Alex Hassell and Bella Maclean tease Rupert and Taggie’s relationship
When is season one competitors It premiered in 2024 and became an instant hit. Critics gave it four- and five-star reviews, a cheerful dispensation with the kind of mockery of champagne in the series. Numerous columns gushed out, especially in the British press. “Carnage, hedonism and hope”.
They were impressed by the sex and glamor brought by British icon Dame Jilly Cooper and her “crazy” series Rutshire Chronicles. Finally, there was a series that knew how to have fun, was aimed at adults, reveled in excess, and celebrated sex, money, and power.
Its gripping story – the fight for a TV license in the Cotswolds in the 1980s – sounded pretty dry but its heroes and villains, led by playboy MP Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell), golden boy journalist Declan O’Hara (Aidan Turner) and cigar-chomping Lord Tony Baddingham (a wonderful David Tennant), were a scream.
But the biggest surprise was how teenagers and young women reacted. What bound them was – surprisingly – not the ins and outs of regional television; There’s a “won’t they/won’t they” between Rupert, 36, and Taggie O’Hara (Bella Maclean), 20, the daughter of Rupert’s business partner Declan. It was romance.
In these two, competitors It featured Cooper’s two core characters: the rich playboy with red flags on his sleeves and the naive young heroine (at the book publisher). Penguin’s Jilly Cooper dictionarythey are usefully classified as “a total bastard” and “cute”.
“I think I’m very grateful and relieved that, no matter how it started, people have really embraced this kind of blossoming relationship,” Hassell says. “I think it was a little surprising how much young people got involved in this.”
Maclean adds: “I think we were most surprised by that. The young people who really support Rupert and Taggie are the ones who support the relationship the most, which was surprising and lovely and confronting.”
That’s not exactly a healthy relationship to aspire to, so what’s the appeal of young people?
“Really interesting, isn’t it?” says Hassell. “And we talked a lot about trying to find out why. I think it’s this idea that a young, you know, big-hearted type of woman could plant the seeds of change in this really awful guy and inspire him to be better. I think it’s a fantasy.”
Hassell and Maclean sit together in London and talk Zoom ahead of the second season, which has been expanded to 12 episodes. Their on-screen chemistry fluctuates, and together they joke around in person, talking to each other and checking answers.
For Hassell, the series was a major boost to a career that has mostly included brief roles in the following shows: men And Dark Materials. competitorsMeanwhile, it gave her a lot to play with, not only in terms of character but also in many sex scenes. Rupert is, as they say in the sports department, a man in trousers and a mouse.
“I’m guessing you’re talking partly about the tennis court scene and sex-related stuff here?”
Well, any scene…
“Of course, it’s all in the books,” he says. “And this [full-frontal nude tennis court scene in season one] There is a really famous scene in the book. And it was communicated to me pretty early on that they were keen to have this represented accurately.
“And I was fine with that. I mean, you know, of course I was fine with the making of the movie. It was the idea that millions of people would see it.” [he starts to laugh] … But this role is worth it. A very interesting part.
“And the more I play the role, the more the story becomes, the more complex it becomes, in fact the more interesting the acting exercise becomes, the challenge of the task, and I’m willing to gear up to play such a role.”
Of course, at heart, Rupert isn’t that bad. Cooper, who died last year, always called her one of his favorite characters; Rupert appeared in all 11 of his books. Rutshire Chronicles The series that metamorphoses from an Olympic polo-playing playboy – well, I won’t spoil it here.
In short, he is a complicated man, so what does Hassell see in Rupert that makes him worth it?
“They have different modes with different people,” Hassell says. “But also his heart. It takes a lot of work to get to him and his vulnerability, but I think it’s really exciting to play the huge awakening that Taggie creates in him. The distance between that little kid inside of him trying to come out with that kind of armor and this alpha male from the ’80s—dare I say dick-swinging?—is an interesting distance.”
For Maclean, who starred in the Netflix hit Sex EducationMaking Taggie something more than just “cute” was a challenge. In the books, as in the series, Taggie, who is over 18 in the books, stays out of all the shenanigans going on in the fictional village of Cotchester. While Rupert’s eyes are wide open about his world, he’s also the most down-to-earth person she’s ever met.
“Taggie, I feel like on the page you don’t talk much and you observe the world,” Maclean says. “And so it was up to me to add my own thoughts on what I felt was going on.
“That’s where I tried to make him feel like he had a stronger backbone and was a lot tougher than he let on. And the showrunners and producers and writers were really into that.”
“They don’t want it to be drunk. They want it to be realistic. Because even though it was in the ’80s, everyone is watching it now. People from a different generation are watching it and young girls who want to connect with it.”
“But I think it was also important to make it sober and vulnerable and insecure and innocent because it’s honest and it’s real and we’re all like that. And I remember when I was 20, you’re discovering so much about yourself and learning so much, but also your teenage years are still confronting you.”
Despite this vulnerability, Taggie is the only person in this situation. competitors Possibly the person who could save Rupert from himself.
“He needs other people,” Hassell says. “And I think she’s always wanted to be self-sufficient, and she’s been brought up in such a way that she finds it hard to trust people and open up to people. And actually a lot of people are really trying to be there for her in season two, and Taggie is definitely one of those people.”
Maclean: “Still I save you.”
Hassell: “Save the little boy inside…”
Maclean: “This is banging on the door, screaming to get out, blood-curdling screams.”
Despite all your nonsense, competitors It has a lot to say about power and who gets to hold it. Reply? Men. Often at greater cost to themselves and the women in their lives.
Hassell agrees: “That says a lot about perseverance and ambition.” “And if you think you can drive to this different place, you’re going to be happy, and it just goes to show that if you don’t care about collateral damage on the way to that destination, you’re going to ruin your chance at true happiness.
“It suggests that you try to be present and present with the people around you, and that being a mindful person is going to be much better for you and the world than this kind of fixed-minded attempt to succeed.”
As for happy endings, Cooper was always a firm believer in them. Do Hassell and Maclean believe in happy endings?
Hassell says, “The good thing about the series is that it suggests that there can be no happily ever after, that life, happiness and all kinds of relationships require effort and that these are art.” “Loving is an art and something you have to keep working at and trying and getting good at.”
Maclean adds: “There’s a lot more darkness in this show, but there’s still a lot of humour. And I love that message, that even in moments of sadness and heartache there’s somehow a lot of humor and joy. That’s what I love about the show. It’s a good lesson about life.”
competitors is currently streaming on Disney+.
