Queen of the bonkbusters rides off into final sunset

Writer seduced with wit and humanity

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HER gap-toothed smile was as mischievous as the saucy plots devoured by millions of fans who loved to guffaw as much as ooh and ahh at the scandalous goings-on of Rutshire's country set.

Queen of bonkbusters Jilly Cooper, who has died aged 88, was still writing to the end, her work ethic as strong as the jodphur-clad muscles of some of her roguish leading men.

Only last year she won over a legion of new devotees after Rivals was brought to life on Disney+, viewers seduced afresh by the rudeness but also the warmth, wit and humanity.

The show's producers summed up the affection and admiration in which she was held by so many as they described their experiencing of working with her.

Dominic Treadwell-Collins and Alex Lamb said: "Crawling around on her sitting room floor with storylines on pieces of paper, sitting up late at her kitchen table holding hands with love and our tummies with laughter.

"Receiving scoldings and heaps of wisdom in equal measure, watching her eyes sparkling as she sat behind the monitor on set watching Rutshire brought to life - every moment spent with Jilly Cooper was bloody marvellous."

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The 11 books in her famous series set in fictional Rutshire, which began with Riders in 1986 up to Tackle! in 2023, follows the adulterous shenanigans of the county's upper classes.

Jilly even admitted she based her showjumping lothario Rupert Campbell-Black partly on the British Queen Camilla's ex-husband Andrew Parker Bowles.