Hulu’s must-watch Rivals is back with all the juicy drama. The series is based on Jilly Cooper‘s Rutshire Chronicles novels, and, for the most part, it follows closely what’s on the pages. But there are some key changes, including who says one particularly fun line to Rupert (Alex Hassell) within the first three episodes, part of the May 15 Season 2 premiere. Warning: Spoilers for Rivals Season 2 Episodes 1-3 ahead!
Though Rupert and Taggie (Bella Maclean) shared a kiss at the end of Season 1, he was still with Cameron (Nafessa Williams) at the time — and he stays with her in the aftermath of her fight with Tony (David Tennant), who survives the blow to the head. However, it’s clear that he and Taggie just can’t stay away from each other. In fact, just like in the book, it’s Taggie with whom Rupert’s children, specifically his daughter Tabitha, bonds. She even joins him for a day out with the kids, and while at a restaurant, in the book, the manager comments on Rupert’s “three such beautiful children,” mistaking the (much) younger Taggie for one of his kids.
In the TV series, however, in Season 2 Episode 2, Rupert and Taggie take the kids to Bas’ (Luca Pasqualino) bar, meaning everyone who works there would know who’s really who. And so for the show, that line is kept in, but it’s given to someone else: Tony, whose rivalry with Rupert is at the heart of the series. “I must congratulate you,” Tony remarks, joining Rupert at the bar. “I had no idea you had three such beautiful children.”
Originally, executive producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins tells TV Insider, it was going to be another diner who made the comment. They even thought about casting the role. “But it felt ultimately powerless and toothless out of somebody we didn’t know,” explains executive producer Alexander Lamb.
“It’s juicer giving it to Tony,” continues Treadwell-Collins. “And what was so wonderful is, Jilly was such a big part of this series. We could talk to her about it, and she would go, ‘Oh, yes, that’s much better than the book.'” (Cooper died in October 2025.)
Adds Lamb, “Also, I think because we have flipped the order of the book and do Rupert’s expose much sooner than Jilly does in her book because it felt we had the ghost of Beattie [Annabel Scholey] from Series 1 needing to be served, it also then felt that Tony had to say that thing to needle him because Tony was already plotting and planning for the expose that happens then at the end of [Episode] 2 into 3.”
What did you think of that book change? Let us know in the comments section below.
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