What a recipe!
Sex
Tories
Cotswolds
the 1980s
Danny Dyer
Four stars out of five from the FT:
Anyone else?
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I’ve only read one Jilly Cooper (my sisters copy of polo on holiday in the 80s when I’d read all my Stephen Kings) but I’m well up for this, reviews I’ve seen make it sound like it’ll be good trashy fun
I bet you are, you dirty bollocks
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3 episodes in, this is good stuff
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Oooh yeah I’ve been excited about seeing this
Yeah it’s well good
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Watched this till about 3am last night 
It’s brilliant! Absolutely everyone is perfect in it!
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finished this. yeah it’s good. mistakenly thought it was a miniseries though
Loving it so far.
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So good. Gone right to the top of the chart for this year’s tv.
Taggie is so annoying. For someone so sanctimonious she really does love a massive tory.
Also Taggie is very nonsensical nickname for the name Agatha.
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my girlfriend left a couple of weeks ago for work based travel, one of the last things she said to me before going was:
‘when i’m back we’re watching Rivals, so don’t watch it without me and even if you’re not remotely fussed you’re watching it with me’ 
Have enjoyed a couple jilly cooper books over the years.
My character impressions after five episodes:
Rupert Campbell-Black
Love him. What a rogue. He harbours some trauma but overcomes it with privilege.
Lord Baddingham
Tennant is fantastic, by the way. Maybe the most complete performance in the series. Classic pantomime villain done really well.
Declan O’Hara
Complex. You’re never sure if he’s happy. I’m at the stage of the series he is becoming one of the people he pretends to hate.
Maud O’Hara
Bit shallow as a character. Is the book different? I don’t get why she feels claustrophobic around all this vivacious, salacious and sexed up neighbours.
Cameron Cook
Sometimes takes me out of the action. The performance is fantastic but the character a little cliche? There’s surely more to her than being a simp for Baddingham.
Lizzie Vereker
Love her. Really captures the sort of acquiescent, timid, bored housewife. Really enjoy watching her storyline develop.
Taggie
Hope she starts to assert herself. I cannot continue to pity her.
Caitlin O’Hara
Wish she was as rebellious as her hair suggests.
James Vereker
Utterly loathsome and dim. Deserves everything that’s coming to him.
Freddie Jones
Maybe the standout performance of the series. Love the fact that he is smart in a way that none of the others are. Good allegory for intelligent people from modest origins that achieve success.
Valerie Jones
Perfect. Really well written character and fantastic performance. It’s nothing new but the friction is familiar and recognisable. Loved her scene with Lady Baddingham.
Really hastily written summaries, sometimes about the acting, sometimes about the character.
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My criticism of Taggie above also applies to Declan I guess. It becomes more enjoyable when you accept they’re all massive tories (except maybe Danny Dyer, who I agree is really good in this).
Also shout out to Lady Baddingham. It’s like they kidnapped an actual aristocratic woman from a field in Chipping Norton and put her in the show.
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hold on, is this part of the sex tennis film universe?
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oh, it was called ‘challengers’. point remains though.
Yes.
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That’s Claire Rushbrook! Who is definitely not an actual aristocrat - you may have seen her in things like Secrets & Lies and Ali & Ava
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She twisted that pheasants neck like she’d been doing it all her life.