Rivals stars share reaction to "emotional" ending to will-they/won't-they story

The blossoming relationship between former Olympian turned politician Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell) and hopeless romantic Taggie O'Hara (Bella Maclean) has been present throughout all eight episodes but, of course, came to a head in the finale.

Speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com about where things end up for Taggie and Rupert, Maclean said: "Episode 8 was being rewritten during the series, which was actually quite exciting because stuff goes on in the series which you’ll find out as it comes out.

"But there was a sort of 'will they, won’t they' with Rupert and Taggie, which was quite nice to play because I didn’t know the ending.

"There was that sort of element of, 'What’s going to happen?' and I really didn’t know until the end. It was quite exciting."

Victoria Smurfit, who plays Taggie's mother Maud, also said: "It was gorgeous to watch but so emotional. You’ve got all this incredible fun, incredible sets, extraordinary costumes. You’ve got... the writing is so tight and brilliant.

"But you’ve also got this massive beating heart in it where each of the characters is gunning for something, and like all human beings, sometimes what you’re going for is not what’s best for you. It’s what you want, but it’s not what you need."

Smurfit added: "I think with... certainly playing Maud, I just leant into her pain and her reactive ability."

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Well, not only did the finale see some pretty major developments in a lot of the characters' stories, but Taggie and Rupert finally admitted their feelings for one another, despite avoiding them for the entire season.

While we don't know exactly how that could pan out in a potential second season (although the original Jilly Cooper book material gives us a pretty good idea), things ended on a sadder note for Maud.

Having put her own stage career on hold for Declan's (Aidan Turner) dreams, she made the decision to leave for London – but could she be back?

News of a second season has not been announced, but when asked about their reactions to that final episode, Smurfit spared no time in making her feelings about possible future episodes clear.

She said: "Just eating and drinking, just delicious. And always thinking, 'I want more,' just more. So you want episode 9 and 10 and 11 and 12."

Maclean agreed, adding: "It’s so true. I think we all felt that on the job. We were all really gutted it ended, because we became really close really early on, and the storylines are so fun."

Rivals was released on Disney Plus on 18th October 2024. Sign up to Disney Plus now for £4.99 per month or £79.90 for a full year.

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