‘Rivals’ Bella Maclean and Alex Hassell Prove You’re Missing the Point of That Age-Gap Relationship [Exclusive]

'Rivals' Returns for Season 2 After a Roaring Success

"I think that everyone's pulled apart and pulled back together and pulled apart again."

Stepping onto the Rivals set base camp, I'm greeted by row after row of trailers lined up. Since the renewal for Season 2, the series has expanded its already impressively large cast, and as clouds gently float by on an idyllic early autumn day, the crew is firing on all cylinders for a busy shoot. Bella Maclean and Catriona Chandler sit across from me in one of the empty trailers and eagerly discuss the shenanigans that the chaotic O'Hara family will be up to this season while dodging my more probing questions, hunting for spoilers. Maclean and Chandler play Taggie and Caitlin O'Hara, respectively, the eldest and youngest daughters of journalist and TV producer Declan O'Hara (Aidan Turner) and actress Maud O'Hara (Victoria Smurfit). Alongside their brother Patrick (Gabriel Tierney) and their adorable scruffy terrier named Gertrude, the O'Hara clan were the newcomers to Rutshire in Season 1. "They're kind of like a mini foundation for the show," Chandler says.

Indeed, for the most part, the O'Haras are our window into the foreign world of the Cotswolds. From boozy parties to illicit affairs playing out at all hours, the (somewhat) down-to-earth O'Haras become an anchor for audiences. Even their home, the Priory, becomes a headquarters for Declan's new production company, Venturer, and acts as the setting for parties, fights, and secret kitchen kisses. However, despite being a strong family unit, the cracks were already starting to show even upon their arrival. By the final episode of the season, Maud was leaving Declan to restart her acting career, and the family seemed shattered. "I think everyone grows up in their own dysfunctional way this season," Maclean teases. "And I think that everyone's pulled apart and pulled back together and pulled apart again."

But this tension is thankfully all on screen, and the actors all agree that while Season 1's hurdle was about getting the tone right and hoping that the show would be a success, Season 2's hurdle is maintaining and then exceeding expectations. "When we were doing Series 1, we all didn't know what we were making. Rivals is such a unique show; we were the people who set the tone," Chandler explains. "So, we were figuring it out as we went along, and now we know what it looks like and what kind of vibe the show is coming back to it a second time around. You can just go deeper and darker into your characters."

Maclean admits that Season 1 was far more daunting for her. "For me, personally, there were nerves stepping into the world, because we were surrounded by these extraordinary actors, these really seasoned actors, and I felt pressure to do the character justice," the actress says. "To know that the show's been so well received, it's essentially just been like, 'Okay, do what you're doing and just try and make it better.' And that's been really fun this season."

Alex Hassell, who plays the rakish playboy-turned-showjumper-turned-politician Rupert Campbell-Black, agrees with Maclean's sentiment. When I ask him what the biggest change for him was going from Season 1 to 2, he laughs, "Not shitting myself quite as much is probably a big part of it. It's quite a big thing to get my head around the first time in terms of the character and how to play the character, and believing myself as playing the character." Rupert, who started the series as a grade A douchebag, managed to win viewers' hearts when he fell in love with Taggie in Season 1, and although the couple shares a kiss by the finale, that doesn't mean it's a happily ever after just yet. "Rupert goes through lots of things that put me and him in a different position. So there are lots of new things to play and new dynamics of relationships to explore, which has been really fun," Hassell teases.

Season 2 Promises a Larger Cast and a Journey to the Polo Field

"Just having new young people in adds a little buzz to it all..."

Season 2 of Rivals not only got the rare boon of adding an additional four episodes to the series, but the cast has also expanded. With the introduction of polo, the series brings in the Heavenly Twins aka Sebbie (Maxim Ays) and Dommie Carlisle (Bobby Lockwood) — book readers will recognize the characters from Cooper's novels — and that's alongside Hayley Atwell coming in as Rupert's ex-wife, Helen, and Rupert Everett cast as Malise Gordon, Helen's husband and Rupert's ex-showjumping supervisor. "It's like a breath of fresh air," Chandler says excitedly. "They've got the twins and our friend Holly [Cattle], they're all polo players. And just having new young people in adds a little buzz to it all, and just makes other characters that already existed in the show act different ways."

