Rivals star Bella MacLean is defending the show’s “divisive” 16-year age gap between Taggie and Rupert.
“I was so worried about what people would think,” MacLean, 29, told Elle UK on Tuesday, May 5. “But Gen Z seem to love it! My girlfriends send me these really funny reels of me and Rupert on TikTok.”
MacLean urged viewers to keep an open mind.
“Because of the way it’s done, because they really loved each other at first sight, I just feel like it’s a soul connection with them,” she noted. “Taggie is wise beyond her years — she sees him for all his faults and believes he can change, and he really sees her.”
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She continued: “That’s what’s so painful. There’s so much going against them, but there’s a pureness to their love. It’s very Disney princessy, which I still love.”
Based on Jilly Cooper‘s novel of the same name, Rivals is centered around a feud between two men fighting for control of a television station in 1980s Britain. But while viewers were waiting to see whether Tony (David Tennant) or Rupert (Alex Hassell) would come out on top, it was Rupert’s surprising bond with Taggie stole the show.
The fictional couple got off to a rocky start when Rupert — who is 16 years Taggie’s senior — touched her without her consent. While Rupert didn’t face any consequences, that interaction paved the way for Rupert and Taggie to connect on a more emotional level.
“Although it’s set in the 80s, we’re telling it from a 21st Century lens. It’s still a massive age gap,” MacLean explained. “I feel so strongly about this.”
Looking ahead at season 2, MacLean promised it’s “definitely not over” for Rupert and Taggie.
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“It is going to be very tumultuous,” she teased. “I want Taggie to have a fairytale ending — she’s such a good person. So when she has her heart broken, I feel protective, like a mother hen.”
MacLean recalled being frustrated by some of what Taggie goes through, adding, “I was so cross with [creator] Dominic (Treadwell-Collins). I was like, ‘Why are you doing this to her?’ And he was like, ‘Because it’s a TV show – it has to be challenging, otherwise people won’t want to watch it!’”
She concluded: “I want young girls who don’t know who they are, who are struggling with a sense of self but feel deeply about the world, to feel like even if they’re gentle, fragile flowers, there’s strength in that. I didn’t want to make her a wallflower who just gets trampled on. There’s strength in vulnerability.”
Rivals returns to Hulu on May 15.
