Rivals by Jilly Cooper

The Jilly Cooper 1980s bestseller that's now a Disney+ smash hit, and well worth a re-read....

The glamorous, cutthroat world of 1980s British television is all about power, a time when the affluent elite exist in a bubble of immense wealth and influence, and will use any means to get what they want. Lord Baddingham is desperate to retain his Corinium TV franchise, and to do so he’s hired Declan O’Hara, an Irish talk show mega-star. Baddingham has also enticed on board Cameron Cook, a gorgeous and brash executive, to produce Declan’s program. But Declan and Cameron detest each other, soon provoking a storm of controversy.

Enter into the fray everyone’s favourite hate-to-love-him bad-boy, Rupert Campbell-Black. As a rival group emerges to pitch for the franchise, reputations ripen and decline, true love blossoms and burns, marriages are made and shattered, and everyone is competing―in the bedroom and in the boardroom―to come out on top.