Actress Bella Maclean says she put no nudity clause into Rivals contract

Actress Bella Maclean has said she put a no nudity clause into her contract on Disney+ drama Rivals.

The 28-year-old plays Taggie O’Hara in the show, which follows the world of independent television in 1986, and follows a rivalry between Lord Tony Baddingham (David Tennant) and former MP Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell).

Speaking about adding the clause, she told Harper’s Bazaar: “It was important because of how pure Taggie’s character was. I didn’t want to sexually exploit her, and I didn’t want to do that to myself either.

“That was really important to me, and I think it will stay important to me. There are some things I just want to keep to myself.

Maclean also said new episodes of Rivals would carry Dame Jilly Cooper’s spirit (Harper’s Bizarre UK/Pip)

“I don’t judge anyone who does it. Sometimes it’s so beautiful. If I had Victoria Smurfit’s body, I’d probably be walking around naked.

“But in that sense, we’re all lucky because there are amazing intimacy coordinators on our job. I know that’s not the case for other people. We’re all good friends who can just say no to the directors and they’ll listen.”

The series is an adaption of the Rutshire Chronicles novel series, written by Dame Jilly Cooper, who died in October last year at the age of 88, but Maclean said the show’s new series, which will return to the streaming platform on November 11, would carry her spirit.

Maclean on the cover of Harper’s Bizarre UK (Harper’s Bizarre UK/Pip)

She added: “Jilly is the heart of everything we do, and I feel her naughtiness a lot in the second half of the new season. This series is so juicy, it gets so intense. That’s all Jillyness. She pushed things.”

Alongside Rivals, Maclean has also appeared in the fourth season of Netlix’s Sex Education and BBC crime drama Silent Witness.

– The full interview with Maclean can be read in the December/January issue of Harper’s Bazaar, on sale from November 6.