The TV adaptation of Dame Jilly Cooper's epic 1980s bonkbuster novel Rivals is apparently a huge hit in the UK, and US viewers are still discovering it from word-of-mouth is synonymous with sex, and having David Tennant as one of the stars certainly doesn't hurt. Tennant and producer Felictity Blunt talked to Variety to big up the series to American viewers not familiar with Cooper. The series may have other British topliners like Aiden Turner and Danny Dyer, but they're less well-known outside the UK than Tennant, who is known all over the world for having played Doctor Who.
Image: BBC
"She's a writer with a reputation within the United Kingdom," said Blunt, Cooper's longtime literary agent. "But I would say you should never judge a book by a cover. She talks about misogyny, sexism, racism, homophobia; that's been throughout her books from the very, very beginning," said Blunt. "She was never preaching to you; she was just making you feel uncomfortable, and then you would take away your feelings about it. And I think that is the genius of her writing."
"There probably is, or was, a snobbishness towards Jilly's writing," David Tennant shared. "I hope the success of this adaptation has gone some way to redressing that because actually you can kind of write off a 'bonkbuster' — or whatever adjectives you want to apply to these books — that can minimize how successful they are. But clearly, Jilly has an understanding of human beings."
David Tennant Plays an Asshole and is Still Fun to Watch
Tennant is no stranger to playing bad guys or horrible guys. He played an abusive boyfriend in the BBC miniseries Secret Smile before he began his run on Doctor Who in the 2000s, and after Doctor Who, he made a big splash with Jessica Jones playing The Purple Man, the most terrifying psychopath any actor could ever get to play. In Rivals, Tennant plays Sir Tony Baddington, whose near-Dickensian name tells you everything you need to know about the character. He's rich, insecure, controlling, craven, vicious, and ultimately abusive, hitting his mistress in the season finale when he discovers she's been sleeping with his nemesis and mortal enemy, Sir Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell), the man he's spent his life loathing and feeling inferior to. Sir Tony is a terrible, terrible man and gets bonked on the head into a coma in the cliffhanger ending. Yes, it is as fun to write about as it was to watch because Tennant and his co-stars are never less than entertaining.
More Successful TV Franchises Than Any Other Actor of the 2000s
The fervent response to Rivals has taken Tennant somewhat by surprise, though it shouldn't since Jilly Cooper has a massive – mostly female – fandom, and his popularity with Doctor Who fans has probably also brought them to Rivals. "I've been very fortunate — it's happened a handful of times to me when I've ended up in something which becomes bigger than it is and becomes a kind of public conversation about not just the piece of work itself, but about what the repercussions of that might be societally," said Tennant. He has probably been part of more hit TV franchises in the 21st Century than any other – Doctor Who, Broadchurch, Jessica Jones, Good Omens, and now Rivals. He is one of the most in-demand actors in the UK, and his name guarantees ratings and sales, so casting him is a major get. His return to Doctor Who for the Sixtieth Anniversary Specials brought many viewers back to the show and his episodes had consistently high viewership. He was one of the best ambassadors for Doctor Who, and now he has become an international ambassador for Rivals.
Adi Tantimedh is a filmmaker, screenwriter and novelist. He wrote radio plays for the BBC Radio, “JLA: Age of Wonder” for DC Comics, “Blackshirt” for Moonstone Books, and “La Muse” for Big Head Press. Most recently, he wrote “Her Nightly Embrace”, “Her Beautiful Monster” and “Her Fugitive Heart”, a trilogy of novels featuring a British-Indian private eye published by Atria Books, a division Simon & Schuster.
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