London, U.K. (September 25, 2024) – Ahead of its October 18th launch Disney+ today revealed the first full-length trailer for the upcoming adaptation of Dame Jilly Cooper’s iconic “Rivals”. The trailer features as yet unseen characters from ‘The Cooperverse’ with the eight-part series set against the backdrop of the drama, excess, and shocking antics of the power-grabbing social elite of 1980s England, “Rivals” delves headfirst into the ruthless world of independent television in 1986.

Rivals stars Alex Hassell (“The Tragedy of Macbeth”, “The Boys”) as Rupert Campbell-Black, David Tennant (“Doctor Who”, “The Thursday Murder Club”) as Lord Tony Baddingham, Aidan Turner (“Poldark”, “The Suspect”) as Declan O’Hara and Bella Maclean as Taggie O’Hara, alongside Danny Dyer (“EastEnders”, “The Football Factory”), Katherine Parkinson (“Humans”, “Here We Go”), Nafessa Williams (“Black Lighting”, “Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody”), Emily Atack (“The Emily Atack Show”, “The Inbetweeners”) and Victoria Smurfit (“Bloodlands”, “Once Upon A Time”).

Also starring in the upcoming series are, Catriona Chandler (“Pistol”, “Enola Holmes 2”), Oliver Chris (“The Crown”, “Trying”), Rufus Jones (“W1A”, “Home”), Lisa McGrillis (“Maternal”, “Mum”), Luke Pasqualino (“Skins”, “Shantaram”), Claire Rushbrook (“Sherwood”, “Ali & Ava”) and Gary Lamont (“Boiling Point”, “Outlander”).

“Rivals” is executive produced by Dominic Treadwell-Collins (“A Very English Scandal”, “Holding”, “EastEnders”), Alexander Lamb (“Ackley Bridge”, “The Bay”, “We Hunt Together”), Felicity Blunt, Olivier Award-winning playwright Laura Wade (“The Riot Club”), “Rivals” author Dame Jilly Cooper and Director of Scripted Content for Disney+ EMEA Lee Mason. “Rivals” is produced by Happy Prince, which is part of ITV Studios. The series is written by Dominic Treadwell-Collins and Laura Wade alongside the series episodic writers room which includes: Sophie Goodhart (“The Baby”, “Sex Education”), Marek Horn (“Wild Swimming”, “Octopolis”), Mimi Hare & Clare Naylor (“The Accidental Husband”), Dare Aiyegbayo (“The Dumping Ground”, “EastEnders”), Kefi Chadwick (“Looted”, “Avoidance”). Tray Agyeman is a shadow writer on episode 6, and Sorcha Kurien Walsh (“The Pink Pill”) is staff writer in the room. The Casting Director is Kelly Valentine Hendry (“Bridgerton”, “The Last Kingdom”, “Kaos”).

The lead director is BAFTA-nominated Elliot Hegarty (“Ted Lasso, Cheaters”, “Trying”), who also serves as executive producer on episodes 1-4. Eliza Mellor (“The Midwich Cuckoos”, “Behind Her Eyes”, “Poldark”) serves as Series Producer. Dee Koppang O’Leary (“The Crown”) and Alexandra Brodski (“Somewhere Boy”) also direct episodes.

All episodes of “Rivals” will launch on 18 October 2024, exclusively on Disney+.

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