New Jilly Cooper’s adaptation was so raunchy it needed two intimacy coaches, says star Aidan Turner

The television adaption of Jilly Cooper’s Rivals was so raunchy it needed two intimacy coaches, actor Aidan Turner has revealed.

Known for his role in BBC’s Poldark, Turner now plays Declan O’Hara, a glamorous Irish talk-show host in the upcoming Disney+ series based on Cooper’s 1980s novel.

“We have so much sex on our show, we have to have two intimacy coaches. Two!” he told The Times in an interview.

The 40-year-old Irish actor said that working on Rivals, which also stars David Tennant and Alex Hassell, was the most fun he had ever had “on any job in my entire life”.

“It’s essentially so much fun. We’re in the Cotswolds. Every day we’re in a different huge manor house somewhere, having garden parties,” he said.

As well as working on Rivals, which currently has no release date, Turner is playing Glenn Lapthorn, a tennis coach accused of historical sexual misconduct with a rising young star, in a six-part Prime Video drama.

The drama has been billed as a “gripping and sensitive exploration of trust, power, and obsession” in the world of Grand Slam tennis, also starring Irish actress Ella Lily Hyland, who makes the explosive allegation against Lapthorn, her former tennis coach.

As the show explores the blurred lines of sexual misconduct and abuse of power in sport, Turner said he tried not to portray his character as the bad guy.

“It felt important not to play him as that villain, you know? He is charismatic, approachable, supportive and talented. Married. A father,” he said.

Turner said he worked with tennis professionals as part of the show in order to pass as a coach and to understand the culture of the sport.

He recalled how shooting in tennis academies made him realise they are “massive, vacuous” places that can make you feel “really isolated”, and that abuse in single-player sports is “so much easier” compared to team sports.

And despite Turner having played badminton and table tennis as a young boy, he was surprised to find that serving for tennis was “almost impossible”.

“I played a lot of badminton before, and table tennis, which I thought was parallel. But it’s not. It’s totally a different thing. The service is almost impossible. One of the pros said, ‘I’ve just been doing this so long…’ It’s in his body.”

Speaking to The Guardian, Hyland even admitted that the show’s producers used CGI to insert the ball in shots to make the actors look like pro tennis players.

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