National treasure Dame Jilly Cooper wrote beloved romantic novel Rivals in 1988, and it's now been adapted into a fittingly saucy TV series with Disney+ and Hulu. Part of the author's famous Rutshire Chronicles, the story throws you into the competitive TV ...

Jilly Cooper’s 1988 bonkbuster has been adapted into a smash hit TV series on Disney+, with a stellar all-star cast including David Tennant, Danny Dyer, Aidan Turner and Emily Atack

It's the TV series that's got everybody with an internet connection hot under the collar, but there is one small detail that Dame Jilly Cooper didn't totally agree with regarding Disney+'s adaptation of her bestselling 1988 novel, Rivals.

Following on from Riders – the first in Cooper’s Rutshire Chronicles series which explores the racy showjumping set (and distinctly remembered for its risqué cover of a woman in tight white jodhpurs being spanked) – Rivals swaps the saddle for satellites, delving deep into the supposedly sexy world of television production.

A new eight-part drama, based on one of Dame Jilly Cooper's so-called "bonkbusters" and partly filmed in the West, is being streamed. Rivals, released in 1988, has been adapted for a Disney+ series with an all-star cast including Aidan Turner and David Tennant.

In the book, Lord Baddingham is desperate to retain his TV franchise. Hiring Irish talk show star Declan O’Hara and handsome but brash producer Cameron Cook, the two men begin to detest each other, leading to a storm of controversy. Enter bad boy Rupert Campbell-Black to stir up even more trouble.

Taggie and Caitlin looking out for each other when their parents are otherwise engaged, Lizzie's embarrassment over her photo on her book, Freddie sneaking extra potatoes and, lonely Rupert going home alone as the camera pans out, making him seem smaller and smaller and his huge house even bigger... it's all perfect.

From Stephanie Meyer popping up in the first Twilight film, to Margaret Atwood appearing in The Handmaid's Tale pilot, we get a very bookish thrill seeing our favourite authors on screen, and now we can add Dame Jilly Cooper to that list too.