Rivals star talks Freddie and Lizzie affair: "It’s about time more people were Team Valerie!"

Among all the steamy affairs in Rutshire, one love story has really captured the audience’s imagination. Fans are enamoured by the passion between multi-millionaire Freddie (Danny Dyer) and novelist Lizzie (Katherine Parkinson), both trapped in unhappy marriages.

Even Lisa McGrillis, who plays Freddie’s wife Valerie Jones, loves the pair – although she is conflicted about whether to root for them. “As a fan – and I do watch Rivals, because there are so many stories I’m not involved in – I’m invested in all the storylines, including Freddie and Lizzie,” she says.

“Does it compromise my part if they end up together, though? What would happen to Valerie? I don’t want to be written out!”

Valerie is a social climber who berates her husband and two children, Wayne and Sharon, for not being slim or posh enough to fit into high society. But McGrillis, who found fame as Kelly in the BAFTA-winning sitcom Mum alongside Lesley Manville, says we’ll see a different side to Valerie in the latest episodes.

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“I’m often cast as characters who are potentially irritating,” she says, “and I love changing people’s opinions. Kelly and Valerie both seem rude but are misunderstood. Valerie’s desperate for people to say she has a wonderful house and beautiful taste, which leads her to be ridiculed. But in these episodes, we see more humanity and vulnerability. If I can make people feel sorry for her and see her in a different light, I’ve done my job.”

After Monica’s death, Valerie is deeply affected, believing that she and Monica were close friends – “although I don’t think Monica would agree!” laughs McGrillis.

“I’d have really loved to have played Monica,” says McGrillis. “Nobody could play her as well as Claire Rushbrook, but she’s such an interesting character. She’s quiet and controlled, but underneath there’s so much burning inside her.”

In the throes of grief, Valerie initiates sex with Freddy, which leads to one of the funniest bedroom scenes of the series. “Valerie finds sex quite dirty,” says McGrillis. “She and Freddie have drifted apart, and probably only have sex on birthdays, and maybe Christmas.

She initiates this moment, needing comfort, and suddenly, because Freddie’s learned new moves with Lizzie, Valerie has an enormous orgasm. It reconnects them, and makes Valerie feel something she hasn’t felt for a long time, in the most explosive way! I’m thrilled for her.”

Most characters in Rivals have sex scenes, ranging from the hilarious to the raunchy, so how does McGrillis feel about her first major sex scene? “Bums out and showers – I’m glad I don’t have to do that!” she laughs. “Although who knows what’s to come, now we’ve seen what Valerie’s capable of? Sex scenes are awkward, so it’s a lot easier to do a funny one. Danny and I were crying with laughter. There was a lot of satin – the bedding, Danny’s pyjamas, my babydoll. I was hot, slipping and sliding all over.”

It’s an interesting storyline, given the '80s was a pivotal decade for feminists and sexperts encouraging women to enjoy love-making. McGrillis, 44, the youngest of four children growing up in Cumbria, remembers learning about the birds and the bees from The Joy of Sex by Alex Comfort, the famous book that was a staple in many '80s homes.

“I don’t remember having ‘the talk’ with my parents,” she says. “My mum just positioned The Joy of Sex on the bookshelf! That book features in Sue Townsend’s Adrian Mole, which I’m currently filming. Women were reading that, and bonkbusters like Rivals. They were experiencing sex in a new way, and being told that women can enjoy sex, too. Valerie definitely does now!”

Rivals was, indeed, seminal for many women, thanks to the genius of Jilly Cooper. As Cooper was so hands-on in the production, McGrillis says she was able to use her advice as well as her own intuition in building her character.

“Jilly held my hand on my very first day and said, ‘Isn’t Valerie awful?’

That’s been a brilliant note for me. She is awful, but I’ve definitely met people like that, who are trying so hard that they just aren’t very likeable. I used some women I’d observed over the years, added a bit of Hyacinth Bucket, and a bit of Sybil Fawlty – especially that ‘telephone voice’ she uses.

“But as well as calling her ‘awful’, Jilly also said she adored Valerie. There was something very special about her saying that. I adore her too. It’s about time more people were Team Valerie!”

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