The EX FACTOR

Long-term friends OLIVIA COLMAN and BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH on the joys of playing a clashing couple in a movie remake

- WORDS: JUDY EWENS

THE ROSES

NEW FROM WED 3 DECEMBER, DISNEY+ COMEDY

Once a picture-perfect couple, Theo and Ivy Rose become thorns in each other's side in satirical black comedy The Roses, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman.

Arriving on Disney+ this week, the story of love curdling to hate is inspired by Warren Adler's 1981 novel The War of the Roses and is a reimagining of the 1990 film starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner.

Now, Benedict and Olivia, who are teamed on screen for the first time despite being friends for years, play the central characters.

After meeting in London, when he's an established architect and she's an aspiring chef, and falling madly in love, Theo and Ivy marry, have two children and move to the US.

Some years later, Ivy has opened a seafood shack and Theo's latest design, a nautical museum in San Francisco, is about to be unveiled. But the building collapses in a storm due to a structural flaw, ruining his reputation. Ironically, the same storm reroutes traffic to Ivy's restaurant and she becomes a culinary star - which lights the fuse for an explosive end to their marriage.

Here, we guide you through the key elements of the tale...

• See review, page 31

THE WIFE

Olivia has had a ball in the role of unconventional Ivy Rose.

'Theo and Ivy's differences are what appeals to each other and then their differences become the thing that's most annoying to each other,' notes the acclaimed star, 51, who won an Oscar for playing Queen Anne in 2018 film The Favourite and an Emmy for portraying Queen Elizabeth II in Netflix's royal drama The Crown.