Jilly Cooper's relief at Rivals success after 'awful' adaptations of her books
The author admitted she had to force herself not to be 'horrid' about some TV shows based on her work in the past.
Watch: Jilly Cooper is relieved that Rivals is good after some 'awful' TV adaptations
What did you miss?
Jilly Cooper has admitted her relief at Rivals being a good TV series as she has previously had to force herself not to be "horrid" about bad adaptations of her work.
The author is known for her steamy romances, which have seen some high-profile TV adaptations over the years - but she told Lorraine that she had not been a fan of all of them.
Cooper also revealed that she is currently writing a new novel, but that she thought her Rutshire Chronicles star Rupert Campbell-Black might be a little too old by now for any more racy adventures.
What, how, and why?
As the queen of racy romances, Jilly Cooper has seen her books adapted for TV a number of times over the years, including most recently Disney+ series Rivals.
The author told Lorraine that she was a big fan of the new TV version of her work, but admitted that she hadn't liked all of the shows inspired by her novels - even labelling some of them "awful".
Rivals, which stars David Tennant, Emily Atack and Aidan Turner, has had rave reviews from critics who loved how faithful it was to the book, and it seems Cooper agrees.
Read more: Rivals
Here's how to watch new Rivals series in the UK (Cosmopolitan, 2 min read)
What to expect from Jilly Cooper’s Rivals on Disney+ (Yahoo, 3 min read)
Rivals, Disney+, review: gloriously un-PC romp stays true to Jilly Cooper’s spirit (The Telegraph, 4 min read)
She told the ITV1 show on Tuesday: "You have to be careful because it's very, very nervewracking to write something and then getting it done on television.
"You think oh god, I mustn't be horrid and it's awful. But this is absolutely magical, I was so excited from the start. It was wonderful."
Previous Cooper-inspired adaptations have included 1993 TV film Riders and 1997 series The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous, which starred Hugh Bonneville.
Cooper chatted to Lorraine alongside Alex Hassell, who plays Rupert Campbell-Black in Rivals, and appeared to back him for sequel adaptations.
Rivals is part of Cooper's Rutshire Chronicles series and asked about any more adaptations, she said: "Rupert goes right through, don't you?"
Hassell added to Cooper: "Play my cards right, I could be doing this til I'm your age."
But Cooper thought her character Rupert had a shelf life, as asked whether she was writing any more books she replied: "Yes, I've started one. I think Rupert's a bit old to go scampering around being naughty. He's 65. Mind you, everyone who's 65 scampers about don't they?"
As Lorraine asked whether that included her, Cooper said: "Oh no, I've gone past that."
What have the Rivals cast said about its sex scenes?
Rivals has grabbed plenty of headlines for the amount of nudity and sex scenes the series involves, but Aidan Turner who plays Declan O'Hara has said everyone in the cast was comfortable with it thanks to a team of intimacy co-ordinators.
He told Yahoo: "I think we all just got into it, got involved, you sort of have to with these things. I find it just makes things a lot easier and better, quicker, I think you get better work and the dialogue is better, more creative. It's just adding somebody in who's an expert of this thing.
"I think you can have more fun with it when you have intimacy coordinators involved, I've found. It's just one of those things that works for the show and a lot of these scenes are fun so they require a different element of acting in that way. But yeah, it was a lot of fun really."
Lorraine airs on ITV1 at 9am on weekdays.