Disney+ has unleashed Rivals today…and along with it, one of literature’s most notorious lotharios. 

The character of ex Olympian show jumper turned Tory MP Rupert Campbell Black is played by British actor Alex Hassell, and from the opening scenes of the eight-part adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s 1988 book, RBC’s libido is front and centre. 

A cramped mile-high encounter on Concorde with tabloid journalist Beattie Johnson (Annabel Scholey) introduces the high society cad to a 2024 audience – and around 20 minutes later they’re shown a lot more, when the super-stud is interrupted while playing tennis in the buff with his friend’s buxom wife.

Reviews for the Disney+ adaptation have praised the platform’s faithfulness to Cooper’s colourful, extravagant plots and characters…and a second season already seems like a given.

Should TV execs want to mine more from Rupert Campbell Black, there’s thousands of pages dedicated to his antics; he was Cooper’s main protagonist is many of her most famous novels, including Riders (1986), Polo: (1991), The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous: (1993) and Appassionata (1996). 

Cooper, now 87, has always been frank about the many men – rich and dashing in their youth – who moulded Rupert’s looks and characters. 

The writer has always maintained she gleaned only the best bits from her various high-society pals, saying she was inspired by ‘their charm and glamour’ and Rupert’s ‘naughty behaviour’ didn’t come from them. 

She even managed to get two of her muses down to her house in the Cotswolds to raise a glass of champagne with actor Hassell, who plays Rupert, to celebrate the new TV show. 

Here, MailOnline looks at some of the high society figures who led the author to her most famous lothario… 

THE QUEEN’S FORMER HUSBAND: ANDREW PARKER BOWLES 

Once seen as a dashing figure and something of a ladies man, Andrew Parker Bowles is said to have provided at least some of the inspiration for Rupert Campbell Black. 

In Cooper’s books, Campbell-Black is described as ‘well-constructed. Usually, men with such long legs had short bodies but Rupert, from the broad flat shoulders to the lean muscular hips and powerful thighs, seemed perfectly in proportion.’

The same might be said of a young Parker Bowles although the former husband of Queen Camilla has always batted away the more exaggerated stories of his bedroom conquests.

Known as ‘The Brigadier’ in reference to his former career as an army officer who served with the Blues and Royals and was awarded a Queen’s Commendation for Bravery in Zimbabwe, Parker Bowles, now 84, has moved in royal circles for decades – and remains good friends with his ex-wife Queen Camilla. 

Parker Bowles first met Camilla in the late 1960s and they dated on and off for several years before marrying in 1973.

The couple divorced in 1995 after 22 years of marriage and have two children: food writer Tom, 49 and Laura Lopes, 46, an artist.

The now 84-year-old was a guest at Charles and Camilla’s wedding in April 2005, attending their service of blessing at St George’s Chapel, Windsor.

The Marchioness of Lansdowne, one of Camilla’s Queen’s Companions, has said of Cooper’s muse: ‘Everybody loves Andrew. He’s a real charmer but he’s always terribly misbehaving.’

LEGENDARY LONDON TAILOR: RUPERT LYCETT GREEN 

Tailor to the stars, Rupert Lycett Green became one of London’s biggest movers and shakers in the 1960s and 70s thanks to his London shop Blades.

Well connected by birth, he is the son of Commander David Cecil Lycett Green – and enjoyed a glass of champagne with Cooper at her home when the latest incarnation of her bed-hopping bounder was unveiled on Disney+.

The 85-year-old continues to be a key figure in high society – and still has plenty of energy, it seems. 

Last year he completed the Cresta Run, 71 years after he first hurtled down St Moritz’s forbidding track.

‘Riding the Cresta is sliding down an iced toboggan run at more than 70mph, lying on your tummy with your face a couple of inches from the ice,’ he said afterwards. ‘I’m still hooked.’ 

Five-and-a-half years after the death of his wife, Candida – daughter of Sir John Betjeman – Lycett Green married again at the age of 81, four years ago. 

His bride was Julia Dawson, some 25 years his junior, who has two children by a previous marriage.

‘THE BEST OF RUPERT…WITHOUT THE AWFUL PARTS’ MICHAEL HOWARD, 21ST EARL OF SUFFOLK

Cooper also drew on the dashing Mickey Suffolk, the 21st Earl of Suffolk, a playboy in his youth who died in 2022 aged 87. 

The author partly based her famous caddish character on the Earl – but again said she only used his good bits. 

Speaking to Richard Eden, the 87-year-old said she would cherish the memories she had with the Earl, who was married three times.

‘He was a lovely man — huge fun,’ she said.

‘I first met him when I moved to Gloucester in 1982. Whenever he used to phone, he’d say, “It’s Rupert here”.

