BY SARAH CANTY
A POPULAR new series, which was launched in a blaze of publicity and is currently streaming on Disney+ has close ties to West Cork.
The executive producer and writer of the highly anticipated eight-part adaptation of the Jilly Cooper novel, Rivals, is Dominic Treadwell Collins, former producer of the BBC soap EastEnders.
Dominic also happens to have strong links to Skibbereen. His father, Michael Joseph Collins, hailed from Caheragh and the family still owns a farm in Bunalun.
He spent many summer holidays in West Cork and even did some work experience at The Southern Star when he was young.
As co-screenwriter of the mini-series, Holding, based on Graham Norton’s novel of the same name, Dominic was instrumental in getting the production filmed in West Cork in 2021.
While searching for locations in 2018, Dominic and the production team visited The Southern Star offices to ‘see how a local paper here works.’
In 2021, Dominic told the Star what a special experience it had been for him to be writing his first screenplay and seeing it filmed in West Cork, ‘where my father was from and my family still are,’ made the experience even more special.
Dominic said he tried for several years to pitch the idea of adapting the Jilly Copper books for television. In the 1980s, Cooper was a prolific writer of romance novels known as ‘bonkbusters’ for their descriptive content.
Finally Disney+ picked up the idea and Dominic worked on the writing and production teams of Rivals to help get the adaptation to screen.
Rivals puts a contemporary spin on the 1980s novel that follows a feud between Rupert Campbell-Black, played by Alex Hassell, and Lord Tony Baddingham, played by David Tennant.
The ensemble cast also includes Irish actors Aidan Turner, who found fame for playing the dwarf in The Hobbit Trilogy, and the lead role in Poldark, and Victoria Smurfit who is known for her roles in Ballykissangel and was also nominated for an Ifta for Best Supporting Actress in 2016 for her portrayal of Cruella de Vil in Once Upon a Time.
Rivals was released for streaming on Disney+ on October 18th.
