Rivals boss reveals huge update on future of other Rutshire novels coming to TV

More of Dame Jilly Cooper's steamy novels are heading for the screen, after the production company behind Disney+ hit Rivals has now secured the rights to the late author's entire Rutshire Chronicles series.

Executive producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins confirmed the plan at an event celebrating Cooper's work at Cheltenham Literature Festival, saying the team now has material to keep the saga running for years to come.

"We have got the rights to all four of the Rutshire Chronicles and it's interesting that if you look on the poster Disney have changed it to 'based upon Jilly Cooper's Rutshire Chronicles' and not upon the Rivals," Treadwell-Collins said.

He added that the approach was collaborative with Cooper and her family. "We have her blessing, we have got the family who we keep talking to, and what we are doing is taking bits of the books and repurposing them, playing around with them, but she's there as this Jilly treasure trove," he said.

"So, we would like to keep going forever."

The production company behind the series, Happy Prince, holds the rights to adapt the wider collection of novels rather than just Rivals alone. Treadwell-Collins said the breadth of source material means "we have got all these books to plunder" and "we can make it go forever".

Cooper, who was known to fans for steamy novels of scandal and adultery in upper-class society including Riders and Polo, died after a fatal head injury during a fall at her Gloucestershire home in October last year, aged 88.

Rivals has become a notable success for Disney+, with a cast including David Tennant, Emily Atack, Aidan Turner, Katherine Parkinson, Alex Hassell and Danny Dyer.

The show has already begun weaving in characters from across Cooper's wider world, with the second batch of season 2 episodes expected to start airing in just under a month.

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Treadwell-Collins said Cooper had been involved in shaping the series up to and beyond her death. "We have Jilly's notes for season 1 and all the way through season 2, we talked to her about our plans for season three and beyond," he said. "We have her seal of approval on big story points."

Disney+ has already confirmed a third season of Rivals, which is set to run to 12 episodes, so it hardly comes as any surprise that there's plenty more gas left in the tank of this TV universe.

The producer revealed that the whole adventure began when he wrote Cooper a "love letter" explaining how much he loved her novels and how he would bring them to life on screen.

"All the way through my career I have been mocked for suggesting it, television producers would laugh at me," he said. "We went to see her, she said, 'You've got to write this, you've got to adapt this Dominic because you are a writer'."

He added: "Jilly's made me a writer, that's really, really special. To bring that joy to Jilly Cooper is the proudest thing I've ever done, ever."

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