Speaking of polo, Rupert, who was an Olympic-level showjumper before he became the Minister for Sport in Margaret Thatcher's government, is back on the horse this season. This time, he's not going for fun jaunts across his acres of land but rather holding a mallet in his hand and wearing a domed helmet. "Riding is obviously such a massive part of Rupert's life and his potency, and to get better at that was really cool," he says. "And just to learn how to play a bit of polo and ride the polo ponies, which is a completely different thing to the horses I was riding before. That was a really steep learning curve, but it's really, really fun."

The polo match, which occurs in the very first episode of the season, is one of the show's leading set pieces. The game brings together the majority of the cast, either as attendees or those filming the match. Teasing these large set pieces, Claire Rushbrook, who plays Lady Monica Baddingham, explains what audiences have to look forward to. "There are some wonderful, big, real Rivals set pieces in this where no expense was spared, that look really classy, and where often all or most of the cast are in. So they're really joyful days to film, and I know they'll look really impressive." Rushbrook laughs when I mention how intense the game looks and compliments the show for adding the game to Season 2. "Danny Dyer can play polo! And Luca Pasqualino and Alex Hassell, they're very experienced by now on horseback," she exclaims. "There's a real sense of occasion."

Season 2 Continues To Honor Jilly Cooper's Legacy

"It's been lovely to see that being celebrated for her, because she's a lovely woman, and she deserves it all."

At the core of Rivals is author Jilly Cooper. While adaptations have a rocky history of working with authors, often vacillating between being an advisor and being completely unattached to the production, Cooper was deeply involved in the series. Before the author passed in October of last year, she had been active in the production of the series and giving her input on the characters. "She's very much part of our team," Rushbrook explains. "She's our exec producer as well as the originator." But lest you think Cooper was the type to charge in and start making demands, the cast all effusively praise her presence on the project. Rushbrook adds, "She's one of the gang, and so she's very passionately and sensitively involved. She really cares and is really deeply thrilled, excited, and invested. So when there's challenging things for the characters, or when there's just sexy, delightful things happening, she's there, responding exactly how you would want her to."

Cooper, who published her first Rutshire novel back in 1985, gave her readers a look into a world that was completely foreign to them. However, that doesn't mean she was an outsider; in fact, many of her characters are based on real people that she interacted with in her own life. A major example is drawing direct influence from Andrew Parker Bowles for Rupert Campbell-Black. "She's the real deal," Rushbrook praises. "She certainly lived and breathed that world. There's something very intoxicating around her, and we all kind of drink it in."

But, for Cooper, it seems her babies have always been Rupert and Taggie. As Maclean explains, "We have spoken a lot about Taggie, and actually [Jilly's] very protective of Taggie. I think because there's a lot of morally dubious characters in the show, her want to protect Taggie is to maintain the moral compass within her. I think she feels very protective of keeping her purity because a lot of this season is about pushing all of the characters further and creating more drama. And I think the tendency is to push all of the characters and to push them to do things that are really compromising for them. Of course, they've done that with Taggie this season, but also maintaining who she is and being realistic in what she does. We've spoken about that. She's also really protective of Rupert Campbell-Black and Alex [Hassell]. I want to make sure Jilly's happy with her, and I don't feel like I'm making her too far from the novels, but also giving her my own spin, making her a young woman in 2025, that's the mindset that I have."

When Rupert, who is canonically blonde and blue-eyed in the books, was cast, fans balked at the idea of Hassell playing him with dark hair. However, the actor proved his mettle and even won over Cooper, who had been apprehensive at first. "Actually, I was talking to her the other day, and she is very, very supportive and very lovely," Hassell recalls with a smile on his face, "She has said that she thinks I'm getting better the more I do it, and I don't know if that means... I think she was really happy in the first place, so I don't feel that that was a backhanded compliment." We both laugh at that, but he continues, clarifying, "I don't know if she means that I'm becoming more like her Rupert, or that my/our Rupert is sort of solidifying and crystallizing and deepening and growing, I hope that's what it is."

Tennant, who sits across from me in full Tony Baddingham glory, is also happy to have had the author involved in the series. He gives a wide smile when I mention that I've been devouring Cooper's books since the release of Season 1, and is quick to acknowledge and give insight into Cooper's own resurgence of recognition. "She's been a hugely successful author for decades, and yet, something about the series — and maybe it's not for me to entirely judge this — but I think she's been admired and taken seriously in a new way, which I think has been a long time coming. Her writing, I think, is sometimes dismissed by people who haven't read it. It's written off or has been, historically, as the bonkbuster that you pick up at the airport and don't take very seriously. But the fact is, these characters have meant so much to generations of people, which is part of the reason why I think the series was received with such enthusiasm and has been such a big hit."

