AS HER BELOVED BOOK 'RIVALS' HITS SCREENS DAME JILLY COOPER ON MACHO MEN, PARTYING WITH THE STARS AND WHY LOVE CONQUERS ALL

It is one of the most eagerly anticipated TV shows of the autumn: the adaptation of Dame Jilly Cooper's popular book Rivals.

- LAURA BENJAMIN

And although fans will be excited about watching the shenanigans of characters such as Rupert Campbell-Black and Lizzie Vereker as they rampage through the fictional Rutshire countryside, the author says her favourite member of the cast was actually a dog: Gertrude, the pet pooch of Taggie O'Hara (played by Bella Maclean).

"She is adorable, with a lovely owner, and was patted by everyone on set," Dame Jilly recalls. "She is far more beautiful than Gertrude in the book, who is a tight-skinned mongrel with a very curly tail.

"Rupert enrages Taggie when they meet, telling her to: 'Take that ugly brute back to its pigsty.' The TV Gertrude came to a party I gave for the cast and crew and was loved and photographed by everyone."

The party that Dame Jilly threw to celebrate the show, which will air on Disney+ in the UK, took place in the garden of her home and featured other household names. "It was lovely. I was so touched that so many of the cast came and to have so many stars on my lawn," she says.

"I invited some of my friends: Richard and Judy Madeley, Andrew Parker Bowles and Rupert Lycett Green, who were two of my original inspirations for Rupert Campbell-Black.

"This was because of their charm and glamour, not for any of Rupert's naughty behaviour! It was a lovely evening and we drank buckets of champagne."