Warning: The following contains spoilers for Rivals Season 1.
Rivals EP explains why the season one finale is so different from Dame Jilly Cooper’s book, on which the Hulu show is based. Rivals follows an ensemble cast and sees Rupert Cambell-Black (Alex Hassel) and Tony Baddingham’s (David Tennant) fierce rivalry end with Tony learning about his producer and lover Cameron’s (Nafessa Williams) relationship with Rupert. They get into a physical fight. Cameron retaliates by knocking Tony out with the prize he won, leaving Tony’s fate unknown, whereas in the book Tony is the one who beats Cameron.
Executive producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins explains to TV Insider that they decided early on not to put the “big terrible moment” where “a man beat a woman to a pulp“in the show. They wanted to leave Cameron”stronger“ common “noisy thriller“what”leaves a lot of questions“with Tony’s fate up in the air. The EP further emphasizes that Although the dynamics between the characters come from those in the book, they wanted to give them more nuance. Check out what he said below:
Treadwell-Collins: We are always hopeful. Alex Lamb, who works with me, has been running EastEnders, a long-running soap opera in the UK, for a long time. So we’re used to dropping story bombs and delving into the characters a little deeper. I’ve been desperate to get these books on television for a long time and we’ve brought in the rights to all of them. So we’re always hopeful that we’re going to come back and we left it on a really big cliffhanger on purpose. It’s not in the books. That was a big creative decision. We wanted to delve into the books as much as possible and we’re already halfway through the book.
At this point where we end the book, Tony hits Cameron and he beats her to a pulp and she goes to Rupert. That’s a big moment in the book, and we in the writers’ room said very early on, we’re not going to, in our version, just let a man beat a woman to a pulp. Because we decided very early on to make Cameron a black woman. We’re not showing that on screen. Our Cameron is a little different from the Cameron in the book. What I think is wonderful is that we’ve always said that Tony hits Cameron, but Cameron hits Tony back and actually hits back.
It arose from a moment of blockage. I was moving a cupboard and my BAFTA for EastEnders was up and my husband said, clean the cupboard before you move it. I ignored him. The BAFTA fell on my head and I had a concussion and was hospitalized. I was told that if I had fallen another inch, I would be dead. What a BAFTA death for a television producer, actually if you go it’s pretty cool. But right at the beginning, Felicity Blunt, Alex, Jilly and I laughed about it and said, can’t we add this award that in a Chekhovian way was played before, which ultimately Cameron grabs and hits Tony on the head. It gives us a really good noisy cliffhanger. It’s also something that shocks people who love books. Then this comes out of nowhere. It gives him a brilliant cliffhanger. If we never return, many questions will be left up in the air, but we hope we come back to do more.
But it was also a serious point. I didn’t want Tony to beat Cameron to a pulp. Our message for our show is that if you look at the journey each woman takes in Series 1, they will all be so much stronger at the end. We wouldn’t have a weaker Cameron. We actually wanted Cameron to be stronger and for Cameron to fight back and hit Tony while he was surrounded by himself giving a speech on many televisions about the power of television that sounded delicious to us.
TV Insider: Is Tony dead?
Treadwell-Collins: There are so many possibilities about what could happen, but what we do know is that revenge is a dish best served on television.
TV Insider: Another change in the book is that ring and Tony’s offer to leave Monica. Did he really love Cameron? Would he really have left Monica?
Treadwell-Collins: Yes. I really love this book and that’s why I wanted to delve deeper. Monica on screen is more nuanced than in the book. Monica in the book doesn’t really care – Tony goes to her room once a week for athletic sex and that’s it. We paint their relationship with much more nuance. In the book, Tony possesses Cameron. Cameron is a possession. I still think in our show he sees it as a possession, but because we have David Tennant, we want more layers there. And then when Tony finds out that Cameron has been sleeping with Rupert, we wanted not just anger, but we wanted disgust.
The first season of Rivals delves deeper into the book
Rivals Season 1 made several changes that differ from the book. Treadwell-Collins’ commentary explains the unique dynamics between these characters and why changes are made. Although it appears that the program derived from the surface source material, the EP’s comments indicate that it is a place of deep exploration. The series isn’t replicating what happens in the book on the outside, delves into the characters and events and shows how and why they happen while adding more layers.
The Hulu show follows the plan laid out in the book. However, Treadwell-Collins’ comments also suggest that viewers shouldn’t consider the series’ characters to be exact duplicates from the book. Through the series, they want to make their female characters stronger rather than weaker, which is why the first season’s ending is different from the book. The EP also clarifies how Tennant’s performance in Rivals it also comes into play in Tony’s background, which makes the events of the show more nuanced.
Our Take on Rivals Season 1
Many questions need answers
The ending is drastically different from the book. Maud leaves her family to go see a play in London, something exclusive to the show. Monica threatens Tony with divorce, which would never happen in the book. Rupert and Taggie finally kiss, and the Season 1 finale ends with Cameron hitting Tony in the head, which is an unexpected cliffhanger.
With all the changes, the show amplifies different aspects of these characters and makes them more fierce and intense than they are in the book. Monica, for example, prefers the company of her dogs much more than Tony. She couldn’t be less bothered by Tony’s case, much less threatening to leave. The change in the show makes her a warmer person instead of cold and aloof. The ending undoubtedly leaves Tony at his lowest point, with many questions that Rivals season two needs to respond. Hopefully, the series won’t keep viewers waiting and makes a comeback.
Source: TV Insider