"That's only because Jilly created those characters in these worlds that are fun, sometimes silly, sometimes camp, but are also absolutely rooted in the human condition. And to see the series being so successful and people re-understanding their appreciation for what she has done, and looking at those books again and going, 'These are really good!' They're page turners, they're fun, they're exciting, but they're also really well written, and they really understand things about human beings. It's been lovely to see that being celebrated for her, because she's a lovely woman, and she deserves it all."

'Rivals' Faces a New Challenge for Season 2 With Rupert and Taggie

"Feelings don't go away, and they're probably enhanced even more after a big smooch..."

Of course, just because Cooper approves of the series doesn't mean that there haven't been some changes. The most notable one is likely the one that helped to boost the series to such meteoric heights after its release: the Rupert and Taggie kiss. While the kiss doesn't happen in the books, the scene and the relationship became one of the hallmarks of Season 1. However, if you think it's smooth sailing for these two from here on out, you'd be wrong. Nothing in Rutshire is ever easy, and the kiss, if anything, has complicated things.

"[The kiss] definitely puts a spanner in the works for the relationship and other people's relationships," Maclean says. Although the actress deftly avoids sharing spoilers, she does tease that "there's a lot of yearning," which sounds like it's sure to tug at the heartstrings of viewers invested in these two. "Again, we love to yearn, Taggie loves to yearn. It's similar to last season. Feelings don't go away, and they're probably enhanced even more after a big smooch, but how do they navigate that in a world where a lot of people don't want them to be together? That's kind of at the forefront for Taggie with the season."

Hassell also points out the promise Rupert made to Cameron (Nafessa Williams), becoming a complicating factor. "Obviously, they have that big kiss, and he says that he can't breathe without her. And I think he certainly feels that she cares for him, but no one else knows about that relationship," Hassell explains. "He made a promise to Cameron to look after her, and at the end of Season 1, she has bludgeoned Tony, so that is a responsibility that he really feels. He's definitely torn between two different women." Rupert Campbell-Black is a notorious ladies' man — the show literally kicks off with him joining the Mile High Club — but his feelings for both Taggie and Cameron go deeper than just a fling. "Despite the fact that he got with Cameron in a sort of shitty way, in terms of tricking her to get something out of her, he nonetheless grew feelings towards her," Hassell says. "You know, she's his age, and she's much more like him, so he's trying to navigate that tension."

'Rivals' Shows a New Way To Tackle the Age-Old Age-Gap Conversation

"Because it's just proving to people that it's more than just lust, it's real love, it's pure, and that's a great thing to play."

Of course, with any conversation about Rupert and Taggie comes the inevitable age gap conversation. Although there is a 17-year age gap between the two, the series has been careful in not leaning into the stereotypes that you might expect from such a relationship. Maclean is quick to jump in and discuss the conversations that were had on how to handle the relationship with care. "I think at the heart of it, it's not some sort of lustful relationship, and I think it comes from a genuine, pure place of two people really caring about the other person and valuing them as people. Although Taggie is younger, she's incredibly wise and a really, genuinely good person. I think she's the first person who hasn't judged Rupert for his behavior and just accepts him as he is."

Though the relationship between Rupert and Taggie has grown deeper and become more emotional, it definitely didn't start that way. "Part of the storyline towards the end of the first season and definitely in this season is that [Rupert's] reckoning with his past mistakes and the kind of person that he is," Hassell admits, mentioning Rupert and Taggie's first meeting when he's playing naked tennis with Sarah Stratton (Emily Atack) and the subsequent meeting when he gropes her at a dinner party. "He is trying to reckon partly because of the way that Taggie makes him feel, the way that Taggie questions him, and the kind of person that she is. It makes him question his actions, and I think he definitely feels worried that he will ruin her and hurt her feelings and destroy her and push her away in a way that he has with everyone else."

This hesitation, in turn, seems to make Rupert more inclined to pursue his relationship with Cameron instead. "Cameron makes a lot more sense, I suppose," Hassell admits. "They have similar appetites, similar drives, and ways of treating people, and also are fairly adult in the level of things that they'll forgive in each other. And also, Taggie is the daughter of one of his growing best friends, I'd say, so that is also very complicated." However, after a pause, he offers me a cheeky grin. "But... Rupert is never one to just do as he's told."

