Chances are if you heard about Hulu’s Rivals, it is likely because of the age gap romance between Rupert and Taggie.
The series, which is based on Jilly Cooper‘s novel of the same name, premiered on Disney+ and Hulu in October 2024. Rivals centered around a feud between two men fighting for control of a television station in 1980s Britain with an ensemble cast including David Tennant, Aidan Turner, Bella MacLean, Katherine Parkinson, Victoria Smurfit, Alex Hassell, Nafessa Williams, Emily Atack and Danny Dyer.
While some tuned in to support their favorite Doctor Who star with Tennant, others were glued to their screens thanks to Turner’s scene-stealing performance as Declan O’Hara. But viewers had no idea they were going to become invested in the slow burn romance between Hassell’s character Rupert and MacLean’s Taggie.
The fictional couple got off to a rocky start when Rupert — who is 17 years Taggie’s senior — touched her without her consent. Considering the time period, Rupert got off relatively scot-free, except for the guilt he started to feel after spending more time with Taggie. The duo continued to cross paths, and their feelings for one another evolved.
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Season 1 hinged on Taggie and Rupert denying their feelings for one another — until the finale. In the show’s final moments, Taggie and Rupert finally kissed while obstacles out of their control showed the audience that they wouldn’t get together just yet.
Those eight episodes, however, were enough to draw Us into the Rupert and Taggie vortex. As we await word on another season of Rivals, keep scrolling for everything the creative team has said about the surprising romance so far:
Building Upon Their Chemistry
Executive producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins weighed in on Rupert and Taggie’s undeniable chemistry, telling TV Insider in October 2024, “What we’ve played is that Rupert’s trying very hard to keep away from Taggie. He’s made a promise to [her father] Declan. There is an age difference. He’s still got a lot of growing to do. He knows he could mess up Taggie, so he’s trying to keep away from her, but there’s a magnetic pull.”
Treadwell-Collins specifically addressed their final scene — and what it means for season 2.
“In the kitchen, when he says, ‘I can’t breathe without you.’ That’s true. She makes him a better man and he knows it. And he’s not thinking in that moment,” the screenwriter continued. “What I love about Rupert is he does change in our first season because of Taggie. He wants to be a better man for her. And that’s why he’s also saying to [his other love interest] Cameron, ‘I will look after you.’”
He continued: “But it also leaves you with hope and confusion about after this, what will happen if Cameron — as per the book — runs to Rupert and says, ‘You promised to protect me.’ It’s deliciously messy, which is always the best television.”
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Getting to See Her Vision Brought to Life
Novelist Cooper was asked about Rupert’s varying degrees of affection for Taggie vs. Cameron, to which she told TV Insider, “Rupert clearly fancies Taggie rotten but is warned off by her father Declan who feels she is too young for him so he stays away. In order to win the franchise, he ruthlessly seduces Cameron in order to gain access to Corinium plans.”
The author wasn’t sure Rupert cared about Cameron the same way. “I do think he enjoys going to bed with Cameron and grows increasingly fond of her,” she added. “Though it is not the love which he feels for Taggie.”
Watching the Evolution Take Place
“I honestly don’t think at the beginning of the series, a lot draws her to Rupert,” Maclean quipped to TV Insider in October 2024 about the complicated dynamic between Taggie and Rupert. “I think she really, really doesn’t like him.”
Hassell, meanwhile, gushed over Taggie’s influence on Rupert, telling The Creative Company, “[She] seems to think [Rupert] is capable of much more goodness than he thinks he’s capable of. And he wants to see if he can live up to that.”
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Working Together to Sell a Romance
During an interview with U.K.’s INews, Hassell credited Maclean for helping build the onscreen bond between Rupert and Taggie.
“Bella and I giggled all the time [on set]. For some reason, we find each other hilarious. She thinks I have a really weird, embarrassing sense of humor,” the actor shared. “I could see that in her eyes and it would just set me off. Particularly when we were trying to be serious. We would ruin take after take laughing.”
Hassell was also asked about how Rupert’s behavior changes after his initial introduction to Taggie, to which he replied, “The fact that he both does and doesn’t suffer consequences for that action is really important to the 80s-ness of the show. It makes us think about how far we have and haven’t come in the past 40 years. Rupert is a very powerful, rich, white man and is loving that fact. Not something one would enjoy depicting in a contemporary setting. But his public face is very much, ‘I don’t give a f— what anybody thinks.’”
