Reception
The film had an intense build-up as "a sex sizzler" in the weeks before its first broadcast on the ITV network on 2 May 1993, but some critics found it absurd. Writing in The Independent , Allison Pearson said: "Jilly Cooper's Riders (ITV), allegedly about mounting excitement, came with palpitating publicity. But it was all sound and furry animals, dignifying nothing." She continued by mocking Anthony Calf's portrayal of Billy Lloyd-Foxe: "I was trying to place Calf's acting style (do horses give you lockjaw?) when he turned up in the Gold Blend advert. All that rich, roasted alliteration is enough to drive anyone to suicide, which he wisely attempted in part two, only to have Rupert revive him ('England needs you, Billy'). [2]
The strapline used on the present-day DVD cover, "Sex and horses: who could ask for more?" is indeed from The Sunday Telegraph , but was a comment on the book Riders in 1985, and not on the film. [3]
Sienna Tiggy Guillory is an English actress and former model. She portrayed Jill Valentine in several entries of the Resident Evil action-horror film series. Other prominent roles include elf princess Arya Dröttningu in the fantasy-adventure film Eragon, and the title role in the TV miniseries Helen of Troy. She has appeared in TV shows including Fortitude, Stan Lee's Lucky Man, and Luther.
Rupert or Ruppert is an English truncation of Latin Rupertus, which derives from Old High German Hruodoperht/Hruodoberht ; which is also the source of the name Robert. Thus, "Rupert" and "Robert" are different modern forms of the same name. The Old High German form of the name evolved from Germanic Hrothi, "fame, glory, renown, honour, godlike" + Berht, "bright"; thus, Rupert and Robert mean "fame bright".
Love Actually is a 2003 Christmas romantic comedy film written and directed by Richard Curtis. The Christmas film features an ensemble cast, composed predominantly of British actors, many of whom had worked with Curtis in previous projects. An international co-production of the United Kingdom, United States, and France, it was mostly filmed on-location in London. The film delves into different aspects of love as shown through 10 separate stories involving a variety of individuals, many of whom are interlinked as the plot progresses. The story begins five weeks before Christmas and is played out in a weekly countdown until the holiday, followed by an epilogue that takes place in the New Year.
Sunset Boulevard is a musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, and lyrics and libretto by Don Black and Christopher Hampton. It is based on the 1950 film.
Dame Jilly Cooper, is an English author. She began her career as a journalist and wrote numerous works of non-fiction before writing several romance novels, the first of which appeared in 1975. Cooper is most famous for writing the Rutshire Chronicles.
The Rutshire Chronicles is a series of romantic novels by Dame Jilly Cooper. The stories tell tales of mainly British upper-class families, as well as the show-jumping and polo crowd, in numerous different sexually charged scenarios, often laced with adultery, illegitimate children, scandal, and sometimes death. They are linked by several recurring characters, chiefly Rupert Campbell-Black, and are set in the fictional English county of Rutshire.
Sienna Rose Diana Miller is an American-British actress. Born in New York City and raised in London, she began her career as a photography model, appearing in the pages of Italian Vogue and for the 2003 Pirelli Calendar. Her acting breakthrough came in the 2004 films Layer Cake and Alfie. She subsequently portrayed socialite Edie Sedgwick in Factory Girl (2006) and author Caitlin Macnamara in The Edge of Love (2008), and was nominated for the BAFTA Rising Star Award in 2008. Her role as The Baroness in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009) was followed by a brief sabbatical from the screen amid increased tabloid scrutiny.
The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA) is a performing arts higher education institution in Liverpool, founded by Paul McCartney and Mark Featherstone-Witty and opened in 1996. LIPA offers 20 full-time BA (Hons) degrees in a range of fields across the performing arts, as well as three Foundation Certificate programmes of study in acting and popular music. LIPA offers full-time, one-year master's-level degree courses in Acting and Costume Design and Making. It is a member of the Federation of Drama Schools.
Anthony Calf is an English actor. He studied acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA). He had recurring roles in the television medical drama Holby City, as Michael Beauchamp, and New Tricks as DAC Robert Strickland. He has also worked in theatre, where his credits include productions of The Madness of George III with the National Theatre and A Midsummer Night's Dream, The false servant at the National Theatre and Rock'n Roll at the Duke of York's Theatre. He was nominated as best actor in the Irish Times Theatre Awards 2008 for his work in Uncle Vanya at the Gate Theatre. He was featured in King Charles III on Broadway in 2015.
The Madness of George III is a 1991 play by Alan Bennett. It is a fictionalised biographical study of the latter half of the reign of George III of the United Kingdom, his battle with mental illness, and the inability of his court to handle his condition. It was adapted for film in 1994 as The Madness of King George.
Caroline Harker is an English stage and television actress.
Rupert Edward Algernon Campbell-Black is a fictional character in the Rutshire Chronicles series of romance novels written by Dame Jilly Cooper. He is the eighth-generation descendant of Rupert Black. Campbell-Black's first appearance is in the novel Riders, which follows the lives and loves of a group of horse riders and show-jumpers. Although initially portrayed as a brutish, womanizing, adulterous cad, Campbell-Black's character is later somewhat redeemed through his triumphant winning of an Olympic gold medal for Great Britain. His loyalty is also highlighted through his friendships with Billy Lloyd-Foxe, Ricky France-Lynch and Declan O'Hara, as well as his gentle courtship of his second wife Agatha 'Taggie' O'Hara. He has five children: Marcus and Tabitha from his marriage with Helen Macaulay, adopted children Xavier and Bianca with Taggie, and the illegitimate Perdita.
Rowan Sebastian Atkinson is an English actor, comedian and writer. He played the title roles in the sitcoms Blackadder (1983–1989) and Mr. Bean (1990–1995), and in the film series Johnny English (2003–present). Atkinson first came to prominence on the BBC sketch comedy show Not the Nine O'Clock News (1979–1982), receiving the 1981 British Academy Television Award for Best Entertainment Performance.
Riders is a 1985 novel written by the English author Jilly Cooper. It is the first of a series of romance novels known as the Rutshire Chronicles, which are set in the fictional English county of Rutshire. The story focuses on the lives of a group of top show jumping stars and follows the ups and downs of both their personal and professional lives. It was turned into a television film, Riders (1993), directed by Gabrielle Beaumont for Anglia Television and broadcast on the ITV Network.
The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous is a 1997 British television film based on Jilly Cooper's 1993 book of the same name in the Rutshire Chronicles series, directed by Robert Knights and produced by Sarah Lawson. The title role of Lysander Hawkley is played by Stephen Billington.
Rivals is a television series made for Disney+. It is an adaptation of the 1988 Jilly Cooper novel of the same name. It stars an ensemble cast including David Tennant, Aidan Turner, Katherine Parkinson, Victoria Smurfit, Alex Hassell, Nafessa Williams, Bella Maclean, Emily Atack and Danny Dyer. The first season was released on 18 October, 2024. The series was renewed for a second season in December 2024.
Bella Maclean is a British-American actress. On television, she appeared in the fourth season of the Netflix series Sex Education (2023) and the Disney+ series Rivals (2024). She is also known for portraying Martha in the 2021 London revival of Spring Awakening.
