After decades living in the Cotswolds where Jilly Cooper's Rivals is set, writer Jo Hoare warns there's nothing sexy about it in real

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,

Jilly Cooper fans have been eagerly awaiting the screen adaptation of Rivals, and the Disney+ series has finally landed with a bang. The drama, set in the cutthroat world of 1980s independent television,

I am a HUGE Jilly Cooper fan. I love her books - including Rivals which has been adapted for the TV show - so much that I always joke they'd be my specialist subject if I ever went on Mastermind. I even named my historical novel-writing alter-ego,

Rivals author Jilly Cooper has teased how the Disney+ adaptation of her fan-favourite book differs from what she wrote more than almost 40 years ago.