including non-fiction. However, a surprisingly low number of her novels have been adapted for television and film.
Of course, Disney+'s new eight-part series Rivals is the latest - and arguably the best of them (as you'll be able to tell from our Rivals review).
Rivals is the second book in the Rutshire Chronicles series, and premiered on October 18, 2024. It has never been adapted before.
The series stars Alex Hassell as the infamous fictional hero Rupert Campbell-Black, alongside David Tennant's Lord Tony Baddingham, and Aidan Turner's Declan O'Hara.
As well as an amazing cast bulging with famous faces, Rivals has a great team behind it - including Jilly herself as executive producer, and former EastEnders writer Dominic Treadwell-Collins.
Rivals is available to watch on Disney+ now.
Has Riders been adapted into a film or TV series?
Riders is the first novel in Jilly Cooper's Rutshire Chronicles. It was adapted into a 1993 TV film starring Doctor Who's Marcus Gilbert as Rupert Campbell-Black. It was the first book to introduce the arrogant aristocrat...
Emmerdale actor Michael Praed also starred in the film, portraying Jake Lovell. Jake is the Romani hero of the novel - a brilliant horseman desperately seeking revenge for years of bullying at the hands of the brutish Rupert.
One fan of the film on IMBD described the film as "a very watchable romp", while another said "this film version of Jilly Cooper's bestseller seems to have been massively overlooked".
Riders is not currently available for streaming, but this may change after the success of Rivals.
Jilly Cooper TV and film adaptations
The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous is the fourth book in the Rutshire Chronicles. It was made into a television mini-series in 1997.
This time, there's no sign of Rupert Campbell-Black (although he does feature in the book it's based on). Instead the three-part series concentrated on Lysander Hawksley, a young, handsome tennis player who mixes with wealthy, beautiful and rich women.
Hollyoaks actor Stephen Billington starred as the hero Lysander, opposite Strike Back's Rhona Mitra as Flora Seymour, and EastEnders' Nicholas Ball. A virtually unknown Hugh Bonneville also appeared in one episode as
Ferdinand Fitzgerald.
On IMDB, one viewer said the series was "pure escapism", adding: "The plot is amusing, and sometimes highly superficial, but Stephen Billington makes a perfect Lysander, and Hugh Bonneville is delightfully cuddly as Ferdie - bless!"
The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous is not currently available for streaming.
What else can I watch if I liked Rivals?
Jilly Cooper's TV series It's Awfully Bad for Your Eyes, Darling went out in 1971. Although it is not adapted from a book, Jilly created and wrote the comedy.
It's Awfully Bad for Your Eyes, Darling ran for one series (seven episodes including the pilot) and followed four posh girls who shared a flat in London.
Joanna Lumley led the cast as Samantha Ryder-Ross.
It's Awfully Bad for Your Eyes, Darling is not currently available for streaming.
Are there any other Jilly Cooper adaptations?
There are 11 books in the Rutshire Chronicles series, and UK production company FilmWave reportedly required the rights for all but two in 2016.
The nine books - all of which were published between 1985 and 2011 - are Riders, Rivals, Polo, The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous, Appassionata, Score!, Pandora, Wicked! and Jump!
So watch this space... Another series must surely be in the pipeline.
