Victoria Smurfit On Starring In Dame Jilly Cooper's Glossy New ...
We sit down with Victoria Smurfit to talk fashion, misogyny and all things ’80s …
The long-awaited Rivals is finally on Disney+ and this limited-series is all anyone can talk about. Colourful and fun, it’s total escapism, with a nostalgic soundtrack to boot. Starring our very own Victoria Smurfit and Aidan Turner, this scandalous new series is one to watch. Maybe not for the whole family, but we expect nothing less from Dame Jilly Cooper.
We talk to Victoria Smurfit ahead of its premiere:
Tell us about the glossy new show, Rivals
Rivals is a dip into a Cooperverse world, Dame Jilly Cooper’s book set in 1986 – a rollicking romp that takes you into the world of the upper echelons of the British establishment, and the upper echelons of British independent rural TV. Throw in the mix a hectic Irish family and you have outrage, comedy and buckets of heart.
Tell us about your character, Maud
Maud is a slightly insecure, damaged butterfly, who’s actually a roaring lion. She loves a drink, loves a flirt, will look for attention anywhere and, if her husband doesn’t give it to her, she’ll find it from someone else.
No spoilers, but any comments on the camel scene?
Sometimes, you just have to arrive on a camel into a stately home to make sure all eyes are on you. I mean, the lengths she goes to for attention is sensational and a tiny bit scary!
Tell us about the fashion …
Ray Holman is our costume designer and he’s extraordinary. It’s funny, when you do your first costume fitting you’re finding the character together. It occurred to us, Maud isn’t in the ‘80s, she’s in the ‘70s. I said, she was famous in the ‘70s, so she’s going to maintain that vibe. You know the way you see 90-year-old women and they’ve still got the blue eyeliner on because that’s what worked when they were 20 – I’m on the cusp of that, by the way! – so I thought, yes, the more boho feel really worked with her. He custom designed and made that green corset dress with the train which, obviously, you’d wear on a camel!
And the jewellery …
Yes, everyday he’d put it out – I was borderline Bette Lynch from Coronation Street – and I would just pick, like sweeties in a shop, the bigger the better.
What about the slouchy socks?
That was my idea. I said to him, if she’s in this stately home she’s going to have to rob somebody’s socks because she can be in her diaphanous dressing gown, but she’s going to need to keep her feet warm!
The chemistry between you and Aidan Turner, who plays your husband, is palpable. I know you’re familiar from the past, but how did that go – was there an intimacy coordinator involved?
That was because pretty much all of the characters have to de-robe at some stage, whether it’s for comedy, love or power, so we had two intimacy coordinators. They were fantastic because, what I’d never realised before, was how much they bring to the camera angles and the story-telling. It’s not just to protect the actors; it’s much deeper.
With your daughters, there’s a fraught relationship – why do you think that is, especially with your eldest?
Maud is not very kind to Taggie (her daughter) because she is deeply jealous of her. She is younger, kinder, beautiful and sweet. Everybody loves Taggie and she’s also a physical embodiment of time passing for Maud. She feels irrelevant and old, and this beautiful young whippersnapper doesn’t make her feel good. Instead of acknowledging and understanding that, at the start of the piece she hits out and is cruel. People are only cruel because they’re hurt.
Obviously, there’s a lot of fun and sex, and it’s glossy and glamorous, but there are real issues dealt with as well, from sexism to homophobia to snobbery – do you think we’ve come a long way since the ‘80s, or do you think we have more to go?
We’ve always got more to go, but it’s very interesting for a younger generation to watch the Cooperverse and see the outrage that people don’t talk to each other like that. But they did and, if the women before you hadn’t changed that, we wouldn’t be able to have this position of being disgusted by it. There’s always further we can go. Equality and misogyny are a work in progress, I believe.
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