11/19
Coincidentally, Aidan Turner has previously filmed at Chavenage House (Priory in Rivals)
Chronology
It follows Rupert Campbell-Black and Tony Baddingham, who have a long-running rivalry that comes to a head. The same filming location was also used to depict Trenwith House in the 2015 BBC TV adaptation of Poldark.
This adaptation (one ep in) seems to capture that exactly
So people read the book ages ago (it was like a coming of age ritual in a certain time and place) and TBH remember very little. Aside from that odd name (because some of the Jillys created were very fussy – Rupert Campbell Black says it all – and it’s kind of entered the dictionary), but almost immediately I started, if not remembering the plot wholesale, getting a synaptic hit with the heady scent of YSL Opium from watching The Rivals.
His silly giggles are more like laughs, loud and snarky, not hoarse
She quickly built a world – the 80s, greedy Thatcherite old boys and yuppies, bored wives and fearsome warlocks, everyone treated like meat no matter what they do, the harmony, the cigars and the birdsong, the strata of the English class, the UK in a globalising world tryna. dig their nails up… and the socio-political commentary, while not shoved in your face, is much clearer than when you read the books.
Okay, it’s a bit of a panty, panty thing, but FFS why not?!
Maybe it’s because I’m older and have met more people that Cooper’s critique of British culture is more obvious, but I think it’s also about the casting, the accents, the costumes – portraying each character’s habitus (to quote Bordeau) and presenting them to the audience for consideration, admiration, denigration and/or irritation.