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Coincidentally, Aidan Turner had previously filmed at Chavenage House (the Priory in Rivals)
Story
It follows Rupert Campbell-Black and Tony Baddingham as their long-standing rivalry comes to a head.
The same filming location was used to depict Trenwith House in the BBC TV adaptation of Poldark in 2015
So you all read the book eons ago (it was like a ritual of growing up in a certain time and place) and TBH remembered very little that apart from the weird name (because some of the ones Jilly created were soooo de rigeur – Rupert Campbell Black says it all – and somewhat passed into the lexicon), but I started almost immediately, if I don’t remember the story on great, getting a synaptic image with the intoxicating scent of YSL Opium from watching The Rivals.
This adaptation (one ep in) seems to look just right
His silly giggles instead of loud laughs and cheeky rather than rude.
and socio-political commentary, although not shoved in your face, is much clearer than when you read books
He quickly built a world – the 80s, greedy Thatcherite old men and yuppies, bored women and fearsome warriors, all treated like meat no matter what they do, concord, cigars and songbirds, strata of the English classes, the UK in a globalizing world trying to drive nails at the top…
Okay, it’s a bit panty, pantie panto, but FFS why not?!
Maybe it’s because I’m older and have met more people that Cooper’s critique of British culture is more obvious, but I think it’s also important the cast, the accents, the costumes – the drawing of each character' habitus (to quote Bordeau) and presentation to an audience for consideration, admiration, disparagement and/or trepidation.
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