A DOOMED love affair, naked tennis and plenty of sex are just some of the things that Emily Atack’s character Sarah Stratton gets up to in telly bonkbuster Rivals.
And the actress reckons she is the ideal person to play the blonde bombshell — as she is practically the same person.
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Emily, 35, is seen in the Disney+ eight-parter having her heart broken by sexy Lothario Rupert Campbell-Black, which she says she can definitely relate to.
She revealed: “I wasn’t afraid to identify with her and I completely, I AM her.
“I’m a very flawed woman.
“I’ve made terrible decisions in my love life.
“I used all of that — it was completely genuine — and yes, I used the vulnerability, all of it.
“Finally, women are being written about in a certain way.
“These demonised women, they’re not being celebrated but they are being understood better.
“Women like Sarah Stratton have never been written with nuance.
“They’re always certain types of women — the demonised types of women, you know, the home wreckers and everything.
‘Big furry knickers’
“I think people have been quite scared to admit that they identify with characters like Sarah.”
In Rivals, Sarah is a wannabe TV host who is married to Deputy Prime Minister Paul Stratton, played by Rufus Jones, and is unquestionably one of the most glamorous characters on the show — which Emily loved.
The actress, who shot to fame playing Charlotte “Big Jugs” Hinchcliffe on Channel 4 sitcom The Inbetweeners, says: “There are roles that come along and the term ‘typecast’ is always seen as this negative thing.
“I’ve been typecast my whole life and I loved every single minute of it.
“I will carry on playing these sexy women for as long as they will have me.”
Having been romantically linked to a string of celebrities, ranging from Harry Styles to Jack Grealish, Emily is now in engaged to scientist Dr Alistair Garner, with whom she shares 16-month-old son Barney.
Her stint on The Inbetweeners from 2008 to 2010 led to a long line of other work ranging from stand-up comedy to acting.
Rivals, which has been a hit around the globe since it came out last year, is arguably her biggest gig to date — and it’s one which, arguably, she was destined to play.
I just made it my part before they could even make a decision. This particular one I was like, yeah they’d be stupid not to (hire me.)
Emily Atack
Talking at the Edinburgh TV Festival, Emily revealed how producers specifically had her in mind for the role, which she embraced.
She said: “The breakdown for the characters said, ‘Think Emily Atack’, so they went, ‘Well, let’s just get Emily, then.’
“I still had to audition.
“I went in with all the get-up on and they thought I’d dressed up.
“I was actually just going to a bar afterwards.
“They were like, ‘Thank you so much for dressing as the role,’ I was like, ‘No worries.’”
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She added sarcastically: “I had to dig REAL deep for my character.
“As soon as you read something like that it naturally flows out of you.
“You naturally feel at home with it.
“That’s how I felt with Sarah Stratton.
“I just made it my part before they could even make a decision.
“This particular one I was like, yeah they’d be stupid not to (hire me.)’”
Now Emily is reprising her role as Sarah, opposite Alex Hassell as Tory MP Rupert, in the second series of Rivals which is halfway through filming and is expected to drop late next year.
‘Stick-on muff’
She can’t emphasise enough how well the cast get on, which is partly down to their “no d***s on set” policy — meaning no bad behaviour.
That rule was also essential when she and Alex had to film their naked tennis match in the grounds of Rupert’s grand stately house, which is a key scene in Jilly Cooper’s original novel.
It has become synonymous with the show, and earlier this year it was even nominated as one of Bafta’s TV Moments Of The Year.
Well-endowed Rupert was supposed to have a member that he could “bat bread rolls” with, and the creative team did consider giving him an oversized prosthetic to wear.
But while they opted for the actor to go with the “model’s own” option, Emily had something more than a tennis racket and balls to cover herself up — and it was not just for reasons of modesty.
She revealed: “I had a stick-on muff.
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“I had to have a merkin, it’s called, and I had all these fittings for them.
“They were going: ‘Oh no, it’s too blonde that one,’ and it had to be a proper Eighties bush.
“But that actually helped because it actually just felt like I had these big furry knickers on, and I kept looking at the monitor going: ‘Oh, do I look alright? Oh God!’
“And seeing yourself naked on camera like that is so weird and jarring but once I’d seen it I was like, oh, fine.
“I couldn’t put my clothes back on.
“It was quite liberating.
“They were like, ‘Emily, can you put your clothes back on now?’”
But she was keen to point out that despite the sexual nature of the scenes and the nudity, she never felt uncomfortable because, like on other dramas, intimacy co-ordinators were on set.
‘Safe environment’
They were needed on Rivals as there were many sex scenes involving a lot of characters — which, of course, were all based on the sauciness in Jilly’s books.
Emily said: “It’s a very new profession, the intimacy co-ordinators.
“Everybody is still navigating it and working it out.
“But I’m really proud of Rivals and it is such a massive representation of how far we have come in the industry in terms of taking care of people’s needs and emotions.
“It’s such a safe environment, and I’m not just saying that because I’m on it.”
Filming of series two started in May and will continue until February, with Jilly back, heavily involved in the production.
The novelist has even invited all the cast to an enormous party — which means Emily will jet down from Edinburgh to the West Country immediately after her stint at the TV festival.
Then she will go direct from partying to filming her next scenes in Rivals.
Emily said: “Yes, I’m going to Jilly Cooper’s house tonight.
“My pick-up time is hideous tomorrow, though — they do that to me so I don’t stay out too late!”
JILLY: MY MEN DO NOT CRY
DAME Jilly Cooper is more involved than ever in the second series of Rivals – and she has given her blessing to show chief Dominic Treadwell-Collins, who used to be boss of EastEnders, to create new characters that don’t exist in her books.
Producers have also hired two genuine Hollywood stars in the form of Mission: impossible actress Hayley Atwell and showbiz veteran Rupert Everett for the cast of the new season.
Hayley plays Helen Gordon, former wife of Rupert Campbell-Black and mother of his two children, Marcus and Tabitha, while actor Rupert portrays her current spouse Malise Gordon, who was her ex-husband’s show-jumping coach.
Dame Jilly, 88, has been a massive influence on the show as one of the exec producers – and the old-school writer is anything but woke.
She has been cracking open bottles of champagne for the crew before midday and putting her no-nonsense stamp on the show.
Dominic revealed: “She comes on set and gives wonderful notes. She said to Alex (Hassell, who plays Rupert): ‘Come on, butch up!’”
Lee Mason, an executive director at Disney+, added: “One day I was on set and Jilly was there.
“She came down and she gave a note to everyone, which said: ‘My men do not cry – my men are macho.”
The writer has been taken aback by some of the bonking on the show – but changed her mind when she realised where it came from.
Dominics recalls: “One day she said to me, ‘Oh Dominic that was a VERY sexy bit. And I was like: ‘Yes, Jilly, you wrote it!’”
The creators of the show also said the second series will draw on the vibe of Riders, Jilly’s novel set in the world of polo.
And her millions of readers could be in for a much bigger telly treat – as Dominic points out that Disney now has the rights to ALL of Jilly’s books.
