Aidan Turner doesn't think Rivals fans will be disappointed with Disney Plus adaptation

Turner and his Rivals co-star Nafessa Williams spoke to RadioTimes.com, with the latter expressing her hope that the show lives up to what fans of the novel had in their heads while reading it.

"I hope that it's as exciting for them as it was for us making it and they see the visual," she said.

"You know, when you read a book, you have a visual in your head of what the characters are going to look and feel like."

Turner interjected: "I don’t think they’ll be disappointed."

Turner went on to admit that he hadn't actually read Rivals prior to becoming attached to the Disney Plus adaptation, but described Cooper's work as "a whole new genre" that he loved being introduced to.

He explained: "I was aware of who Jilly Cooper was, obviously, and being in Ireland, we're not that far away and the book's very popular there, obviously, but I hadn’t read any before we started shooting.

"It’s one of those great things as an actor that you get to do. You’ll never imagine that you'd get to read these books, I suppose, they wouldn’t have been on my radar and then you get to read them.

"You get to be introduced to a whole new genre, really, it’s fun."

The star-studded cast of Rivals also includes David Tennant, Alex Hassell, Katherine Parkinson and Danny Dyer, each of whom can currently be found on special edition alternate covers of Radio Times.

Rivals is available to stream on Disney Plus from Friday 18th October 2024.

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