All posts tagged: Jilly Cooper

Derek Jacobi reveals ‘hateful’ director that left him terrified

Derek Jacobi reveals ‘hateful’ director that left him terrified

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Sir Derek Jacobi has spent almost 70 years in showbusiness – but there’s just one director he’s worked with who’s “terrified” him. The veteran actor, 87, opened up about his life and career in a new interview, revealing that working with theatre director John Dexter was a difficult experience. Jacobi and Dexter worked together multiple times at the National Theatre, with Dexter directing him in Othello in 1964 and Armstrong’s Last Goodnight the following year among other plays. Dexter, who also worked with Sir Laurence Olivier and Dame Maggie Smith, died during heart surgery aged 64 in March 1990. Theatre director John Dexter (Getty Images) When asked whether he had always got on with people he worked with, Jacobi told The Guardian: “Mercifully, I have forgotten the bad times. Genuinely. I must have had them, but too infrequently for them to …

Rivals Season 2 Review: More Drama, More Chaos And No Shortage Of Bonking

Rivals Season 2 Review: More Drama, More Chaos And No Shortage Of Bonking

Published by Sam Flores

Electoral stress, public scandal, news broadcasters in crisis, class tension – no we’re not talking about 2026. The time has come to jump back to 1980s Rutshire and slide between the sheets for another romp with Disney+’s Rivals. Yes, after a two-year wait that’s left us as full of yearning as Freddie and Lizzie’s slow-burn romance, Jilly Cooper’s iconic bonkbuster is about to hit our screens for a second season – and fortunately, it’s a repeat performance worth shouting about. To catch you up: when we last left Rutshire, David Tennant’s baddie Tony Baddingham was lying bleeding out after a whack to the head by his ex-mistress Cameron Cook (Nafessa Williams). Meanwhile, the only Tory we’ve ever fancied, Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell), was confessing his love to Taggie, Freddie Jones and Lizzie (Danny Dyer and Katherine Parkinson) finally took their affair to a much-needed climax and Aidan Turner’s Declan O’Hara won the IBA’s franchise bid, but lost his wife Maud (Victoria Smurfit) in the process. And after being left on a cliffhanger for two years, …