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The producer of Disney+ hit Rivals previously told Deadline he encountered snobbery when he pitched the adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s bestselling novel about sexual and professional antics among the posh country set.
Now, the producer of a lavish BBC period drama has said Rivals “is not a show I would make.”
Sir Colin Callender produced Wolf Hall, a big budget historical drama about King Henry VIII and his competing courtiers which returns this weekend for a second series after a ten-year break. He was speaking at a Broadcasting Press Guild event in London when he questioned why something like Rivals would be made. The Times newspaper reports that Callender said of the show which has been a big hit for Disney and which features a game of naked tennis and many other frolics:
“The fact that something is successful is not necessarily the sole criteria by which I would judge whether it’s something I would want to make or not.
“What are the things that I look for in a show? Is there a big idea that underpins it, that makes it relevant and interesting to a contemporary audience? Does it have something to say?”
“Are the emotions expressed and the situations dramatised truthful? Are they entertaining? Or do they trade in clichés? All the sorts of questions I would ask of a show are such that [Rivals] is not a show I would make.”
Asked why the show had proved so successful, he mused this was driven by an audience’s desire to “look away” from current real-life events:
“I’m not sure anything is surprising any more. I don’t dismiss [looking away] as an ambition.”
Rivals producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins previously told Deadline that commissioners had turned up their noses at his idea to adapt Cooper’s bestselling book:
“I had meetings with the BBC and ITV years ago and when I said, ‘Would you go for something like Jilly Cooper?’ they would look at me like I’d farted. There’s a snobbery about her. Throughout my career I kept mentioning Jilly and everyone sort of laughed at and ridiculed me.”
