Rivals cast respond to fan backlash: 'You need a character that is so loved to make that impact'

Rivals fans got a shock earlier this year when season two's first instalment ended with a tragic twist. Lady Monica Baddingham (Claire Rushbrook), the wife of David Tennant's Tony, was killed in a car accident after finding out about her husband's affair with Maud O'Hara, played by Victoria Smurfit.

Monica's death served a massive twist to fans of Jilly Cooper's original Rutshire Chronicles novels, as the character has a very different arc in the books. Instead of meeting a tragic fate, Monica goes on to leave her cheating husband and find love with a woman.

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In the show, a romance between Monica and her old friend Dame Enid Spink was hinted at but, sadly, they never got to be together.

Now, speaking as part two of season two has just debuted on Disney+, the series' cast addressed the controversial decision to kill off one of the show's only LGBTQ+ characters.

Alex Hassell, who plays Rupert Campbell-Black, told Metro: "I do think that – because [the writers] knew where they were going – they wrote up the character to some amazing heights.

"She got to do some really incredible human stuff that is some of the best work of either series."

Bella Maclean, who plays Taggie O'Hara, added that Monica's death sets up some "amazing" plots for other women in the show including her sister Caitlin (Catriona Chandler), who was in the car with Monica when she died.

"It aided a lot of, not only the men, but also the women because I think it was the catalyst for Lizzie’s character to go for what she’s really after," Maclean explained, hinting at Katherine Parkinson's character's affair with Danny Dyer's Freddie.

Related: Rivals season 2's twisty second half serves up a never-ending source of delicious revenge

Likening Monica’s death to a "bomb" going off in Rutshire, Maclean added: "It is heartbreaking because she’s also beloved and is one of all of our closest friends, so it’s agony.

"It’s such a loved character. But you need a character that is so loved in order to make such an impact. But it’s heartbreaking, and we don’t like her not being around. It’s complicated."

Speaking about his final scene with Rushbrook, Hassell added: "It was just really upsetting. You are trying to make as thin as possible the veil of what is real and what is not for yourself, if you know what I mean. And I just found it very, very upsetting."

Rivals is available to watch on Disney+.

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Stephanie is a freelance news writer, who previously covered WWE and AEW for Digital Spy.

After graduating with a degree in history from Queen Mary University, London, she studied journalism at Birkbeck University.

Outside of her work at Digital Spy, she writes about pop culture, with a special focus towards Irish media and how it intersects with politics.