‘So I said, “You know there are two more?”

‘And he would say, “Yes, but I’m the real one”.’

The Earl owned Charlton Park estate in Wiltshire, where the Womad music festival is held.

Cooper added: ‘Despite his title and status, he never made you feel inferior. All the best of Rupert, but without the awful parts.’

Howard had first married Simone Litman in 1960, with whom he has a daughter, before he then wed Anita Fugelsang in 1973 and had two children with her.

A decade later, he married for the third time, to Linda Paravicini, with whom he also had two children.

HUNTSMAND AND ART DEALER: DAVID SOMERSET, 11TH DUKE OF BEAUFORT

David Somerset, the 11th Duke of Beaufort, was once famously described as ‘ruthless yet charming… the kindest man alive’.

The son of Henry Robert Somers Fitzroy De Vere Somerset and Bettine Violet Malcolm, he was educated at Eton and was a keen huntsman. 

The Duke was also chairman of Marlborough Fine Art and an English Peer.  

He died in 2017 at the age of 89, bequeathing a personal fortune of £71 million after a lifetime at the helm of one of biggest estates in England.

As owner of the 52,000-acre Badminton Estate in Gloucestershire – home of the famous horse trials, and the place where the game of Badminton was invented in 1863, the Duke could count many of the royal family as close friends. 

THE AUTHOR’S OWN HUSBAND, LEO COOPER, AND HER FATHER, W. B. SALLITT

Speaking about the making of Rivals for TV, the author reveals she also draws on her father and late husband to inform her male leads.

‘I adored my very handsome father who got a First at Cambridge, and also played rugger for both Cambridge and the Army. Later he escaped from Dunkirk and became a Brigadier.

‘He was very macho, as was my lovely late husband of 52 years – I love macho men but only ones who have a great sense of humour and are kind, especially to animals.’

Disney+ confirms future of Rivals as its sexiest ever show hits screens today to rave reviews

Disney+ has confirmed the future of Dame Jilly Cooper’s unabashedly risque new series, Rivals.

The show, which boasts a stellar cast, officially landed on the streamer today (October 18) and has already earned rave reviews from critics.

Screenwriter Dominic Treadwell-Collins recently confirmed that he only adapted the first half of the Rivals book on purpose. 

And now a TV insider has revealed: ‘The feeling is that there is still so much more in the story that could easily be made into a sequel.

‘Disney+ appear to be on board, even though they haven’t announced an official commission yet.

‘Bosses at the streamer can see there is a huge amount of anticipation for this show, and having seen the episodes, they know it won’t disappoint.

‘So going for a follow-up is a no-brainer, though these things take money and time, particularly as they have to try to align the very busy diaries of Rivals’ star-studded cast.’

According to Disney+, Rivals is a ‘joyously mischievous rollercoaster ride, steamy in its love stories and packed with larger-than-life characters.’

The streaming service continues that it brings a ‘2020s lens to the 1980s’, offering a ‘raw exploration of a complicated moment in British history when class, race, sex, wealth, and sexual liberation meant that, for the very privileged few, there were no limits to what they could achieve’.

The cast includes Poldark heartthrob Aidan Turner, ex-Doctor Who David Tennant, Sex Education actress Bella Maclean and Alex Hassell, from BBC fantasy series His Dark Materials.

Rivals has already bagged a whopping Rotten Tomatoes score of 93%

The racy eight-part series is based on Dame Jilly’s raunchy 1988 novel, and follows the cutthroat world of independent television in 1986.

The book, part of the Rutshire Chronicles, soared to the top of the charts and sold more than a million copies. 

Following the announcement executive producer and Rivals author Jilly Cooper commented: ‘I’m utterly enchanted to be able to announce our all-star line-up for Rivals.

‘Featuring some of the best acting talent that the British Isles has to offer, I couldn’t have dreamed of a better ensemble cast.

‘I cannot wait to be on set and see them bring the characters I love so much to life. 

‘The minute we met with Alex we knew he’d perfectly embody my all-time hero, the iconic, racy, ruthless, and devastatingly handsome, Rupert Campbell-Black. Viewers are in for a treat!’.

In Dame Jilly’s Rutshire Chronicles universe, marriages are largely of convenience, with wives accepting ‘boys will be boys’.

Men are applauded for their caddish tendencies – while weight is referenced in a way that would not be acceptable to a modern audience.

One wife proudly announces that she weighs seven stone and that anyone larger than a size six is fat. Another is referred to as ‘poor fat Sharon’.

It also features powerful man approaching 40 hitching up with a young woman yet to turn 19.

Rivals is now available to watch on Disney+ in the UK and on Hulu in the United States.