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Woke US bosses tell cast to reshoot sex scenes in Jilly Cooper's Rivals


After snapping up the rights, Disney boasted how the novel was 'full of sex' and involved 'drama, excess, and shocking antics'.

Yet Dame Jilly Cooper has fallen foul of cautious American TV executives, who fear a forthcoming adaptation of her raunchy novel Rivals will prove too much for modern viewers. The story revolves around the rakish ex-Olympian and Tory MP Rupert Campbell-Black, played by Hassell, who is locked in a bitter battle with Tennant's egotistical and ambitious character Lord Tony Baddingham over the future of a TV production company. Disney has been critcised for being 'too woke' recently, showing a lesbian kiss in the family movie Lightyear, swapping Minnie Mouse's classic polka-dot dress for a more 'progressive' pantsuit and slapping content warnings on its old films.

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Jilly Cooper