Brand new eight-part drama Rivals has arrived on Disney+ today, after shooting at The Bottle Yard Studios’ premium TBY2 facility, and on location in Bristol and the West Country.
Produced by Happy Prince, part of ITV Studios, Rivals is based on the celebrated novel by the best-selling West-country author Dame Jilly Cooper. Set in the Cotswolds and London against the backdrop of the drama, excess, and shocking antics of the power-grabbing social elite of 1980s England, it delves headfirst into the ruthless world of independent television in 1986.
Its star-studded cast includes Alex Hassell, Bella Maclean, Katherine Parkinson, David Tennant, Aidan Turner, Nafessa Williams, Emily Atack, Catriona Chandler, Danny Dyer, Rufus Jones, Lisa McGrillis, Luke Pasqualino, Claire Rushbrook and Victoria Smurfit.
Studio shoot
The highly anticipated series was the first to film at The Bottle Yard Studios’ premium TBY2 facility which opened in 2022. Pre-production took place between December 2022 and March 2023, followed by a six-month shoot that wrapped in September 2023. In addition to studio filming, a host of locations in Bristol and the wider West of England region were utilised, with close support from regional Film Offices.
“Bristol and The Bottle Yard Studios were the perfect production base for Jilly Cooper’s Rivals, which is set in the glorious countryside of the Cotswolds,” says Producer, Eliza Mellor. “We were very excited to be the first production to use the two main stages of TBY2 and they certainly lived up to our expectations.
“We were able to build the TV studio, complete with a 1980’s control room on one of the stages and used the second stage for other Corinium TV interiors, the Priory kitchen and sitting room and many other small sets that were needed across the series. We also had our production and art department offices on site at The Bottle Yard and the staff were on hand to help with all our requirements. We were able to find all the locations within a 30-mile radius of The Bottle Yard. And one of the big attractions of filming in the Bristol area is that there are so many local crew of a very high calibre to choose from.”
Scroll through this gallery of Corinium Television studio sets:
Scroll through this gallery of The Priory studio sets:
All images courtesy Disney+
Bristol as London
Out on the streets, Bristol Film Office facilitated a host of city locations. At Corn Street near St Nicholas Markets, exterior scenes were filmed with guests arriving for a lavish TV awards full of 80’s glamour, posing for paparazzi on the red carpet.
Elsewhere, Bristol’s streets doubled for ‘80’s London; red double deckers were a common sight and at Queen Square, cast members were filmed driving Sinclair C5’s, one-person electric tricycles from the era.
Jet setting scenes
Filming also took place on board the iconic supersonic jet at Aerospace Bristol in Filton, which is of course synonymous with the jet-setting period in which Rivals is set. A similar supersonic passenger jet features in the opening sequences of episode one.
Rivals filming at Aerospace Bristol (image: Adam Jones)
“It was amazing to see dozens of extras, dressed like travellers from the 1980s, boarding the supersonic jet as if they were about to take off on a real flight,” says Adam Jones, Head of Commercial Operations at Aerospace Bristol. “We look forward to welcoming fans of the programme to the museum for a taste of that supersonic passenger jet experience!”
Regional impact
Shoots like this rely on the skilled crew base that is local to the region. “Bristol has lots of very experienced and talented crew and it was a pleasure to work there”, says Gary Matsell, Head of Production at ITV Studios.
“The core crew was approx 120, but there were lots of dailies, suppliers, 2nd unit crew etc, who would come and go. Probably 90% were local to the West of England region. We had trainees in every department, most of whom were also local.
“Overall, Bristol worked well for Rivals because of the variety of locations and facilities we required. Access to the studio as well as more urban locations, but easy access to the Cotswolds and other areas around Bristol, was key to creating the fictional Rutshire of Rivals,” he continues.
“Rivals has been an incredibly significant scripted title for our regional industry,” says Laura Aviles, Bristol City Council’s Head of Film. “It’s a truly West Country production both on the page and behind the scenes. With such a stellar cast, it was the ideal first booking for The Bottle Yard’s premium TBY2 facility. Thanks to the work of Bristol Film Office supporting city locations, plus the exceptional private locations the wider region has to offer and our highly skilled local crew base, the show’s producers found everything they needed right here.”
