Capturing all of the joy, drama, excess, and brazen power-grabbing of the affluent elite in 80s England, the story of the second of Cooper’s books in the Rutshire Chronicles series will now be given the TV treatment in a new eight-part series.

Per the official synopsis, Rivals “dives headfirst into the cutthroat world of independent television in 1986, where the shoulder pads are big and ambitions even bigger”.

Set in the fictional upper-class county of Rutshire, the series focuses on a bubbling, longstanding rivalry between two powerful men: ex-Olympian, member of parliament, and notorious womaniser Rupert Campbell-Black, and his Rutshire neighbour Tony Baddingham, controller of the independent TV franchise Corinium Television.

“As tensions rise and rivalries deepen,” the synopsis continues, “there are spilled secrets, forged alliances, and snatched liaisons that draw wives, lovers, colleagues, friends, and families into their battle.”

Rivals: Disney+ is adapting Jilly Cooper’s bestselling novel into a new TV series