Jilly Cooper's Rivals shows 'ruthless world' of TV in the 1980s

A new eight-part drama, based on one of Dame Jilly Cooper's so-called "bonkbusters" and partly filmed in the West, is being streamed.

Rivals, released in 1988, has been adapted for a Disney+ series with an all-star cast including Aidan Turner and David Tennant.

"Low morals and high fences" is how Dame Jilly summed up her books, which often contain a mixture of sex and scandal.

Set in the Cotswolds and London, and part-filmed at the Bottle Yard Studios in Bristol, the drama "delves headfirst into the ruthless world of independent television".

Dame Jilly served as an executive producer on the series, which was filmed over six months last year.

It was the first series to be shot on the two main stages at the council-owned Bottle Yard Studios' TBY2 facility in Hengrove, which opened in 2022 and is at the centre of protests about its possible sale.

Other locations included countryside scenes in the Cotswolds and one episode on board the Concorde aircraft at Aerospace Bristol in Filton.

Gary Matsell, Head of Production at ITV Studios, said: "Shoots like this rely on the skilled crew base that is local to the region. Bristol has lots of very experienced and talented crew and it was a pleasure to work there.

"Probably 90 per cent were local to the West of England region. We had trainees in every department, most of whom were also local."

"How much of a say did I have? Not much," Dame Jilly told the BBC, explaining that her grandson Jago was a runner on the production, so when she visited the set, she was better known as "Jago's granny".

She suggested some changes, though.

"I did occasionally say, 'No, I don't think they should be jumping on each other quite so early in the story' and things like that," she added.