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Rivals stars Alex Hassell and Aidan Turner have revealed that Jilly Cooper gave the third series storylines for their hit Disney+ series her blessing before she died.
Rivals, based on Dame Jilly's novel, has been renewed for a third season, after the first half of its second run broke Disney+ ratings records.
Midway through production for the second series in October 2025, the beloved writer died at the age of 88 after an accidental fall at her Gloucestershire home.
She had been working with the Rivals production team at the time of her death, approving the scripts for season two.
And now the series stars have revealed she was also discussing ideas for the third season shortly before her tragic passing.
Speaking on Heart Breakfast with Amanda Holden and Jamie Theakston, Aidan, who stars as Declan O'Hara, and Alex, who plays Rupert Campbell-Black, confirmed that the cast haven't seen any series three scripts yet but Jilly had a preview last year.
Rivals stars Alex Hassell and Aidan Turner have revealed they were delighted to hear that Jilly Cooper had given the third series of their hit Disney+ series their blessing (Cooper and Hassell pictured in May 2025)
Rivals, based on Dame Jilly's novel, has been renewed for a third season, after the first half of its second run broke Disney+ ratings records (Aidan Turner pictured in series two)
'Everyone’s on board and I believe Jilly had seen a bunch of the breakdowns of stories they were planning for season three,' revealed Alex, 'as well as all of the scripts for the rest of season two so that feels nice.'
The first part of the second season debuted in May, becoming Disney+'s biggest EMEA original premiere in the UK and Ireland.
Rivals returns on November 11 for the final episodes in its second series, and the residents of Rutshire are seeing out the season in style and scandal.
The new episodes will pick up after the mid-series finale and the tragic death of Monica Baddingham (Claire Rushbrook).
Lady Monica's husband Tony (David Tennant) is far from the grief-stricken widower, as a trailer shows the furious TV boss amping up his franchise war against Declan O'Hara (Aidan Turner).
Maud O'Hara (Victoria Smurfit) questions if Monica's death is 'all our fault' but her fiery affair with Tony shows no sign of stopping.
In other affairs of the heart, Danny Dyer's Freddie Jones is still balancing his affair with Lizzie Vereker (Katherine Parkinson) with his marriage to Valerie (Lisa McGrillis).
The country set's slowest burning love affair between Taggie (Bella Maclean) and Rupert teases a happy ending at least, as the trailer concludes with the two leaning in for a firework night kiss.
Aidan, who stars as Declan O'Hara, and Alex, who plays Rupert Campbell-Black, confirmed that the cast haven't seen any scripts yet but Jilly had a preview of series three storylines (Pictured Bella Maclean annd Hassell)
Rivals returns on November 11 for the final episodes in its second series, and the residents of Rutshire are seeing out the season in style and scandal (pictured Danny Dyer and Katherine Parkinson)
All these rivalries and romance are set against the backdrop of 1987 party season with glimpses of Bonfire Night chaos, the Hampshire Hunt Ball and a turbulent Christmas.
New cast members are also set to join the series return, with Rachael Stirling introduced as Araminta Pemberton, Lady Monica Baddingham’s vampish younger sister, Rupert Evans as erudite headmaster David Hawkley, and Santiago Cabrera as Argentinian polo legend Alejandro Mendoza.
The first three episodes of six will drop on November 11, with weekly releases of the remaining three episodes following after.
The second half of Rivals season two has been branded 'a glorious return of the bonkbuster' with 'oodles of sex' and 'posho rumpy-pumpy'.
Critics have lauded the return of the show in a string of rave reviews.
The Times' Carol Midgley awarded the new episodes five stars and told viewers to 'close the curtains, pour a glass of fizz and celebrate a welcome return' and reflected that 'the constant in the series is that it doesn’t take life too seriously'.
The Independent's Nick Hilton gave three stars while stating: 'All of that is well and good. Rivals is a high-class soap opera, with slightly racier sex scenes'.
Heavy emphasis was played on hardman Danny's nude scene – with The Telegraph's Anita Singh writing: 'If you’ve ever wanted to know what Danny Dyer looks like in the buff, well, this is the show for you.'
Listen to Heart Breakfast with Jamie Theakston and Amanda Holden weekdays from 6.30am-10:00 across the UK and on YouTube.
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