James Walton

A hit – but please don’t pretend it’s feminist: Disney+’s Rivals reviewed

Plus: Industry continues to be one of the best dramas on television

Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell), Jilly’s long-standing cad, in Rivals. Credit: Robert Viglasky / © 2023 Disney. All Rights Reserved.  
issue 19 October 2024

For most of my adult life, clever, well-read, feminist women have told me how much they love Jilly Cooper. It therefore came as a bit of shock when I finally tried her novels for myself and found what they contained. There is, for example, no mistaking Jilly’s scorn for women who are fat and/or hairy, her belief that all female unhappiness can be cured by a damn good rogering, and the idea that not only is it fair enough for middle-aged blokes to lech after teenage girls, but that teenage girls rather like it when they do.

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