Diksha Sundriyal
Hulu’s ‘Rivals’ transports the audience to the late 1980s and follows the rivalry between some very powerful people, all of whom are trying to best the other. The focus is on the feud between Rupert Campbell-Black and Tony Baddingham. Rupert is a former Olympian and a politician with great influence. Tony is the owner of a TV production company called Corinium. While it might seem that both of their lives are worlds apart, there is a bad blood between them that stirs the pot quite a bit, especially after the arrival of Declan O’Hara, a journalist who is ready to do whatever it takes to bring the truth to the people. What makes things even more interesting is the setting of the story. It takes place in a town called Rutshire, with Cotchester being the central location, which becomes a character in itself as the story progresses and the plot thickens.
Rutshire and Cotchester are Entirely Fictional Places Brought to Life by a Real English Town
‘Rivals’ adapts the book of the same name by Jilly Cooper, which is part of an eleven-book series called the Rutshire Chronicles. With the stories sharing some characters and a common location, Cooper created the fictional setting of Rutshire and Cotchester, meticulously building the world over the course of the series of novels. This fictional location is in part inspired by Gloucestershire, where Cooper has lived for a long time. Much like Gloucestershire, Rutshire is also based in Cotswolds, a real place in South West England. The author was inspired by the real rustic look of the town, the magnificence of the locale, and the lifestyle of the aristocrats to create the vibe for the fictional locations and characters in the books.
The creators of the Hulu series recognized the importance of the location as much as its characters and tried to bring Cooper’s fictional world alive on the screen by being as faithful to her portrayal of the locations as possible. To begin with, they decided to shoot the series in the Cotswolds locale, with Gloucestershire being one of the more prominent locations, alongside Wraxall, Somerset, Bristol, and Salisbury. The town of Tetbury delivered most of the locations for the series and was transformed into 1980s Cotchester while the crew set camp there.
The Chavenage House in Tetbury, owned by Caroline Lowsley-Williams, was used to portray Declan O’Hara’s house. Lowsley-Williams also helped the location scout land other prominent places in the locale, like Tony Baddingham’s house and Falconry. The crew also spent several days at the Tetbury Visitor Information Centre while also using the Long Street Co-Operative Society store to film several key scenes in the show. Cameron Cook’s house in the show, called Hamilton Terrace, is also located in Tetbury and was filmed in Berkeley House. They also used St Mary’s Church to film various scenes for the first season of the show.
The crew of ‘Rivals’ also ventured outside of Tetbury, Gloucestershire, to create the fictional world of Rutshire. Wilton House in Salisbury was used to film various scenes, with Corsham, Wiltshire, also making an appearance in the TV show. The finale of the series also features Corn Street, Bristol. Harbour Hotel in Bristol and Battleaxes Pub in Wraxall also appear as prominent locations, with Bottle Yard Studios also being used heavily during the production. These myriad of locations were brought together to create the fictional town of Rutshire.
Read More: Rivals: Where is the Hulu Show Filmed?