Rivals: The Storyline
In the fictional county of Rutshire, a long-standing rivalry between two powerful men is about to boil over. Alex Hassell (‘The Tragedy of Macbeth’, ‘The Boys’) plays dashing ex-Olympian, Tory Member of Parliament and incorrigible rake, the dangerously charismatic Rupert Campbell-Black. David Tennant (‘Doctor Who’, ‘Good Omens’) plays Rupert’s single-mindedly ambitious and egotistical Rutshire neighbour Lord Tony Baddingham, controller of Corinium Television. A long-simmering power struggle between them threatens to boil over when the two men lock horns over the future of Corinium.
Caught in the crossfire is TV presenter Declan O’Hara, played by Aidan Turner (‘Poldark’, ‘The Suspect’). Fiercely intellectual, with an even fiercer temper, he is wooed to Corinium TV from the BBC by Baddingham himself, but feels he’s been swindled when Tony refuses to deliver on his promises. Furious with Tony, Declan vows to get his revenge.
Victoria Smurfit (‘Bloodlands’, ‘Once Upon A Time’) plays Maud O’Hara, a former actress and Declan’s bohemian, fickle wife. Bella Maclean (‘Spring Awakening’, ‘Sex Education’) plays Declan and Maud’s tender-hearted yet strong-willed elder daughter, Taggie. She holds the O’Hara family together and keeps an eye on her younger and wilder sister Caitlin, played by Catriona Chandler (‘Pistol’, ‘Enola Holmes 2’).
Nafessa Williams (‘Black Lighting’, ‘Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody’) plays Cameron Cook, a ferociously talented American TV executive who is brought to Corinium by Tony to produce Declan’s new prime-time talk show. She soon finds herself caught between the two powerful men who deeply underestimate her – at their peril. Katherine Parkinson (‘Humans’, ‘Here We Go’) stars as Lizzie Vereker, a romantic novelist consistently overlooked by her preening and self-centred TV presenter husband, James Vereker, played by Oliver Chris (‘The Crown’, ‘Trying’).
Danny Dyer (‘EastEnders, ‘The Football Factory’) stars as Freddie Jones: honourable, loyal and lovable, he’s a self-made electronics millionaire. Freddie’s got the money, but finds himself, along with his social-climbing wife Valerie (played by Lisa McGrillis ‘Maternal’, ‘Mum’), an outsider to Rutshire’s cliques. But when Rupert and Tony come to him with a business proposition, all that could change.
Claire Rushbrook (‘Sherwood’, ‘Ali and Ava’) plays Lady Monica Baddingham, Tony’s dependable, upper-crust wife who has absolutely no interest in the dramatic goings-on within her husband’s empire. Luke Pasqualino (‘Skins’, ‘Shantaram’) plays the charming Basil ‘Bas’ Baddingham, Tony’s younger brother and the proprietor of Cotchester’s hot spot, ‘Bar Sinister’.
Emily Atack (‘The Emily Atack Show, ‘The Inbetweeners’) plays Sarah Stratton, the new wife to Deputy Prime Minister, Paul Stratton, played by Rufus Jones (‘W1A’, ‘Home’). Sarah is ambitious and not afraid to use her looks to get to the top. Paul, on the other hand, is in the throes of a midlife crisis – everyone knows it.
Rivals is executive produced by Dominic Treadwell-Collins and Alexander Lamb, Felicity Blunt, Laura Wade, Jilly Cooper and Director of Scripted Content for Disney+ EMEA Lee Mason. It is produced by Happy Prince, which is part of ITV Studios and the series is written by Treadwell-Collins with Olivier Award-winner Laura Wade. Lead director is BAFTA-nominated Elliot Hegarty, who also serves as executive producer on episodes 1-4. Eliza Mellor serves as Series Producer.
Rivals is available from 18th October 2024 on Disney+ in the UK and Hulu in the US.