Maclean admits that "obviously the age gap is challenging, but I think they sort of meet each other in the middle, honestly, and I think their love is really pure." She clarifies, "It doesn't feel like anyone's ever taken advantage of the other person, especially Rupert to Taggie. He's actually unbelievably respectful, especially to Declan and especially to Taggie. I mean, the whole time, the yearning is partly because he feels it's wrong, right? And that's explored a lot this season as well."

And for her part, Maclean was surprised that audiences were so quick to accept the couple. "I was really worried about younger audiences and what they would feel about it. And weirdly, they're the ones that love it the most! Which, I mean in a silly way, but I mean it genuinely too — I was expecting more of an uprise," she explains with a laugh. "But I think people see it for what it is, which is a genuine, pure relationship and two people coming together, and age doesn't seem to be at the forefront of it. Although it's touched on the entire time and respected greatly, and dealt with care." When I point out the appeal of the relationship might actually be the age gap, she's quick to add, "Well, it becomes something different."

And she's right. Given Rupert's behavior and the age difference, it's surprising that the relationship never reads as manipulative or predatory. "For a very predatory man, that's quite interesting, isn't it?" Hassell teases. "But I think part of the thing about that is that I think they swap. He's incredibly juvenile and childlike a lot, and she's much more mature and adult. But then at times, they swap, and he is trying to guide her and be a mentor to her in some ways, when she needs to stand up for herself. And I think that's kind of what makes it fairly balanced in that way. It's really clever writing."

Maclean also emphasizes that the relationship "also shows that two people who supposedly on paper shouldn't be with each other, but their love for each other is so strong that they're willing to try and work out how to make something work that is unconventional." She continues, "That's what I think is the exciting part about their relationship, and actually, where all of the contrast and the push and pulls come this season. Because it's just proving to people that it's more than just lust, it's real love, it's pure, and that's a great thing to play."

But, the course of true love never did run smooth, and Hassell points out that Season 2 won't be a simple walk in the park for Rupert and Taggie. "Lots of things I'd say are unbalanced in Season 2. I think that's what's good. I think at the end of Season 1, you think, 'Oh, all of these things are just about to happen,' and then a load of shit goes down and fucks it all up in a way that thirst traps everything for everyone," he says.

I laugh at the use of "thirst trap" in this context and ask for some clarification — obviously, Rupert is not taking any shirtless selfies in the mirror any time soon — and Hassell clarifies, "As in, the relationships that you want to happen... It's not like in the first and second episodes, everything is wrapped up." And, yes, after having seen the first three episodes of Season 2, he's definitely right on that account. Consider us thirst-trapped by that finale.

Bella Maclean and Alex Hassell Reminisce on Their First Meeting

"When we're in scenes, anything goes because we're not trying to be anything we're not..."

It's not hard to see why fans gravitate so intensely toward this relationship. Maclean and Hassell have a strong natural chemistry with each other. Maclean, who was the first person cast in the series, had to do chemistry reads with potential Ruperts before Season 1. "It was very much, 'How do I fit with Bella?' But that was just very easy," Hassell recalls.

"We laugh a lot together," Maclean says with a fond smile. "I think we sat outside the room, and he introduced himself to me before we went in, and I remember having a really amazing conversation with him and being like, simultaneously, nervous around him — because I thought he was so talented — but also I just knew we got along immediately. He's very self-deprecating, and he's incredibly funny," she remembers, adding that, "We take the piss out of each other a lot, and I think that is such a special thing to have with another actor when you're supposed to be falling in love with each other, because we're so dorky with each other in real life. So when we're in scenes, anything goes because we're not trying to be anything we're not. And I think that I had that feeling."

She continues, "It was probably a huge amount of nerves in the audition room, but it's later translated into just really admiring each other and thinking each other is great, and laughing a lot. And that was kind of birthed in the room. He was just really funny, incredibly charming, and very talented. There were loads of other actors, but I just think that's the magic of the job, where you might do a chemistry reading and pick someone completely different to what I would pick. It's just whoever fits the bill and who works with you. We just got along so immediately, and I think we really bought each other as the other character."

Hassell doubles down on the sentiment and their instant connection, "It's such an odd thing, that idea of chemistry or getting on with people. But really, she was in the waiting room, I opened the door, and we both went, 'All right,' and just immediately knew how to talk to each other and how to have a laugh and how to make each other feel comfortable. It just felt extremely easy, immediately. Sometimes you do just meet someone, and you think, 'Oh, you're going to be my really, really good friend.' You just sort of know that immediately, and that is kind of what it was like."

