Novel: Rivals

Overview
"Rivals" is a vibrant, fast-moving novel by Jilly Cooper that plunges into the high-stakes, backstabbing world of television broadcasting. The narrative follows a clash between rival TV channels and the intimate, often ludicrous, private lives of the people who staff them. Ambition, sex, revenge and scandal drive the action as executives, presenters and producers maneuver for control, ratings and personal revenge.

Plot and setting
The novel is set primarily in the competitive milieu of late twentieth-century television, where boardroom battles and on-air controversies are inseparable from private vendettas. Two broadcasting enterprises become locked in an escalating war for viewers and prestige, and their campaigns spill over into seduction, betrayal and elaborate practical jokes. Deals are made and broken, alliances shift overnight, and the pressure for voyeuristic entertainment leads to both triumph and ruin.
Behind the corporate headlines are domestic crises and combustible romances. Lovers switch loyalties as quickly as channels change programming, friendships are tested by professional rivalry, and long-simmering grudges erupt into dramatic public showdowns. Cooper stages a series of comedic and often bawdy episodes that reveal how fragile reputations can be when ambition meets human weakness.

Characters and relationships
The cast is large and richly sketched, populated by ambitious executives, charismatic presenters, scheming producers and the assorted entourages who orbit them. Each character is rendered with an eye for flamboyant detail: the swaggering public figures whose bravado masks insecurity, the cunning manipulators who pull strings behind the scenes, and the naïve newcomers whose idealism collides with industry cynicism. Romantic entanglements and bitter rivalries intertwine so that professional defeats become deeply personal wounds.
Cooper's characters are archetypal but vivid, moving through sex, laughter and vindictiveness with a cinematic energy. Interpersonal dynamics are central: mentorships sour into feuds, affairs lead to blackmail, and loyalties are traded like currency. The result is a portrait of a world in which image is everything and authenticity is a casualty.

Themes and tone
Satire and melodrama are braided throughout the narrative. Cooper lampoons the glamour and hypocrisy of the television business while delivering the kind of juicy, soap-opera energy that keeps the pages turning. Themes of power, performance and reputation recur: what it takes to win an audience, the cost of compromising personal ethics for success, and the corrosive effect of celebrity culture on private life.
The tone ranges from comic farce to sharp-edged critique. Scenes can be uproarious, full of pratfalls, sexual misadventure and sly humor, yet the novel does not spare its characters from consequence. Revenge plots are satisfying but often pyrrhic, and the triumphs of the ambitious are balanced by humiliations and unforeseen setbacks. Cooper's voice is confident and unrestrained, delighting in scandal while maintaining a clear-eyed view of human frailty.

Legacy and impact
"Rivals" captures the breathless, image-obsessed world of media with both relish and scrutiny. The book succeeds as an entertaining exploration of a particular professional culture and as a broader commentary on fame and ambition. Its raucous episodes and memorable set-pieces make it an accessible, entertaining read, while its incisive observations on power dynamics lend it unexpected depth.
Readers drawn to clever satire, romantic entanglement and a vivid sense of place will find "Rivals" representative of Jilly Cooper's gift for mixing glamour with human messiness. The novel remains a lively depiction of a cutthroat industry where the desire to be seen, and to outshine rivals, shapes every personal and professional choice.