And Hassell is happy to know that the chemistry works so well on-screen. "I do think it was really obviously very important, because lots of people have age gap relationships, but also because of the way that Rupert is, especially at the beginning, I think it was very important to feel compatibility between the characters, but also the actors. I think, in general, lots of the relationships between ourselves as actors are helping the show and do come off the screen."

Alex Hassell and David Tennant on the Complicated and Multifaceted Rupert Campbell-Black in 'Rivals'

"It's an impossible thing to play until you give it to Alex, who just gets it."

For most people going into Rivals blind, you might expect the titular rivalry to be between Aidan Turner's Declan O'Hara against David Tennant's Tony Baddingham, but Rupert Campbell-Black has always been the person that all of Jilly Cooper's characters have revolved around. It's Rupert and Tony's long-standing rivalry that powers most of Tony's schemes to ruin him. RCB is something of a celebrity in the world of the show, not only because he's a former Olympian and a current politician, but also for his prolific behavior as something of a libertine. There's even a scene in Season 1, where one character refers to him as a particularly nasty virus that someone's wife will inevitably catch.

Tennant, who has known Hassell since the days they were at the Royal Shakespeare Company together, cheerfully praises Hassell's ability to navigate such a difficult character. "I mean, he's a proper actor. He knows how to do it, and he's always great to bounce off and to react to, and I think what he does with that character is magical. I mean, to be handed that character, and it's sort of James Bond meets Casanova, isn't it? He has to be everything; everything romantic and seductive and male in a fantasy package. It's an impossible thing to play until you give it to Alex, who just gets it. I think he's really owned that part and made absolute sense of something that could have been a cipher, really. He inhabits every corner of it. And you have someone who, believably, is the man that everyone drops their knickers for when he walks into a room, and yet, at the same time, is a living, breathing human being."

With Tony having clearly survived Cameron's bludgeoning in the finale, and with Rupert promising to protect Cameron, it seems clear that Season 2 is setting up some more clashes between these two characters. "Oh, I love it! I love it," Tennant exclaims when discussing his scenes with Hassell. "We always cherish those scenes, because actually, we have relatively few scenes together, but when they come around, they tend to be quite significant." And when I mention that Rupert seems to be an expert at pushing Tony's buttons and twisting the knife in when he can, Tennant gives a teasing smile and promises, "There's a bit more of that coming."

For Hassell, playing the character still means experimenting with the different sides to a complicated man. "It's really fascinating; I still very much read the scripts and come to the scenes and be like, 'Well, I don't really know what he would do here,' so I'll do a bunch of different things and try it out. I feel the lines of the character are still constantly being drawn and developing, which is a great pleasure. It's not so much fun if the character is super clear," he says, explaining his approach to Rupert in Season 2.

In the Rivals book, which is the second in Jilly Cooper's series, Rupert is someone that readers will already know. Riders, her first novel, followed Rupert at his heyday, when he was a womanizing showjumper who made some very dubious life choices. Hassell acknowledges that the show is approaching Rupert from a more mature point of view. "Obviously, we didn't shoot Riders, but I wonder that we're meeting him maybe a bit further down some of the lines, or feeling emotionally a bit older than maybe in the book, even though he's not." But if you think that Rupert will magically change overnight into a thoughtful and mature person, don't worry, that's not the case. "He is the kind of person who gets quite far down one emotional alley and then the next day is much more juvenile," Hassell explains with a laugh. "So I don't feel it's a clear, linear line. He's definitely still a total prick at times in this season, which I think is good and interesting. People don't change quickly and easily."

He continues, "I think you still want that. In fact, I think Lizzie (Katherine Parkinson) in the first season said, 'You contain multitudes.' I think that he is multifaceted in that he is deep down a nice person, but is also pretty fucked up and has had a difficult upbringing and is extremely privileged, and has lived a life where everyone has given him everything he's ever wanted, and he sort of assumes that's just what's supposed to happen. So, I think we want to keep all those complexities rather than ironing them out."

And that is really the thesis of Rivals. On the surface, it seems to be about a bubbly world full of privileged and problematic people, the show acting almost like a tabloid into the lives of the inhabitants of this cossetted world. But dig a little deeper, and you'll find a wealth of emotion. Not only do you have the quiet clash between old money and new money and no money, but you have relationships straining under the weight of infidelity and temptation, families crushed by the avarice of ambition, and some seriously damaged people who have all the money in the world but can't seem to figure out their problems. Throw that all into the mix, and you have a recipe for an addictive watch and a resounding success.

Rivals Season 2 premieres on May 15 on Hulu in the U.S.